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Review: Between Hello and Goodbye by Emma Scott #NewRelease

BETWEEN HELLO AND GOODBYE

by Emma Scott
Publication date: June 26, 2022
Format: eARC
Source: Valentine PR
4.25 Stars

She’s a city girl in Seattle. He’s a firefighter in a rainforest. This is never going to work…

Faith Benson isn’t your emergency contact, she’s the party-girl friend you call for a good time. The gal-pal who loves mimosas at brunch and martinis at Happy Hour. But her carefree lifestyle threatens her job at a top Seattle ad agency. There’s no one better at landing big accounts (when she shows up) but her boss demands she take a leave of absence to get her head on straight.

Faith heads to the remote Hawaiian island of Kauai, far away from the vices that get her in trouble. But a twisted ankle on Day One requires rescuing by a man who is vice personified—a gorgeous firefighter who awakens feelings in her heart she never knew existed.

Asher Mackey doesn’t get involved with beautiful tourists beyond taking them to bed and then watching them leave his tiny island. He’s devoted his life to the safety and care of everyone around him…except himself. Until he meets Faith Benson, the city girl whose vibrant, inner beauty shines a light on the dark corners of his life, showing him how safe—but empty—it truly is.

Despite their best efforts to keep their distance, Faith and Asher fall hard and fast, but there’s an ocean between them. Both are building their lives on opposite sides of the Pacific while their feelings for each other grow more profound and undeniable by the day.

Something has to give.

When Asher receives devastating news, he and Faith have to decide once and for all to entrust their hearts fully to the other or return to their safe—but separate—worlds. Because neither can endure much longer, living somewhere between hello and goodbye.

Between Hello and Goodbye is a contemporary romance about love, loss, and experiencing life in all its facets. It deals with sensitive topics that may be triggering for some readers.


Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/37SVdNX

Amazon Worldwide: mybook.to/BHandG

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3Fobd6P




Party-girl Faith Benson is at a crossroads. The talented advertising executive can clean up her act and accept a partnership at her firm, or they’re ready to cut ties. When her boss demands that she take some time off to reevaluate, she heads for the island of Kauai, ready for self-reflection and enlightenment – on her own terms, of course.

Asher Mackey is all about control. Since childhood circumstances forced him to act as parent and sole support to his younger brother, Asher is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Determined to control every potential outcome, and protect his small circle of loved ones, he lives constantly with the fear that he will lose that control and fail the ones he loves the most.


"We're not even sleeping together. What are you getting out of this deal?"

"You."

I sat back in my chair. "Me."

"Yeah, Faith." His gaze grazed over me, then met my eyes with an intensity that was full of depth and heat. "I get you."

 

When Asher and Faith meet in Kauai, the attraction is instant. But Asher doesn’t do relationships, and Faith has sworn off men while on her Hawaiian exile. But they can’t seem to stay away from one another and by the time Faith leaves to return home to Seattle, they are faced with impossible decisions. Their lives are polar opposites: Asher is a firefighter and has no intention of leaving the secluded island and the brother he adores; Faith craves the big city and her high-powered career.  Time apart makes them both question what they really want, and what they’ll sacrifice to have it.


"I can't help myself around you. I know, rationally, we're different people. There's a literal ocean between us, and yet... " He reached across the table to take my hand. "I don't see how this can go anywhere, but the last fucking thing I want to think about is saying goodbye."

 

As with all of Scott’s characters, Faith and Asher are complicated and flawed. The journey and growth of both characters was written so deftly and felt so realistic. Theirs was a complicated love story that traveled a bumpy road. It showed that falling in love is only half of the story. When that love was tested, it was impossible not to feel the turmoil and the heartache right along with Asher and Faith.

Emma Scott has her own brand of emotional story telling and it’s done to perfection in Between Hello and Goodbye. Scott does not shy away from tragedy and its aftermath. While there is devastating loss and grief, Scott also provides a reminder that even after the darkest of days, there is still light, love, and joy. With an epilogue that provided many happy tears, I highly recommend this remarkable story.


Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance copy of this book for review. This does not impact my opinion of the book or the content of this review. 





MEET EMMA SCOTT

Emma Scott is a USA Today and Wall St. Journal bestselling author whose books have 
been translated in six languages and featured in Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, New York Daily News and USA Today's Happy Ever After. She writes emotional, character-driven romances in which art and love intertwine to heal, and in which love always wins. If you enjoy emotionally-charged stories that rip your heart out and put it back together again, with diverse characters and kind-hearted heroes, you will enjoy her novels. Visit www.emmascottwrites.com




Review: The Girl in the Love Song by Emma Scott

THE GIRL IN THE LOVE SONG
Emma Scott
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult/New Adult, Romance
Released: June 1, 2020
Source: Purchased
Rating: 4 stars

Miller Stratton is a survivor. After a harrowing childhood of poverty, he will do anything it takes to find security for himself and his mom. He’s putting all his hopes and dreams in the fragile frame of his guitar and the beauty he creates with its strings and his soulful voice.

Until Violet.

No one expects to meet the love of their life at age thirteen. But the spunky rich girl steals Miller’s heart and refuses to give it back.

Violet McNamara’s life hasn’t been as simple as it looks. Her picture-perfect family is not so perfect after all. Her best friend Miller is her one constant and she is determined not to ruin their friendship with romantic complications.

But the heart wants what it wants. As Miller’s star begins to rise to stratospheric heights, what will it take for Violet to realize that she’s the girl in all of his love songs?

Talk about a heartbreaker! It’s not like I expected anything different from Emma Scott, but the angst was off the charts here, my friends. Miller and Violet met at the age of thirteen and were instantly the best of friends. Their friendship was deep and meaningful, and they shared the secrets of their home lives with each other – things no one else knew. Their bond only strengthened over the years and although they both loved each other, neither of them were willing to speak up about their feelings and risk their friendship. They needed and depended on that friendship too much.

We were both only thirteen, but that day I knew I'd love her forever.

Emma Scott managed to make my heart hurt for Miller in the first few pages. From the very beginning I ached for the boy who was living in poverty,  whose mother wasn’t strong enough to provide the care and support he needed, and whose home life became unwelcoming and then dangerous when his mother’s boyfriend moved in. His situation was unimaginable but probably all too realistic. With Violet, her life looked charmed from the outside – a beautiful home in an upscale neighborhood, successful parents, a golden future – but behind closed doors there was tension and anger. The dynamic at home was bad enough that it tainted Violet’s view on love and relationships and so she continued to stifle her feelings for Miller, convinced that love couldn’t last and only led to heartache.

I play for her the songs I'd been writing in her room, with her sitting not a foot from me, oblivious to how perfect she was.

And therein lies the angst. These two people who were in love, who only felt truly seen by the other, who were like each other’s missing piece… but neither would take that chance. All through high school, they danced around each other, coming together and pulling apart like magnets. Sometimes it was circumstances that kept them apart but most often it was their own fears. But despite my frustration with all the time they were apart and pining, there was a lot to love. Like Miller’s utter devotion to Violet, and Violet’s unwavering belief in Miller. And the depiction of found-family was just… perfection. *chef’s kiss* The connection and support between Miller, Ronan and Holden was so special. (And I love that we’ll get Ronan and Holden’s stories in the next books.)

For a few beautiful, shining moments, he'd been all mine. Now he belonged to the world.

It was all wrapped up with an epilogue that made me both smile and brought on happy tears. So, even though the stubbornness and the angst had me wanting to knock Violet and Miller’s heads together at times (or lock them in a room together until they sorted it all out), the destination was absolutely worth the journey.


YOU CAN FIND THE GIRL IN THE LOVE SONG HERE:


Release Blitz: When You Come Back To Me by Emma Scott #NewRelease


Having just read The Girl in the Love Song, the first book in Emma Scott's inter-connected Lost Boys series, last month, I am super excited to dive back in and get Holden and River's story!


