Title: Tryst
(Take It Off #8)
Author:
Cambria Hebert
Release: May
19, 2014
Synopsis:
Sometimes
all a girl needs is a little fling…
Talie
Ronson needs a vacation.
From
life.
Since she
caught her cheating, loser husband in bed with his assistant, her life has been
on a steady spiral—right into hell. Her car’s a junker, her job sucks, and her
perfect, gorgeous sister likes to brag about her wonderful life every time they
“do” lunch.
In an
effort to salvage what’s left of her life and her sanity, she takes the advice
of her kooky best friend and takes off to Topsail Island. A week at the beach,
alone, is exactly what she needs to recharge, regroup, and relax.
Only, her
alone time is about to get derailed.
Gavin
Palmer’s favorite activity is walking around in his boxers and eating junk
food. He and his neighbors have an understanding. They stay out of his business
and he stays out of theirs. He lives at the beach, not for vacation, but for
isolation. He’s had enough of people to last him a lifetime.
Gavin’s
isolation is interrupted when his normally quiet neighbor starts disturbing his
peace. He stomps across the sand to give the guy a piece of his mind… only it
isn’t a guy.
It’s
Talie.
She’d
maddening, nosy, and talks too much.
But she’s
hot and her bedroom eyes have him thinking maybe he’s had enough solitude.
Maybe a week of company is exactly what he needs.
Maybe what
they both need is a no-strings-attached tryst.
Goodreads
Series Goodreads
Buy Links:
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Goodreads
Series Goodreads
Buy Links:
Amazon US
Amazon CA
Amazon UK
Barnes&Noble
Buy Links for the full Take It Off Series:
Author Bio:
Cambria
Hebert is the author of the young adult paranormal Heven and Hell series, the
new adult Death Escorts series, and the new adult Take it Off series. She loves
a caramel latte, hates math and is afraid of chickens (yes, chickens). She went
to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a
degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good
hair. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and children (both
human and furry) where she is plotting her next book. You can find out more
about Cambria and her work by visiting http://www.cambriahebert.com
Social
Media Links:
Excerpt:
Just as the
road started to gradually lift and lead onto the bridge my car made a very loud
clunking sound and then groaned like it was going to come apart at any
second.
Even though
my foot was pressed on the gas the car slowed considerably, idling along like a
turtle who had no where it needed to be. “Come on!” I yelled at the dashboard
as I gave the steering wheel a smack.
Suddenly
the wheel seemed extremely hard to steer. What usually was an easy, effortless
task now seemed like something that required large muscles.
Did I
mention I was lacking in the muscle department?
I applied
the brakes and fought the Jetta to the side of the road. I wasn’t about to try
and make it over the bridge like this. My luck I would plunge over the side and
get eaten by a shark when I hit the water.
The loud
rattling sounds the stupid car made drowned out the cadence of the ocean waves
and caused some of the peace I was found on my way here to disappear.
After
several long moments of just sitting there, leaning my forehead on the steering
wheel and asking God why I was cursed I turned off the engine. The car
stuttered and then died. I knew it wasn’t going to turn back on.
“And the
hits just keep on coming,” I said out loud.
I opened
the car door, letting it open so that the light would stay on for a few moments
and bent down to look for the hood release latch. After I found it and popped
the hood I stood there staring down in the dark at the insides of a car I
couldn’t see.
Then I
remembered my phone. The flashlight app was handy in moments like this. Even
with the engine and innards of the car visible I had no clue what was wrong
with it.
“I am so
getting a new car,” I sighed. I called up the number to Triple A in my phone (I
might not know how to fix cars but I knew how to call people who did) and
wondered how long it would take them to send a tow.
A pair of
headlights appeared traveling in my direction. I raced around the side of the
car and leapt into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind me. After the
way this week was going I would not be surprised at all if the person behind
the wheel of that car was a serial killer out looking for his next victim.
The car
slowed and pulled directly behind my car.
See? Total
serial killer.
I heard the
slam of the door and watched as a large dark figure approached. I could make
out nothing because his headlights turned him into nothing but a dark shadow.
The only
thing I knew for sure was that it was a man. Unless of course it was a woman.
Judging from the sheer size of the black shape if it was a then she would have
to be a professional body builder.
Seconds
later a darkened face appeared at my window.
“Car
trouble?” he rumbled. His voice was deep and his southern accent was strong.
I screamed.
I forgot my
window was down!
