Blog Tour Eversea and Forever Jack: Natasha Boyd
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Eversea (Eversea #!)
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Eversea, a love story, is a Winter Rose Contest FINALIST 2013. Emilia Pisani of Simon & Schuster (judge) says "Great southern flavor!" and "Jack is an alluring leading man!"
An orphaned, small-town, southern girl, held hostage by responsibility and self-doubt.
A Hollywood A-list mega-star, on the run from his latest scandal and with everything to lose.
A chance encounter that leads to an unlikely arrangement and epic love affair that will change them both forever.
When his co-star and real-life girlfriend is caught cheating on him with her new director, A-list hottie, Jack Eversea, finds himself in sleepy Butler Cove, South Carolina. Jack hopes the sultry southern heat in this tiny coastal Lowcountry town will hide him not only from the tabloids and his cheating girlfriend, but his increasingly vapid life and the people who run it. He doesn’t count on meeting Keri Ann Butler.
Keri Ann has relied on herself so long, dealing with her family’s death and the responsibilities of keeping up her family's historic mansion, that boys and certainly the meager offering of eligible boys in Butler Cove, have never figured into her equation. But fate has other plans. Suddenly face to face with the man who played the movie role of her favorite fictional character, Jack has Keri Ann yearning for everything she has previously avoided ... and Jack must decide whether this funny, sassy girl is worth changing his life for, before his mistakes catch up to him.
Famous actor Jack Eversea escapes his crazy Hollywood life and ends up in Butler Cove Island in South Carolina. He is seeking refuge from a scandal and wanting to lay low. After a chance meeting, he finds a trusty ally in Keri Ann Butler. She helps him and he ends up helping her do some work around her house as well. Their interactions are fun, flirty, and full of sexual tension. Jack is charming, handsome, and sought after by millions of adoring fans. Keri Ann is sweet, snarky, but inexperienced. He has everything he should want, but is basically hiding from his own life. She also has responsibilities, but has been stuck in the small town waiting for her turn to follow her dreams. I liked that she saw the real man under the Hollywood facade and did not treat him like a celebrity.
They connect without even trying. They are attracted when they know it is not a good idea. They fight the tesnion and pull as much as they can, but find it impossible. They know feelings should not get involved, but it that difficult to avoid too. I really liked them together. They had such an easy going rapport and brought out the best in each other when together.
But just as they are finding some peace together, the world comes crashing down around them. This book ends on an emotional cliffhanger, but thankfully book two Forever Jack is already out. This was written in Keri Ann's point of view except for the last part was in Jack's. I would have liked to see more of a dual point of view and more with Jack. But having it in her point of view, made you see the relationship with a famous man through a sheltered young woman's eyes so it made you feel the intensity and awe of it all. And seeing how Jack latched onto the realness of her made it easier to understand how chaotic, empty, and disappointing his life could be despite his wealth and fame.
I love Jack and Keri Ann's story. Told mostly from Keri Ann's perspective, it was a fun read full of drama. Hiding that Jack is even in Butler Cove was a challenge, as a small town during the off-season, everyone knows everyone's business. As the story progresses and Jack and Keri Ann spend more time together it becomes even harder. Keri's coworkers and friends soon know something is up and it involves a guy, but they can't get her to spill much more than that. None of the residents expect Hollywood drama to extend to their small island town, but boy does Jack bring the drama.
The back and forth between Jack and Keri Ann, now we're admitting there are feelings, now we're not, usually gets old when I'm reading this kind of story, but every back and forth had such good build up that I didn't feel the angst that generally builds up in these situations. Each new twist caused more information about both characters to spill out, and neither backed down on important points. They had great chemistry, and despite the secret nature of their relationship, they both are realistic about the other. Keri Ann never falls for the public Jack but somehow sees beyond the persona to the real Jack underneath.
My heart ached for both characters in the last third of the book. That final twist I should have seen coming but didn't count on knocked the wind out of my sails. But watching how each of them tried to work out of it over time was refreshing. They both stayed true to themselves as individuals doing what they thought was best in the situation.
The epilogue was a great shift of perspective, and the only chapter we get from Jack's POV. Those last two chapters really set up the story for Forever Jack, and put a nice ending in place for this segment of their story. It does end in a cliffhanger, but because Forever Jack is already available, it's not one that means waiting long to find out the rest of the story.
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A feisty small-town girl and the Hollywood star who broke her heart
An all-consuming love threatened by fame
One last chance at FOREVER
Keri Ann Butler’s life changed on the night she met movie star, Jack Eversea. She thought she knew a Jack that was very different to the man adored by fans the world over. In the wake of his betrayal and abandonment, Keri Ann has had to pick up and move forward with the life she was supposed to live and has put off far too long.
Suddenly Jack is back, and his explanations for why he left seem more and more plausible, and his declarations more seductive. But being Jack’s latest tabloid accessory isn’t on Keri Ann’s career agenda, no matter how much she is attracted to him. And how can she can ever trust him again?
Jack knows he let the only ‘real’ thing that ever happened to him slip through his fingers. And his hands have been tied to try and stop it. Until Now.
Jack is now fighting to save his relationship with Keri Ann, even as his crazy life threatens to tear them apart. Again. The question is, can he convince her she can have it all? And have him? Forever?
Read how it all began in “Eversea “…
Jack has been away from Butler Cover for months with no contact. He has been all over the tabloids looking like he has moved on and is enjoying every party. Keri Ann was left heartbroken and is now trying to move on with her life through her art, school, and a new man. But Jack is never far from her thoughts. And eventually he reappears and is ready to fight for her.
