By Cassia Leo
Publication date: May 15, 2013
Genre: New Adult Romance
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Though their hearts will never be whole again, Claire and Adam now know they are stronger together than they are apart.
But now Claire’s attending college a hundred miles away from Adam. With their relationship already hanging by a thread, Adam is sent to Hawaii on business.
And rock star Chris Knight is back in Claire’s life.
Chris wants his ex-girlfriend back and he knows just how to get her: only he has the power to mend the final missing piece of Claire’s broken heart. Now Claire must choose between a long-distance relationship with Adam and a second chance at love, family, and home.
New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language, drug use, and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.
Thanks for being on the blog, Cassia! Congratulations on the new release, Pieces of You! I have five quick questions for you and then we’ll get to the review…
Not everyone knows this about me, but I gave up almost all my possessions and moved to Portugal to write full-time on March 28, 2012. I told myself that I would give myself a year to start making a full-time living as an author or I’d have to go crawling back to the corporate world. Relentless was published February 22, 2013 and hit the USA Today bestsellers list March 7, 2013—three weeks before my self-imposed deadline.
Up until then, my daughter and I had been living with various relatives and barely surviving on the meager income I was earning from book sales. I wanted to throw in the towel multiple times, but I have the most awesome family in the world and they refused to let me give up. Publishing Relentless changed my life in so many ways, but the biggest change was that it made my dreams come true.
Hands down, it’s talking to the readers and hearing how my books have affected them.
Not many.
I think the only real secret that Chris has yet to share with Claire that may upset her is the fact that he covered up the tattoo of her name on his shoulder blade. We’ll find out in Bring Me Home if he’s going to come clean.
Adam truly has a heart of gold, despite his aggression and addiction issues. He may not always make the right choices, but I think his heart is always in the right place.
There is no way to review this book without spoilers, so if you haven’t read Relentless and you want to, don’t read this review.
This story picks up after Claire’s big secret is publicly revealed at ex-boyfriend/rock star Chris’ show and it starts with Adam, Claire’s boyfriend in Relentless, at a surf competition in Florida. He and Claire are still together, even though they are separated in just about every respect. Claire has gone back to school and they don’t even live in the same town.
Enter Chris, ex-boyfriend, rock star, and father of Claire’s baby, who she gave up for adoption without Chris’ permission or knowledge. Now Claire and Chris live in the same town and Claire has major attachments to this guy and his mother. She was a foster kid after her mother OD’d and Chris’ home was the only one that ever felt like “home” to her. She also has a deep attachment to Chris’ mother, who was also lied to/ignored about the whole decision to give the baby up for adoption.
Wow. This book is not boring, that’s for sure. There is so much conflict in here, you will definitely went to keep turning pages. But, wow. And aside from her own personal family issues, Claire is really, really the one to blame for pretty much everything that’s happening in this story. She’s made some major mistakes. Major.
In addition, there is a very angsty love triangle in this one. Relentless didn’t have any of that, it was all about Claire recovering from her decision to secretly give the baby up for adoption and her new relationship with Adam. But this book is all about the conflict she has between choosing between her two love interests.
I was leaning towards Team Chris in the first book just because I felt he had so much more to offer and I’m even more firm in this belief now. Adam, I’m not sure what it is (aside from his drug use, which is such a turn off for me) but I can’t warm up to the guy at all. He’s kinda immature for a college graduate, compared to a rock star, right? You’d think a college educated guy could blow the rock star away in that department, at least. Be the safe choice, right? But the rock star is kicking Adam’s ass in the maturity department in Pieces of You!
He totally needs to grow up. I mean, Chris is talking about donating $200,000 to a fund for victims of sexual assault, while Adam is smokin’ bowls at surfing competitions and yanking Claire’s chain just when she needs him most.
I think Chris is the total victim here. It’s just so beyond horrible that Claire actually gave away his child without ever telling him. It’s horrible. She stole his rights away. And I’m not sure about adoption law, because it’s different in every state, but I do know that in some states it’s not even legal to do that. The adoption is null if the father shows up after the fact and was never told. Fathers have rights.
This book raises so many issues, it’s a very good read and I enjoyed it. It has a major cliffhanger, there is no resolution in this middle book at all, but it sets up book three, which is coming out in August, perfectly. More and more secrets are added to Claire’s past that will change her life forever.
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Jamie M
Thank you for the awesome giveaway.
nurmawati djuhawan
is this INT giveaway ?