Release Date: 3/5/2015
BLURB:
AJ The name AJ Colthurst may not have any meaning to the public eye, but it should, as I’m the daughter of two famous celebrities. Like any superstar, they crave privacy; so much of it, they built a house in the middle of nowhere for us children. As we grew older, we discovered the lies they built as a fort to protect us from the media, ended up causing emotional damage along the way.
I carry a portion of the guilt on my shoulders; the other part I discovered is the separation of my parents. Their unorthodox ways may have driven me bonkers, but knowing they are no longer together is unacceptable.
That’s why I decided to rattle their cage by reminding at least one of my parents of the past and the reason they belong together. They need to remember why their love is so perfect and why they have to fight to keep it alive. Even if it means I have to dredge up some of my own painful memories along the way. Gabe Back in the early eighties, I set myself to succeed in the financial world. The first step had been moving to New York City to become a stockbroker, but things didn’t work out the way I had hoped. Instead, I ended up making movies and by the end of the decade, Gabe Colt had become a famous name. The downside to my career of choice: the paparazzi. In order to protect my family and our privacy, I maintained my family away from the circus. It had been for their own good; a decision we had made before we started our family.
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EXCERPT
“You don’t seem surprised to see me.”
“The bank called earlier to inform me that Miss Colthurst spent twenty-five thousand dollars in one swipe and to confirm that I authorized the transaction. You haven’t used your card in a long time and suddenly you spend thousands of dollars in just minutes.” We enter a large room with wall to wall bookcases that span from the floor up to the ceiling. Behind a mahogany desk, there is a majestic panoramic window that faces the ocean. A familiar setting, but I’m positive that I’ve never been here before. Gabriel closes the door behind us and resumes the conversation. “Logically, I had to find out what you were up to. I feared you’d been in the hospital and with that pride you carry… you wouldn’t call. That’s why I sent Mason to pick you up, I wanted him to make sure you're alright. He was in the neighborhood.”
Well, he’s here, I’m here, might as well get the party started.
“I wanted you to tell me that what the magazine published is a lie.” I fight with the fist-sized knot in my throat. “But I witnessed that it’s real: a wife, a kid… your first kid, the magazine highlighted that part. Congratulations, I guess.”
I clean the dripping sarcasm from my mouth with the back of my hand.
Those wrinkles around his blue eyes shrink even more. He doesn’t look as young as he does on the cover of magazines. Late fifties look different in front of the cameras, in the media, and, in general. With all the makeup and Photoshop they apply, not many get to see the real face of Gabriel Colt; only a few of us are lucky.
“Ah, that made you crawl outside your little hideout, I see.” He closes his eyes and takes several breaths before opening them again. “Life changed while you were gone, AJ. I don’t think you have the right to burst into my house and make a scene.”
“Your house?” I try to grab the edge of the desk to keep myself from getting caught in the rapids I’m swimming against at the moment. What happened to: “What’s yours is ours?”
“So, I take it you’re not here to apologize?” he dodges my question.
“This house looks a lot like the house in Baja—also looks like home,” I take a few steps and scan the room—avoiding his question.
Two can play the same game. I learned from the best—him.
The answer is simple. Hell, no, I’m not asking him to forgive me. Not when he’s proving that I was right. He lied for a long time. Or, that he only cares about his image and what the rest of the world thinks of him.
“Eight rooms upstairs, I bet. The biggest facing the ocean and it’s right above this library, isn’t it? You never brought us here.” Babbling, faking anger that’s keeping me standing in one piece without shedding a tear. “Can I ask you a question? Actually, just a few things and after that, I swear I’ll disappear forever since that is what you want.”
I cough a couple of times masking the shakiness of my voice. Gabriel sets his hands on his hips and stares at me before he lets a breath out. I take that as a ‘yes’ or a ‘go ahead you poor kid, let’s give this one last time before I start my new family’.