From USA Today bestselling author comes the second book in the Lost Boys series of interconnected standalones. Holden and River's emotional and heart-wrenching journey to love, redemption, and their happy ever after. 

When You Come Back To Me by Emma Scott is now live! 

At Santa Cruz Central High School, they called them the misfits, the outcasts, the weirdos. But most of us knew them as the Lost Boys...

Holden Parish survived his parents' horrific attempts to make him "the perfect son." After a year's stint in a Swiss sanitarium to recover, he has vowed to never let anything--or anyone--trap him again. Brilliant but broken, he seeks refuge behind alcohol, meaningless sex, and uses his wicked sense of humor to keep people away. He only has to ride out one year in the coastal town of Santa Cruz with his aunt and uncle before he inherits his billions and can make his escape. Disappear.

Falling in love is not in the plans.

River Whitmore. Star quarterback of the Central High football team, Prom King, Mr. Popular, ladies' man. He leads the perfect life...except it's all a lie. His father has River's future in the NFL all planned out, while River's dream is to run the family business in the town that he loves. But his mother's illness is tearing the family apart and River is becoming the glue that holds them together. How can he break his father's heart when it's already shattering?

River's carefully-crafted façade explodes when he meets Holden Parish. A guy who dresses in coats and scarves year-round, drinks expensive vodka, and spends his free time breaking into houses for the fun of it. They're complete opposites. River seeks a quiet life, away from the spotlight. Holden would rather have dental surgery than settle down.

Holden's demons and River's responsibilities threaten to keep them apart, while their undeniable attraction crashes them together again and again, growing into something deep and real no matter how they resist.

Until one terrible night changes everything.

Lost Boys is a new series of interconnected, coming-of-age standalones from USA Today bestselling author Emma Scott, coming in 2020

Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2FVjR22

Amazon Worldwide: mybook.to/WYCBTM

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/WYCBTMg


MEET EMMA

Emma Scott is a USA Today and Wall St. Journal bestselling author whose books have been translated in five languages and featured in Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, New York Daily News and USA Today's Happy Ever After. She writes emotional, character-driven romances in which art and love intertwine to heal, and in which love always wins. If you enjoy emotionally-charged stories that rip your heart out and put it back together again, with diverse characters and kind-hearted heroes, you will enjoy her novels. Visit www.emmascottwrites.com

RECENT RELEASES

Someday, Someday (M/M standalone)

A Five-Minute Life (standalone)

Bring Down the Stars (Beautiful Hearts #1)

Long Live the Beautiful Hearts (Beautiful Hearts #2)

COMING SOON:

A new YA/NA series of interconnected standalones, coming in 2020

"At Santa Cruz Central High, we called them the misfits, the outcasts, the weirdos. But most of us knew them as the Lost Boys."

The Girl in the Love Song (Lost Boys #1) : http://bit.ly/2MLnYhU

When You Come Back To Me (Lost Boys #2) : http://bit.ly/37BsCHh

The Last Piece of his Heart (Lost Boys #3) : http://bit.ly/2QeVlfa

You can follow me at all the places...

CONNECT WITH EMMA:

Super-cute NON SPAMMY newsletter: http://bit.ly/2nTGLf6

Author page: https://www.facebook.com/EmmaScottwrites/

Reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/906742879369651/

Website: https://www.emmascottwrites.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10405165.Emma_Scott

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2yUnFKJ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmascottwrites/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmmaS_writes

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/emma-scott

Book+Main: https://bit.ly/2ZWw91B




#Blogmas2019 Days 12, 13 and 14: Best Surprise/Discovery, Favorite Fantasy/PNR, Favorite Indie Author #BestBooksof2019


Welcome to Blogmas 2019! 
Blogmas is the creation of Sophie @ Beware of the Reader. This is her third year (I think) doing Blogmas and my second year participating. Sophie has provided some great prompts for this month and I'm excited to participate as often as possible. I'll probably be combining days fairly often, like today. If you'd like to participate, be sure to use the hashtags #Blogmas2019 and #BestBooksof2019.

