Blog Tour - Chasing River by K.A. Tucker + Giveaway

Title: Chasing River (Burying Water #3)

Author: K.A. Tucker

Publisher: Atria Books

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / B&N / iBooks / Indigo

Armed with two years’ worth of savings and the need toe experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude.

Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled. No one was supposed to get hurt. But then that American tourist showed up. He couldn’t let her die, but he also couldn’t risk being identified at the scene—so, he ran. Back to his everyday life of running his family’s pub. Only, everyday life is getting more and more complicated, thanks to his brother, Aengus, and his criminal associations. When the American girl tracks River down, he quickly realizes how much he likes her, how wrong she is for him. And how dangerous it is to have her around. Casing her off would be the smart move. 

Maybe it’s because he saved her life, or maybe it’s because he’s completely different from everything she’s left behind, but Amber finds herself chasing after River Delaney. Amber isn’t the kind of girl to chase after anyone.

And River isn’t the kind of guy she’d want to catch.

By now it shouldn’t be a secret or a surprise that I love K.A. Tucker and her books. In the last year and a half I have devoured every book she’s published and I just can never seem to get enough. The last few months I was dying to read her latest, Chasing River, and I was not in the least bit disappointed by the story.

Amber Welles has never ventured outside the comfortable bubble of her small Oregon hometown, but she’s decided that it’s time to experience life for what it is. Setting off on a trip around the world, Amber is ready for an adventure wanting to see what the world has to offer. What she never expected was almost dying in a terrorist bombing in Dublin. At the last second, a stranger jumps in and saves her, before taking off again without giving her a chance to thank him. Determined to find her mysterious saviour, Amber keeps looking around Dublin hoping she’ll find the man who saved her life. The one problem is that River is doing everything he can to stay away from Amber, no matter how much he feels a pull towards her. It’s not just to protect himself and his family, it’s also for her own protection. But even if it means putting themselves in danger, Amber and River can’t keep fighting the forces that keep pulling them together.

Here’s the thing about writing reviews for books written by a favourite author: it’s HARD. If I’m being completely honest, all I really want to say about Chasing River is that it was freaking amazing and everyone should read it. But in my opinion, I could say the exact same thing about every one of K.A. Tucker’s books that I’ve read (so all of them), so that’s not entirely helpful. Unless you’re just going to take my word for it and walk over to your local bookstore to pick up any one of her books. So I’ll try to give you all a little more than that where Chasing River is concerned. For starters, this story gave me wanderlust like no other. I’ve been to Dublin and other parts of Ireland before, but reading Chasing River totally made me want to go back, even with the book starting off with a bombing in one of the busiest areas of Dublin. And speaking of that bombing and all its implications, I really enjoyed how much of the story was tied to the history of the IRA and how over time the organization has changed from what it originally was. It added another layer of depth to the story, beyond just the “traditional” suspense and the romance. Which, speaking of the romance, it should go without saying that I loved it. I loved the way the relationship between Amber and River developed, how despite that initial attraction they both tried to resist it, knowing that it was likely not going to end well. It only made it that much better when they did get together

In many ways I could related to Amber, especially when it comes to doing the “safe” thing and never really doing anything to stray from that supposedly “safe” path. Because that’s pretty much what I’ve done with my life so far. So I appreciated and understood that side of Amber’s personality. And I could totally understand her desire to want to go on an adventure, to see what the world had to offer. So it didn’t take long for me to connect to Amber and her story. And as much I would love to go off on a trip around the world the way Amber does, I would like to hope I wouldn’t end up almost killed in a bombing like she did. Or if that were the case, maybe there would be my own River on hand to save me. Because I wouldn’t mind having my own River, or even stealing this River from Amber and keeping him for myself, because, well, yeah. River was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he was doing the best he could to do the right thing by his family and the people he cared about and that often put him in difficult situations. But I admired his loyalty, even if sometimes it led to him making some questionable decisions. It all worked out though, but there were still some close calls. But none of that stopped me from absolutely loving River. Also, Ivy was awesome. I loved seeing so much of her in Chasing River and it made me that much more excited about reading her story in Surviving Ice.

