YOU BELONG WITH ME

Series: With Me In Seattle #14

Author: Kristen Proby

Genre: Contemporary Romance

 

 

Elena Watkins is used to getting what she wants. She grew up the daughter of one of the most powerful mafia bosses on the west coast, an indulged, rich girl who got away with everything.

Except the love of her life.

Archer was the king of their high school. His charming grin swept her off her feet. Days after graduation, they ran away together and eloped. Elated to spend the rest of their lives together, Archer and Elena were on cloud nine.

Until Elena’s father discovered what they’d done. 

He swore to keep them apart, even if it meant taking Archer’s life. Knowing what her father was capable of, Elena left Archer, and never looked back. The pain of leaving him would pale to the pain of losing him.

That’s what she’s told herself every day for twelve years. But now her father is dead, and Archer is back. Finally, they should be able to piece the broken pieces of their love back together.

But the mafia has a long memory. 

 

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5 ‘ You’re Worth It’ Stars

Oh wow!!! You Belong With Me is a heart palpitating, passion filled blend between the most perfect of second chances and the most taunting of mafia romances. Truly the BEST of both worlds packed up in one EPIC love story! Mind and heart gripping in every way!

Ahhh, the feels… Even as a die hard fan of Ms. Proby’s writing I was not prepared for this book, because right there on page one, the very Prologue, it wrecked me and brought me to tears – the emotional kind ones, lol – talk about jumping right into the emotional rollercoaster of the mafia lifestyle…

No, the pain of losing Archer forever is far worse than any physical pain could ever be.

So get ready for THE journey! The pain, the heartbreak that we feel right off the bat are just a sneak peek into the rainbow of emotions this book, and this couple will make us feel. Elena and Archer may very well be my new favorite KP couple.

“This could be so dangerous for you.”
 “Not being with you is dangerous for me.”

 

“The risk of being with you is better than the agony of being without you.”

After being torn apart by Elena’s dad, and ten years of separation, a decade of running for E, Archer finally found her and nothing will keep him apart from her now.

What I adored the most, really the very best?! The way Archer had been not only relentlessly searching for her after finding out why she had broken his heart that many years ago – moment we got to witness in the previous books of the series – but the way he was willing to do ANYTHING to win her back. So Alpha, and so very ‘ultimate book boyfriend’!

“We’re as complicated as it gets, honey.”

“This is a very expensive courtship,” she says, swirling the wine in her glass.
“You’re worth it,”

So, so many swoon worthy moments in this ‘courtship’ that I had a hard time picking up just a few from them. 

Add to that an incredibly strong and resilient heroine in Elena, and it truly was a winning duo in this couple. The setting (the small coast side town of Bandon, Oregon) was so romantic and intimate that made us focus on THEM, and that just made their reconnection that more believable and intense. Elena and Archer gave us plenty of scorchingly hot moments yes, but also deeply emotional ones too.

Even with the mafia element and the conflict and internal battle it created, I never once felt too overwhelmed by its ‘darkness’, au contraire, I just felt it added positively to the intrigue and made their love and connection shine that much brighter, because they were willing to fight together for it, they had lost too much time already, after all… 

We were both robbed of it. We lost so much time. We lost each other.

 

“You’re everything. It feels like I’ve loved you my whole life.”

Sigh, Archer and Elena were just outstanding, the relationship was just so genuine and raw, that Ms. Proby’s usual maturity of the characters stood out even more, because they themselves could see how different they were from the young adults they were one decade ago, but one thing never changed – in this case it just escalated – , the bone deep love they felt for one another.

Not only the dreamy relationship of the main couple was everything I dream for my second chance romance reads, but all their connections with the side characters including some of the other Montgomerys – and yes, though we don’t get to view much of them, they were there for them too – just added that much richness to the world building. 

You think the fucking mafia is scary? Try fucking with the Montgomerys.

Kristen Proby truly outdid herself with You Belong With Me, with not only her usual brilliant and realistic story telling talent, this intensely emotional journey with Elena and Archer, introduced us to a whole new and tantalizing KP Mafia world that left me BEGGING for more. I can’t wait for Carmine, Rocco and Shane’s own books, for which I know I’ll be counting down the days. And like that wasn’t teasing enough, that ending with the hint of Shawn’s story, omg, I’m soooooo here for all these coming Proby’s gems!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 

 

“The heart knows what it wants, E, no matter how old it is.”