But there are so many secrets and misunderstandings to face. They were both hurt and heartbroken. She is not sure she is ready to go through it all again when she is just getting back on track. But he has a lot to say about where he has been and why he took so long to come back. Even though at first I understood why Keri Ann was so mad. I was disappointed in Jack too. But then I really came to sympathize with Jack and wanted Keri Ann to at least quit resisting and give him a chance to explain. She really found her inner spunk in this book and would not even listen at times and focused on her own needs. She did not want to lose all she was working for and end up regretting it later. And she really frustrated me at times!
But Jack was not about to let her go again. His absence and what he had been through only made him more determined to win her back and change his life again. Their chemistry is still strong and their feelings never really left. It is a matter of taking a chance, regaining trust, putting back the pieces, and figuring out where to go from there.
Can they find common ground to try again? And if they do get involved again will they find true happiness or be destroyed all over again?
This book was written in both Jack and Keri Ann's points of view that were clearly delineated. I loved getting into Jack's head more. This one had me frustrated at times and wanting to shake each of them intermittently (but mostly Keri Ann). There were so many miscommunication issues and disconnects. This couple went through a lot together and grew both individually and together. And in this one they did get a resolved ending and epilogue into the future.
Kim's thoughts on the series:
These were fun, light reads that still had some drama, angst, and emotional bite. I devoured them both back to back and were a great escape. The plot line was fun with the small town girl vs. the Hollywood Heart Throb. The characters were well developed and had complicated back stories and lives. They had challenges to overcome and life differences to navigate. But deep down Jack and Keri Ann were so good together. And in their little bubble of happiness it was easy to see that. But it was when faced with the outside world that their problems really began. Keri Ann was not experienced about the world and love. And even though Jack was with worldly, he was not that experienced in real relationships and love. They made mistakes, had misunderstandings, and separations, but all along I felt that they belonged together. But they both had to find their inner strength and figure out what they really wanted to do with their present and future in order to really face everything that was coming at them.
I really liked the characters. Jack was such an interesting, lovable, swoony character. Despite his fame and fortune, he had heart and he really did care. He was just stuck in a world where he had little control and everything he did was scrutinized. He did the best he could to protect what he had with Keri Ann. It wasn't always easy, he made mistakes with how he went about it, but his heart was in the right place. And he did not shy away from owning and sharing his feelings about her. Keri Ann was very insecure and naive. She was just trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life and who she really was. But Jack's appearance in her life really jump started her to figure out what she wanted to do and she was not going to be swayed away from her dreams. There lives were very different. The only way Keri Ann could handle it all is if she found a way not to lose herself to Jack's crazy world. And Jack had to find a way to be able to manage his obligations, career, and try to fit Keri Ann into it.
I really liked some of the side characters especially her bestie, Jazz and her older brother, Joey. And also her friends, Liz and Jasper. I would love to see these two couples get stories in this series and then perhaps we could see a little more of Jack and Keri Ann is well. I also loved his friend Devon who always had Jack's back. These books were enjoyable, engaging, and even though there were some dark pasts and negative emotions, it was not so heavy that it dragged the story down. So I enjoyed this series and the characters and will read more by this author in the future.
Thanks to Natasha Boyd for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Forever Jack continues the story of Jack Eversea and Keri Ann Butler that began in Eversea. Seven months after Jack left Butler’s Cove to go back to Audrey and 5 months after he learned the truth in California, Keri Ann is creating her sea glass art and preparing to start art school in the Fall when Jack returns to Butler’s Cove to try to get her back.
I liked the development of Keri Ann, through the second half of the book especially. She went from quiet, unassuming local girl, to someone able to stand on her own and rely on others more than she ever had in the past. I know, that sounds like a oxymoron, but she had to learn both, I promise. It should have irked me, all the back and forth she continued to do through much of this book, but each time she waffled, even if it was a backstep there was development in her character. She drove me nuts as often as I was cheering for her.
Jack? I think because the title is his name yet again, I figured we’d see more development of his character. He’s still the same Jack and does work to prove himself to Keri Ann, but I didn’t love him as much in this book as I did in the first. Something, and I can’t quite put my finger on in unfortunately, just didn’t click for me here. Maybe I wouldn’t have the same hang up about him had I read the books back to back, with a couple weeks in between them something held me back from loving Jack as much this time around.
The story bounces between Keri Ann’s voice and Jack’s. It was nice to see what both were experiencing throughout the story, but maybe because of the focus on Keri Ann in Eversea, it didn’t work as well for me having both perspectives.
Forever Jack had the highs and lows one would expect from a second chance story, the push and pull between two characters who love each other but fear the vulnerability that comes out of a relationship, and the cast of side characters to push and support the main ones.
Thanks to Natasha Boyd for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
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Natasha Boyd is a writer with a background in marketing and public relations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and lives in the coastal Carolina Lowcountry, complete with Spanish moss, alligators and mosquitoes the size of tiny birds. She has a husband, two sons and a host of scared relatives that worry the next book will be about them. She is a member of Georgia Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America and Island Writers Network, where she has been a featured speaker. Forever, Jack is the sequel to her award-winning and first full-length novel, Eversea.
Tour wide giveaway
Prizes:
--4 Kindles (Open wherever Amazon ships)
--2x signer copies of both book 1 & 2 + sea turtle pendant (Open INTL)
Blog giveaway:
one (1) ebook copy of either Eversea or Forever Jack (winner can choose). Open internationally.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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