Chasing River was exactly what I had hoped it would be. This story was packed with intrigue, drama and romance, just the way I liked it. K.A. Tucker absolutely delivered with this story and I can’t wait to see what she does next with Surviving Ice. 

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Becoming Rain by K.A. Tucker

Title: Becoming Rain (Burying Water #2)

Author: K.A. Tucker

Publisher: Atria Books

Release Date: March 3, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo / B&N

Luke Boone doesn’t know exactly what his uncle Rust in involved in but he wants in on ti—the cars, the money, the women. And it looks like he’s finally getting his wish. When Rust hands him the managerial keys to the garage, they come with a second set—one that opens up the door to tons of cash and opportunity. Though it’s not exactly legal, Luke’s never been one to worry about that sort of thing. Especially when it puts him behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 and onto the radar of gorgeous socialite named Rain.

Clara Bertelli is at the top of her game—at only twenty-six years old, she’s one of the most successful undercover officers in the Washington D.C. major crime unit, and she’s just been handed a case that could catapult her career and expose one of the west coast’s most notorious car theft rings. But, in order to do it, she’ll need to go deep undercover as Rain Martines. Her target? The twenty-four-year old nephew of a key player who appears ready to follow in his uncle’s footsteps.

As Clara drifts deeper into the luxurious lifestyle of Rain, and further into the arms of her very attractive and charming target, the lines between right and wrong start to blue, making her wonder if she’ll be able to leave it all behind. Or is she’ll even want to.

I am such a huge K.A. Tucker fangirl and I will read and will very likely love just about anything she writes. This was true of her Ten Tiny Breaths series, and it’s been true with her Burying Water series so far. I loved the first book, and the second one, Becoming Rain, completely blew me away.

Luke has always known there was more to his uncle Rust’s business than just an auto-repair shop. Sure, the garage is successful, but there’s no way it could support his uncle’s lifestyle. And Luke wants in on it. He doesn’t care that the dealings may are shady, he wants the women, the cars and the money his uncle’s business seem to bring in. Especially when he meets Rain Martines. What Luke doesn’t know is that Rain isn’t exactly who she says she is. Rain is also Clara, an undercover cop on assignment. And her target? None other than Rust, Luke’s uncle. Clara knows what she has to do in order to take down Rust’s car theft ring. Her assignment is clear: seduce Luke Boone and gain access to the operations. But lines becomes blurred between where Rain ends and Clara begins, especially as she spends more time with Luke. When the time comes, will Clara be able to do what she needs to? And if she does, will Luke ever be able to forgive her?

Oh how I love reading a new K.A. Tucker story. There’s just this feeling when starting a new book by a favourite author that I just won’t ever get tired of. And that feeling was definitely there when I started reading Becoming Rain. When I first received my copy of the book for review, I told myself I would just read a few pages and then go back to what I was supposed to be reading. Yeah, that didn’t happen. I got completely sucked in, and before I knew what was happening, a few pages turned into a few chapters and then that quickly turned into me staying up way too late because I couldn’t put the book down. To say that Becoming Rain was captivating and engrossing would be a serious understatement. With this new series, K.A. Tucker has included an element of mystery to the stories, giving the books an almost thriller feel. And I love it. The whole time I was reading, I was waiting for things to be explained, to see if how I had pieced things together was the way they actually were. And as with any good K.A. Tucker book, the romance was there and it delivered. But of course I can’t talk about the romance without talking about Clara and Luke.