I jammed
the key back into the ignition and turned the engine over. It made a puny,
pathetic sound and stalled out. The windows were electric. I couldn’t get it up
if the car wouldn’t start.
“Please
don’t kill me!” I burst out.
A laugh
floated through the night air and wrapped around my body. He put one of his
hands on the door, so that it rested where the window should be, his fingers
falling down the inside of the door.
I snatched
the keys out of the ignition and swung down to stab the fleshy part of the back
of his hand. Seconds before I made him bleed he jerked away.
“I’m not
going to murder you!” he shouted.
“Don’t you
yell at me!” I retorted.
“You tried
to stab me!”
“You tried
to kill me!”
“I stopped
to see if you needed help. You know, because your junker car here stopped
working.”
“How dare
you call it a junker.” I fumed. My car definitely was a junker but I wasn’t about
to let him insult me. I’d had enough of men to last me a lifetime.
“Sweetheart,
I call it like I see it.” he drawled.
Damned if I
didn’t get goose bumps. His voice was like the velvet sky I was admiring only
moments ago. “Well, okay, it’s a piece of crap.” I allowed. Obviously his
southern accent was making me stupid.
“I’m just
going to take a look,” he said. Before I could tell him no he was walking
around the front of my car. The glow of his headlights gave me a glimpse of the
way his hips rotated when he walked.
He had long
legs, the kind that owned the ground whenever he took a step. He was tall… he
had to be at least six two. Other than that I couldn’t make out anything else
about him. He was wearing a baseball hat and it was pulled down low, shading
all of his face from the little light out here.
A light
clicked on up front (he must have the same app as me) and I saw him reaching
down into the engine. The sound of something being pulled out of the car had me
leaping out of my seat and rushing around the front.
“What the
hell are you doing!” I demanded horrified as he pulled out this long black
thing. “Is that a snake?” I shrieked. Had I somehow run over that giant thing
and it got caught in my engine?
He paused
and looked up at me. “A snake?” he asked like he couldn’t understand what I was
saying. Then he shook his head. “It’s the drive belt,” he muttered, going back
to pulling it out.
“Well if
it’s supposed to be in there why are you pulling it out?”
“This way
when I go to kill you, I know you won’t be able to get away.”
Review
Talie had, what she thought, to be a good life. But
everything changed when she caught her husband in bed with his assistant. She
moved out of their place onto her best friend’s couch, filed for divorce and
got fired. The latter wasn’t in her plans but it happened. She took a
much-needed breather from life and house-sat for her best friend’s aunt.
As bad as her life was, the last thing she needed
was to feel attracted to a guy. But not just any guy. Her neighbor, Gavin, who
was, by nature, a loner and unfortunately, showed this to her a few times – I
wanted to smack him for those times.
I liked Talie. I found myself thinking, “That’s what
I would have done,” or “That’s what I would have said.” In other words, I
connected with her, associated with her. Though I probably would have kicked
her bastard husband’s ass for saying some things to her but still, she handled
herself perfectly.
“You might
wanna pay a visit to the surgeon who did your tits. They’re lopsided.”
“This wasn’t
my fault. Yeah, maybe I wasn’t the easiest to live with. And yeah, maybe I
wasn’t the sexiest or prettiest girl around. But I didn’t deserve to be cheated
on.”
“I’d rather be
single than married and utterly alone.”
So, Gavin might have been frustrating, at times and
very secretive but I just couldn’t not like him. Later on, when he finally
talked about himself and his past life, pieces fell into place and one saw him
with different eyes.
“It was the
first time I’ve ever seen a grown man eat a sucker. It seemed completely wrong
the way he made something created for a child to appear sinful and
inappropriate.”
“I’m
an expert at a lot of things.” ~ Gavin
“His
tongue had a master’s in vagina-ology.” This one cracked me
up!
I liked the storyline, liked the dynamic between the
two main characters, also liked Talie’s best friend and Gavin’s too. All in
all, I liked pretty much everything about it. Loved the ending. And that
epilogue? I melted!
“You’re mine,”
he growled, pulling me right up against his body.
This one may not have been as angsty and action-packed
as Text or Tricks but that wasn’t a problem for me, at all because I felt that
this one, in particular, was focused more on the emotional side, the feelings
and how both these characters managed to overcome every hurdle, how they
managed to heal, together. I give it four and a half stars!
“I didn’t know
him at all. But I felt him.”
“He
leaned down and kissed me, the kind of kiss that branded me forever his.”
***Copy given by author in exchange of honest review***
Giveaway:
US ONLY
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