We’re as entangled, emotionally and physically, as we’ve ever been. It’s intoxicating. Addicting. And I don’t have to give him up, now or ever.

“Is she worth it?”

“And more.” I tap my glass to his. “She’s worth everything.”

ARC kindly provided by the author via Valentine PR for an honest review

 

 

 

 

 COME AWAY WITH ME (With Me In Seattle #1)

 

 FIGHT WITH ME (With Me In Seattle #2)

 

SAFE WITH ME (With Me In Seattle #5)

 

TIED WITH ME (With Me In Seattle #6)

 

BREATHE WITH ME (With Me In Seattle #7)

 

 

STAY WITH ME (With Me In Seattle #9)

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INDULGE WITH ME (With Me In Seattle #10)

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Kristen was born and raised in a small resort town in her beloved Montana. In her mid-twenties, she decided to stretch her wings and move to the Pacific Northwest, where she made her home for more than a dozen years.

During that time, Kristen wrote many romance novels and joined organizations such as RWA and other small writing groups. She spent countless hours in workshops, and more mornings than she can count up before the dawn so she could write before going to work. She submitted many manuscripts to agents and editors alike, but was always told no. In the summer of 2012, the self-publishing scene was new and thriving, and Kristen had one goal: to publish just one book. It was something she longed to cross off of her bucket list.

Not only did she publish one book, she’s since published close to thirty titles, many of which have hit the USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists. She continues to self publish, best known for her With Me In Seattle and Boudreaux series, and is also proud to work with William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins, with the Fusion Series.

Kristen and her husband, John, make their home in her hometown of Whitefish, Montana with their two pugs and two cats.

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Author: Jodi Ellen Malpas

Genre: Contemporary Romance

 

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4.25 ‘My Haven’ Stars

Ohhh, wowwww!!! Artful Lies is absolutely RIVETING!!!  Jodi Ellen Malpas’ first part of the Hunt Legacy Duology seduces and enthralls us into a mystique filled universe where Becker Hunt is king, and oh boy, what a ruler… Richly weaved, opulently set, emotionally raw and insanely sexy, with a jaw dropping twist and the perfect hint of mystery, Artful Lies enraptures us so intense and completely in its addictive Haven, that we’ll never, EVER want to get out!

Ms. Malpas promised us a Alpha to rival Jesse Ward, and I have to say, Becker Hunt is without a doubt one Alpha –  with a capital A – that very much like the first, we won’t forget. This man is so potently written that he’s in a league of his own. The OTT Alpha at  its finest, and in the most drool inducing of packages… He’s as aggravating  – yes, many time I wanted to strangle him even more than Eleanor did, lol – as he is enticing, and his mysteriousness and maverick ways coupled with his unapologetic sex appeal, well, very much like he’s described, and pointed out by Eleanor herself, he’s just a combo impossible to resist. And oh boy, resist she try! 

He must be a wizard, or something equally magical, because I feel like I’m under a spell.

For the love of all things gorgeous, he belongs in an art gallery.

Unconventional, daring, cocky but smart. Unapologetic for who he is. Passionate about his passion. A total maverick, just like his gramps said. Truly spirited. And he’s unearthed a spirit in me, too.

Eleanor has just moved to London to escape her past, as well as put her delayed professional dreams to fruition. From the very first moment though, Fate has seemed to have even bigger, and more ‘troublesome’, lol, plans for her, that start almost immediately in her new adventure when a God like stranger, with the most wicked of smirks and angel eyes, runs into her – and keeps on crashing into her, in more ways than one. 

So imagine her reaction when after a rocky start in her search of employment, thanks to the mystery man, no less, she not only has a once in a lifetime chance to have the most coveted job in the field, and without a clue when applying. What she never expect was that along with the dream job, came a aggravating and wicked boss, none other than her mystery ‘cab thief’, aka Becker Hunt.

One minute, it feels like he’s mentally undressing me, the next he’s looking at me like he wants to strangle me.

I’m having you, Eleanor. Every fucking bit of you. I’m not forcing my way in. You’ll let me in, because you want me just as badly.’

‘Every time I see you lost in what you love, my fucking dead heart kicks a little.’

