Love in the Light by Laura Kaye

This book is everything!!!

What’s it About?

Two hearts in the darkness…

Makenna James and Caden Grayson have been inseparable since the day they were trapped in a pitch-black elevator and found acceptance and love in the arms of a stranger. Makenna hopes that night put them on the path to forever—which can’t happen until she introduces her tattooed, pierced, and scarred boyfriend to her father and three over-protective brothers.

Must fight for love in the light…

Haunted by a childhood tragedy and the loss of his family, Caden never thought he’d find the love he shares with Makenna. But the deeper he falls, the more he fears the devastation sure to come if he ever lost her, too. When meeting her family doesn’t go smoothly, Caden questions whether Makenna deserves someone better, stronger, and just more…normal. Maybe they’re just too different—and he’s far too damaged—after all…

First Impressions

When I first saw that this book had been released, I was filled with some pretty intense, and conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I squealed like a kid at Disney World in excitement. A sequel to Hearts in Darkness?! That first book was one of the main inspirations for me to start this blog. On the other hand, would this sequel live up to everything that book one was for me? Is it worth reading if it ends up being worse than what I loved about the first book? Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, as this book not only surpassed every single one of my expectations, but it takes you on an unbelievably emotional journey exploring depression, family and love. One of the few romance novels to actually bring tears to my eyes.

A Humorous Beginning

This book starts off in a rather humorous situation: Caden meeting Makenna’s family for the first time. They met in an elevator, have only been dating for 2 months, and Caden’s covered in piercings and tattoos. Should be an interesting meet and greet! It’s filled with challenges and humor, and I thought this was going to be the main feature of the story line. Turns out it was just the beginning.

An Emotional Turn

Spoiler alert: Who knew there was something more stressful than introducing your boyfriend to your overprotective dad and three brothers? Well hello unplanned pregnancy! Makenna struggles with how to reveal the big news to Caden. Just when she starts to gather the courage to tell him, we see that Caden is slowly pulling away from her before abruptly severing all communication between them. We are then introduced to Caden’s dark spiral into a deep depression.

It ties back to the loss of his mother and brother years beforehand, as well as his fear of losing Makenna. She’s the love of his life, yet he comes to convince himself that he’s not worthy of her love, and that she’d be better off without him. This book provides an insightful glimpse into what it’s like for someone dealing with depression. How the person can push away all that is good in their life, and the intense struggle to try and get out of that dark hole. Laura Kaye’s writing was superb and went far beyond the excellence of book one. In my opinion, this novel was on a whole other level.

*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review*

Series: Hearts in Darkness, book 2. I highly recommend this series. Definitely start with book 1. It’s the best trapped in an elevator romance ever.

Should you read it? Expect an emotional roller coaster ride with this one, as you experience all of the highs and lows of Makenna and Caden’s relationship. This one left me floored.

Smut Level: Ah, the joys of having a tongue ring.

Get it on Amazon: Click here. $3.99 Kindle Price. Self-published. 184 Pages.

 

BookExpo Roundup

I’m back from my glorious adventures at BookExpo America! Gather round, I’ve got stories.

The Unexpected

This was my first venture to BEA, so I really didn’t know what to expect. The most common piece of advice I heard for first timers was to wear comfortable shoes. I’ll admit, after three consecutive days of visiting booths and standing in line for autographs, my toes are a little sore. However, my shoulders ache something fierce! I figured I’d get a couple of free tote bags while I was there, but I never imagined I’d acquire about 10 lbs of free books every day. I actually had to buy another suitcase so that I could bring my clothes back home with me. Altogether, I hauled backed 36 books, 28 of which were signed. Now, did I lug back too many books? Ha! There’s no such thing as too many books.

The Highlights

Although each day was an adventure, what with the Bloggers Conference on day 1, and my first booth visits happening on day 2, the highlights of the trip definitely took place on the third and final day. While everyone was lining up bright and early Friday morning to see James Patterson, I was anxiously waiting for the doors to open so I could visit the Romance Writers of America booth for an author autograph signing. Seeing how many people were in front of me to enter the exhibit area filled me with dread (the line stretched around 1/2 of the convention center), as I was worried they’d run out of books by the time I arrived at the booth. But alas, the doors opened promptly at 9:00am, I made a mad dash for my designated booth, and was 5th in line to get my collection of romantic short stories, Premiere, signed by Sylvia Day (Crossfire series), Laura Kaye (Hearts in Darkness), and Monica Murphy (One Week Girlfriend series). That’s right people! I got one book signed by 3 amazing romance authors in one go. To say I got a little emotional will make me sound like a super freak, but ah hell, I got a little emotional!

So that was the first highlight of the day. The second came a bit later in the autographing area, where Laura Kaye was signing one of the novels from her Hard Ink series, Hard to Come By. I’m happy to say that I was actually first in line for the signing. When I saw that one of my favorite romance authors was going to be at BEA, and that I might actually have the opportunity to meet her, I couldn’t believe it. Not only do I think her book, Hearts in Darkness, is hands down the best romance novel to ever feature two people trapped in an elevator, but it was actually one of the first books to really inspire me to start blogging. That might sound strange to some of you, but after reading something I enjoyed so much, and having nobody I knew to share it with, blogging was an outlet for me. Getting not just one, but two novels signed by the impeccable Laura Kaye was an amazing experience, and one I’m not likely to forget. Especially since I have a photo of it!

The Rest of BEA

Overall, I had a lot of fun! Everybody I met was so unbelievably nice, even the authors. I learned some good tips at the Bloggers Conference, especially when it comes to interacting with authors and publishers. Not feeling obligated to provide a review in exchange for a free book was a great piece of advice. The Harlequin booth had some awesome signings, as well as some delightful pics of ruggedly handsome hotties around their boothing area. The Ellora’s Cave booth was hilarious with their calendar models out front to lure in the ladies, and their tagline of, “Helping make Babies since 2000.” After all, romance novels are an aphrodisiac. Love it! Sure, I sort of felt like cattle being herded around in the autographing area, and my shoulders are still sore from carrying around so many books, but it was totally worth it!

Autographing Area

Well hello there!

Next Year BEA is Headed to Chicago!