DAY 12: BEST SURPRISE/DISCOVERY 

I picked up Well Met on a whim and expected something light and fun to pass the time. What I got was all that and then some! Well Met was sweet and adorable, funny and romantic, and all-around charming. It was a listening experience that I loved from start to finish.

DAY 13: FAVORITE FANTASY/PNR

We go way back to January for my favorite fantasy of the year. The Wicked King was everything I wanted in the sequel to The Cruel Prince. It was darker, more intense, and the stakes were higher. The drama was positively delicious and I was so there for it. 

DAY 14: FAVORITE INDIE AUTHOR
And here's where I start to cheat because no way can I choose just one. Five seems like a nice round number so we'll go with that. 

Emma Chase writes book that, at first glance, are deceptively light and fluffy but almost always pack an emotional punch. Her books just bring me so much enjoyment. Lora Richardson is a contemporary YA author that never disappoints. Her books are like falling into a cozy blanket and being hugged for 300 pages. Krista & Becca Ritchie are the twin sister writing duo behind the Addicted/Calloway Sister series, which happens to be my favorite contemporary series ever. I've lived through a lot with those characters! Emma Scott breaks my heart with every book - and makes me ugly cry - but she always puts my heart back together in the best way before it's all over. And Mia Sheridan writes stories that are so packed with emotion and pull me in every single time. 


HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?
WHAT WAS YOUR BEST SURPRISE OF 2019?




Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.


This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic: 
Books on My Spring TBR
This is going to be tricky because I don't make TBR lists. I rarely know what I'm going to read book to book. Who knows what I'm going to feel like reading next? Certainly not I. So, here's a list of books that I want to read - more soonish than laterish - that I may or may not read this Spring.


Alex, Approximately - Jenn Bennett
9 Days & 9 Nights - Katie Cotugno
More Than We Can Tell - Brigid Kemmerer
The Smallest Part - Amy Harmon
Keep Her Safe - K.A. Tucker
Leah on the Offbeat - Becky Albertalli
Bittersweet - Sarina Bowen
The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah
Pure - Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Butterfly Project - Emma Scott


Have you read any of these books?
What's on your Spring TBR?

TOP 10 BOOKS OF 2017



I love all the Top 10/Best-Of lists that come with the end of each year. Whether it’s done in categories or just best overall, reading posts with everyone’s favorites makes me positively giddy. But when it comes to choosing my own favorites… gah! I actually love going through everything I read in the past year (thank you, GoodReads, for making that so easy to do!), but narrowing it down to the Top 10, the cream of the crop… it’s tough. There are so many in the “you almost made it” category. And for that reason I’ll be starting with a few (okay, nine) Honorable Mentions. And it’s not cheating because it’s my list and I can make the rules. :)
A List of Cages – Robin Roe
Tell Me Three Things – Julie Buxbaum
Goodnight, Nic – Marley Jacobs
The Sea of Tranquility – Katja Millay
Letters to the Lost – Brigid Kemmerer
Making Faces – Amy Harmon
Bossman – Vi Keeland
Unraveling Oliver – Liz Nugent

And now to my Top 10 of 2017. To be honest, 2017 was not the most stellar reading year for me. I started off strong – January alone had two books that made it into my Top 10 – but a most unwelcome reading slump hit in October and decided to make itself at home and stay a while. (To give you an idea, I read only four books in October, just three in November, and have managed only one this month.) Here’s hoping for a much better 2018!
Note: These aren’t necessarily 2017 releases (only six were released in 2017), just my top picks from what I read in 2017.

#10 SUGAR & GOLD – EMMA SCOTT
This beautiful romance with a slight paranormal twist captured my heart. I fell in love with Nikolai and Fiona from the very beginning and wished and hoped for their happy ending. Emma Scott delivered some twists I never saw coming, managed to elicit both smiles and tears, and had me not wanting to put the book down. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author.