The chemistry… OMG, THE CHEMISTRY!!!! From that very first encounter, we could practically feel the sparks in the air, industrial sized sparks, but sparks, nonetheless. Eleanor and Becker’s magnetism is so powerfully described, I dare you not to feel their insane connection which only increases with every encounter, never once faltering, much to both their dismay. So powerful and unwanted in fact that is no wonder that it turn it gave us the most captivating and delicious of banters, these two could not be in the same room without wanting to strangle each other or rip one another’s couples, and I was so here for it!!! Of course this push and pull, the wicked games and taunting moments, translated into the most scorching of foreplays, and cold shower required sexy scenes. Yep they were just THAT explosive together!

‘I took you because I have an annoying fucking urge to let you in.’

I want him. All of him – his secrets, his passion, his words.

He could ruin me. But he could also fix me. To a certain extent, he’s already repaired my broken spirit.

The fact that they could be so raw when it came to their cravings, just made me enjoy even more when their showed their conflicting emotions, specially their struggle with the feelings the other invoked in them, and though there were a couple of times I wanted to nut punch Becker right there at the beginning, and wished that Eleanor had done just that, lol – still hoping FERVENTLY that as I suspect, nothing is as it seems when it comes to a certain Tiger Bird, and the shows that Becker set for Eleanor’s benefit, because it was honestly the only moment I was a bit put off, so fingers crossed! – when they FINALLY gave in, and they started slowly unveiling their vulnerability, and just how tortured Becker’s heart was, it brought a whole new dimension to their emotional connection. The feelings through the whole book are so beautifully exposed, it was impossible not to live them right there with the couple.

Eleanor, whose POV we get all throughout this book, is such an amazing leading lady, strong, and sassy but still completely relatable in her fragility and doubts. Her internal struggles and doubts are so vivid, I think that is why at the start I wanted to strangle Becker so much, yes, her thought’s are so realistically exposed I was right there with her in her fury and hurt, lol. Another incredible aspect we get from seeing the story thought her eyes, is Jodi Ellen Malpas’ masterful world building, and stage setting, because by giving Eleanor her art and history background, when we see the world and specially The Haven and Becker’s treasure, I felt I was right there with her in her awe and curiosity. JEM’s exquisite attention to detail and richly built descriptions really transport us to a new universe, in this case, all things Hunt.

What a ride this was, I’ve laughed, I’ve raged, I swooned, and I cried! The way that Becker made Eleanor feel throughout the book, I’ve felt all her emotions, and the way she burned for him but still felt for his tormented heart, I was right there with her. Ms. Malpas really transposed his anguish to a T. And by the end of this part, I was feeling her devastation like it was my own, and that is the number irrefutable proof of the amazingness of Artful Lies.

‘Don’t fall in love with me, princess,’ he whispers. ‘Because I’d hate myself forever if I hurt you.’

Safe from heartbreak. Because his heart is locked away with his other treasures. This is his haven, but it’s also his fortress.

Oh my… Jodi Ellen Malpas gave the PERFECT description herself for Artful Lies, indeed This Man meets Thomas Crown Affair is a SPOT ON reference when it comes to this book/duology. The intrigue and the mystery that the author masterfully intertwined with Eleanor and Becker’s EPIC love story, only made the already complex and captivating characters that much passionate, and the incredible storyline richer and alluring. From the very first paragraph, it’s impossible not to get ourselves emerged into this world, and never want to leave, so when we get to the ending of this first part of the duology, we’re about ready to offer Ms. Malpas our first born for the pleasure of unveiling what happens next  to these two. I know I am, because JEM sure knows how to leave us in the very edge of our seats, where we don’t know if we should scream and beg for November to come sooner, or just worship her for the unforgettable characters that we have no doubt will branded forever in our minds. And  their legendary tale is not even over yet! That about says it. Oh yes, Wicked Truths can’t come fast enough!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 

 

‘You’re the fucking queen of the playing board, Eleanor. Superior to all. Got it?’

‘Every time I see you lost in what you love, my fucking dead heart kicks a little.’

 

Becker Hunt stole my heart. Ripped it from my chest. How is it possible that my heaven has transformed into the worst kind of hell?

 

ARC kindly provided by the author via Social Butterfly PR 

for an honest review

 

 

Jodi Ellen Malpas was born and raised in the Midlands town of Northampton, England, where she lives with her husband, boys, and a beagle. She is a self-professed daydreamer, a Converse and mojito addict, and she has a terrible weak spot for alpha males. Writing powerful love stories and creating addictive characters has become her passion—a passion she now shares with her devoted readers.

Her novels have hit bestseller lists for the New York Times, USA Today, Sunday Times, and various other international publications and can be read in more than twenty-four languages around the world.

 

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