Review
It's not often I start a book almost totally lost and end up being blown away by it at the end. It's also not often I forget what a book is about before I start reading it, and I'm so thankful that this is one time it happened. I'm also thankful can read new things and realize I'm okay with it, even though that's not always the case with everyone.
This book was really different for me. Up until about 33% of the book, I wasn't sure what was going on. I had ideas, and hunches, but as it turned out, they were wrong. To try and get a grip on things, I stopped reading and read the blurb, but that didn't help clear up my confusion. Now let me clarify, even though I was confused as to what was going on and what the story was about, I couldn't stop reading it. I wanted to know what the great mystery was and the whole reason for secrecy that would deny children and a healthy relationship.
When it came to the characters, I was on the fence about how I felt about them. The story is told from AJ and Gabe's points of view. I liked both of them for the most part. There were parts when I felt like AJ was acting like a brat and there were points when I thought Gabe needed a good smack to the back of his head to bring him to his senses. Luckily, he managed to do that on his own, with some help from his children, so no violence was necessary.
I was also able to figure out the cause of my confusion. It turns out that the story starts in the present, goes into the past, and then comes back to the present. All of the chapters are neatly laid out, so you know whose head we're in and what year we're in. The story clicked for me after Gabe started recalling how he's met the love of his life.
There was a twist that I didn't see coming, and I was surprised by it. I like how the author laid it out there. It was something I'm not used to reading, and I know some people will not read the book because of it. I do like the message the book conveyed and the method in which it was conveyed. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series and am hoping AJ finds some peace and happiness. She really had it rough in this book.
Review
★★★★ stars
It's not often I start a book almost totally lost and end up being blown away by it at the end. It's also not often I forget what a book is about before I start reading it, and I'm so thankful that this is one time it happened. I'm also thankful can read new things and realize I'm okay with it, even though that's not always the case with everyone.
This book was really different for me. Up until about 33% of the book, I wasn't sure what was going on. I had ideas, and hunches, but as it turned out, they were wrong. To try and get a grip on things, I stopped reading and read the blurb, but that didn't help clear up my confusion. Now let me clarify, even though I was confused as to what was going on and what the story was about, I couldn't stop reading it. I wanted to know what the great mystery was and the whole reason for secrecy that would deny children and a healthy relationship.
When it came to the characters, I was on the fence about how I felt about them. The story is told from AJ and Gabe's points of view. I liked both of them for the most part. There were parts when I felt like AJ was acting like a brat and there were points when I thought Gabe needed a good smack to the back of his head to bring him to his senses. Luckily, he managed to do that on his own, with some help from his children, so no violence was necessary.
I was also able to figure out the cause of my confusion. It turns out that the story starts in the present, goes into the past, and then comes back to the present. All of the chapters are neatly laid out, so you know whose head we're in and what year we're in. The story clicked for me after Gabe started recalling how he's met the love of his life.
There was a twist that I didn't see coming, and I was surprised by it. I like how the author laid it out there. It was something I'm not used to reading, and I know some people will not read the book because of it. I do like the message the book conveyed and the method in which it was conveyed. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series and am hoping AJ finds some peace and happiness. She really had it rough in this book.
*Thank you to the publicist for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for them in any manner.*
About Author
Born on the mystical day of October 30th in the not so mystical lands of Mexico City, Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a caffeine-injected soap opera. Seventeen years ago she ventured to the lands of her techie husband—a.k.a. the U.S.—with their offspring to start a new adventure. She now lives in Colorado working as a CFO for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, said nerd husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.
Born on the mystical day of October 30th in the not so mystical lands of Mexico City, Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a caffeine-injected soap opera. Seventeen years ago she ventured to the lands of her techie husband—a.k.a. the U.S.—with their offspring to start a new adventure. She now lives in Colorado working as a CFO for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, said nerd husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.
Website: http://www.claudiayburgoa.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClaudiaYBurgoa
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yuribeans
Than you for giving the story a chance and for the lovely review <3
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! :)
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