Release Blitz for Who We Were by Melissa Collins A M/M contemporary romance
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*If you read with Apple, Nook, Kobo, or Google Play - this title will be removed from these retailers and going into KU on Sunday, so grab your copy today!
Who We Were...
Two awkward teenagers - the loner and the nerd, trying to find our place in the world. Paired in wood shop, we knew nothing of each other, except that we wanted to know everything. Then one life altering moment changed it all and we were left with shattered dreams and broken hearts.
Who We Are...
Two grown men - braver and smarter than we used to be, trying to heal the damage from that irrevocable moment. Even though the past was behind us, dead and buried long ago, we found it impossible to move on without ripping open the scars of our deep wounds.
With twelve years of unanswered questions fueling our desperate need for the truth, we must figure out if who we were will destroy who we are.
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4 stars
This book is broken into two parts, where the first part is Ryan and Quinn as younger and then the second part was them around 30 or so. Reading about Ryan's childhood broke my heart. The vindictiveness and really cruelty of his brother and dad and the absence of support from his mother made me want to cry and scream at the same time. Seeing how lost and alone Ryan was hurt my soul a bit. But, it was also such good writing because it pulled so much emotion from me. It broke me a bit but I also loved it because of that.
Quinn was a great character and I think Ryan needed someone who would treat him so well. Once we get to part two in the book, I wanted to smack Ryan a bit even though I understood some of his reasonings. Even though I wanted them to be together, the trust that Quinn put in Ryan throughout the book had me a little growly. I wanted Quinn to make Ryan work for it! I was really glad that the author gave us an epilogue. The rollercoaster of the story made me need that for both of these characters.
Lastly, there seemed to be a few logistic issues in this book. A few times things were mentioned that seemed to be inconsistent with something previously mentioned. It was not super distracting but I noticed it. Overall, I enjoyed this story and want more from this author!
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
3.5 Stars
So I had previously read (listened to) Let Love Live by this Author, when I saw this book coming out, I figured I would give it a go too since that book completely gutted me. After reading this book though, I think that the story might have had more of an impact on me if I had listened to this one in audio as well. Reading it was great, but with stories like this, sometimes they are just so much better when experiencing them in audio format first.
This book is structured along the same lines as “Let Love Live” being two separate halves of a whole story. The first part being set over a series of 5 or so years, when the guys, Ryan and Quinn are younger and in middle/high school. When they first meet, first impressions are not great, even though they both feel a weird and instant connection. Then the second half is set about 12 years after Ryan had left his family, home, and Quinn. At that point, Quinn is determined to not let Ryan run again and figure out what the heck even happened the first few times.
I really had a hard time with these guys. This book has so much drama and angst in it that totally could have been avoided with a few conversations between the characters. Ryan just runs from Quinn at every turn, for every little reason which doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. The author gives us such build up throughout the entire length of the book as to why Ryan runs, that when the reveal finally happens I felt totally let down. Like, it was not as serious as the author made it seem during the course of the book, to the point I feel like I needed to lower my rating on this book a bit just for that fact. Seriously, lack of communication and wasting years over something that really wasn’t all that big of a deal and if Ryan would have just told Quinn or said anything at all, they could have avoided years of pain and hurt and missed time for both of them.
Ryan’s whole family seriously sucks and his brother is a total jerk, like a really, really horrible person and I have zero clues as to what Quinn’s sister sees in him. But on the other hand, Quinn’s family and his mom are totally awesome and I have no idea why Ryan didn’t just latch onto them and not let go...
This book was just a mix of contradictions and had some super frustrating characters and situations that made me just want to shake the stupid out of them. But overall the writing itself was good, I like how this author structures her books and makes us hurt right along with the characters each and every time, just experiencing all the feelings and emotions for them.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Melissa Collins has always been a book worm. Studying Literature in college ensured that her nose was always stuck in a book. She followed her passion for reading to the most logical career choice: English teacher. Her hope was to share her passion for reading and the escapism of books to her students. Having spent more than a decade in front of a classroom, she can easily say that it’s been a dream. Her passion for writing didn’t start until more recently. When she was home on maternity leave in early 2012, she read her first romance novel and her head filled with the passion, angst and laughter of the characters who she read about it. It wasn’t long before characters of her own took shape in her mind. Their lives took over Melissa’s brain and The Love Series was born.
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