#9 WRITTEN IN RED – ANNE BISHOP
I downloaded the audio version of Written in Red on a whim and was instantly transported into another world, where The Others – shapeshifters, vampires and more – rule. I was hooked from the very start and proceeded to enjoy all five books in the series. Bishop created characters that managed to feel real, despite this being urban fantasy, and I am completely invested in their story. A perfect example that taking a chance of something outside your reading comfort zone can deliver a new favorite.

#8 TRUST – KYLIE SCOTT
Having never read any of Kylie Scott’s adult/new adult novels, I had no idea what to expect when I picked up an ARC of her young adult release. I was totally onboard with Trust from the explosive beginning. With Edie as a main character that was 100% realistic and John as an anti-hero turned hero, a gripping storyline, and truly positive portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship, Trust seemed to contain everything I love in a YA contemporary and delivered it with a cherry on top.

#7 WHO DO YOU LOVE – JENNIFER WEINER
Jennifer Weiner delivered a story that spanned 30 years and still managed to have me wanting more. This was so much more than a second chance romance, but more a tale of two people who overcome their own pasts and oh-so-relatable flaws. Who Do You Love showed in heartbreaking detail what happens when love isn’t always enough. Rachel and Andy’s story was absolutely precious and pulled at every heartstring.

#6 THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED – BECKY ALBERTALLI
After the sheer epic-ness of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I admit I was nervous about what Becky Albertalli would serve up next. I shouldn't have worried because in Molly Peskin-Suso Alberrtalli created a protagonist so relatable that I felt like I was seventeen all over again. Add in a precious little cupcake of a love interest ( I ♥ Reid) and it was obvious that Albertalli had struck gold again.

#5 UNTIL IT FADES – K.A. TUCKER
K.A. Tucker took a foray into straight-up romance this year and all I can say is: I want more. Filled with a strong but vulnerable heroine, a swoony and sweet hockey star, an adorable five year old little girl (who wasn't overly precocious and actually sounded like a five year old), and a rich cast of secondary characters, I let myself drown in the feel-good romance and loved every minute.

#4 A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN – SARAH J MAAS
For someone who isn't a fantasy reader, I fell hard and fast for the ACOTAR series and have anxiously waited for each new release. And A Court of Wings and Ruin did not disappoint. Maybe it didn't quite reach the perfection of ACOMAF, but it still delivered the characters I love, the villains I love to hate, the action and adventure, the surprises, the laughs, the emotion. It was an incredible ride and I loved it.

#3 FAR FROM THE TREE – ROBIN BENWAY
I should have kept track of how many times I was moved to tears while reading Far from the Tree (hint: it was a lot) because Robin Benway probably owes me a box of Kleenex. This story of three teenagers who discover they are biological siblings and the relationships that follow grabbed me by the heart and didn't let go. Grace and Maya and Joaquin came alive for me and I finished their story feeling so happy I'd met them.

#2 ALL THE UGLY AND WONDERFUL THINGS – BRYN GREENWOOD
Equal parts fascinating, disturbing, thought-provoking and heartbreaking, this novel delved into the hearts and minds of characters unlike any I'd read about before. Following Wavy Quinn, the daughter of a meth dealer father and an unstable addict mother, All the Ugly and Wonderful things tells the story of a lonely girl and a lonely man. It tells a story of creating family where there is none. And it tells a story of love, of human agency, and of ultimate acceptance. Truly unforgettable.


#1 FROM SAND AND ASH – AMY HARMON
My first read of 2017 is my favorite read of 2017. I was already a fan of Amy Harmon when I picked this one up but she outdid herself with this novel set in WW II-era Italy. Her writing was so immersive that I felt as if I was living the story. Eva (an Italian Jew) and Angelo (an American Catholic) were lifelong friends whose differences, which seemed not to matter as children, suddenly meant everything now that war was on their doorstep. From Sand and Ash was often difficult to read, showcasing a cruelty that was beyond belief, but it was also a beautiful depiction of love, faith, endurance and hope. This book is the perfect example of why I read.

Have you read any of these?
What's your favorite book of 2017?