Let me just preface any talk of Clara and Luke by saying that my feelings about them were complicated. I knew what I felt, but there were times when I was conflicted about what I was feeling. But by the end of it, there was no doubt in my mind that I was rooting for Luke and Clara. But rooting for them when for the better part of the book one of them was pretending to be someone else was hard. At first I just felt very conflicted. I was reading and I could see the chemistry between Clara and Luke and I could see that they were attracted to each other. But at the same time, Clara was so against the idea of being attracted to Luke that I started to feel that way. But I still wanted them to be together. Did I mention that my feelings were complicated? Beyond wanting Luke and Clara to be together in spite of everything happening around them, I really loved them as their own people. Sure, there were plenty of moments when I wanted to yell at Luke. When I wanted to tell him that he should turn around now before he got in way over his head. Hell, I’m pretty sure there were times when I was straight up talking at the book as if Luke could actually hear me (I swear, I’m not crazy). But at the same time, I knew that Luke was a good person. He was just stuck in a bad situation. And I could understand Clara’s struggle about the way she felt about Luke because half the time I was right there with her. Through it all Clara was being pulled back and forth between her feelings and her duty as a cop. I really enjoyed seeing her work through all that, and I kept hoping that whatever decision she came to would involve her being with Luke. Because as confused as I was about my feelings about their relationship, I would have been seriously angry if Luke and Clara didn’t find a way to work it out.

K.A. Tucker’s Becoming Rain was absolutely fantastic. If anything, I loved this story even more than I did the first one in this series. It’s a little darker, it’s sexy and it has some of the best characters I’ve read about recently. I”m excited to see whose story K.A. Tucker will be tackling next!

Blog Tour - Burying Water by K.A. Tucker + Giveaway

Title: Burying Water (Burying Water #1)

Author: K.A. Tucker

Publisher: Atria Books

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo / B&N

The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.

Left for dead in the fields of rural Oregon, a young woman defines all odds and survives—but she awakens with no idea who she is, or what happened to her. Refusing to answer to “Jane Doe” for another day, the woman renames herself “Water” for the tiny, hidden marking on her body—the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? Why won’t Ginny let him step foot on her property? And why does Water feel she recognizes him?

Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. He knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried. 

The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface.

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of K.A. Tucker and her Ten Tiny Breaths series. With that series having come to an end, I was excited to see what she would do next. Burying Water sounded like it had a lot of potential. Memory loss and a mysterious neighbor? Count me in! And I was not in the least bit disappointed.

When she wakes up in the hospital, she has no idea who she is, much less how she got there. Having been left for dead in field outside a small Oregon, she doesn't know where she comes from or what she could have done to be attacked in way she was. After months in the hospital being called "Jane Doe," she renames herself "Water," after discovering a tattoo o her body. Taken in by Ginny, an old lady who owns a ranch outside of town, Water sets about getting on with her life hoping that her memories will one day return. But she can't help but feel drawn to Jesse, the neighbor who spends most of his time playing with the engine of his car. Does she know him? Does he know what happened to her before she lost her memory? Jesse knows he should stay away from Water. After everything that happened he shouldn't let himself get close to her. But his feelings, much like Water's, can only stay buried for long.

There's so much I want to say about K.A. Tucker's Burying Water. I just don't know if I'll be able to get it all out, much less if I'll be able to do so coherently. But I'll try. I was a little apprehensive when I started reading Burying Water. I love K.A. Tucker's other new adult books so FREAKING much that I didn't know how this one would possibly be able to compare. I didn't help that when I started reading I didn't know how it was going to work not only to have the story told from two perspectives, but from two different points in time. Once I started reading, though, I got swept up in the story. The way Burying Water is written, it's almost as if I got two love stories: one of Jesse falling in love with Alex, and one of Water falling in love with Jesse. I absolutely LOVED seeing these two stories unfold. With Jesse's story, there was definitely more drama, questioning of whether he was doing the right thing. With Water's story, it was all about jumping into the unknown. And as much as I loved seeing the relationships and the romance develop, it also broke my heart. The more I read, the more I knew what was coming but I couldn't stop reading even if I knew it would result with me in tears. Through it all though, I was falling in love with Jesse and Water.

It would have been very difficult for me to not fall for Jesse Welles. From the moment I met him in Burying Water, I knew that he would quickly work his way into my heart. He didn't thin highly of himself, but the more I read, and the more I saw him interact with Alex (and I REALLY want to talk about Alex, but I can't because it would just be too complicated), I just knew that he was more than he was giving himself credit for. Sure, he had made bad decisions in the past, and even now some of his decisions were questionable at best, but what he did came from a good place. He was willing to do whatever it took to keep Alex safe, even if it meant hurting himself in the process. And that happened again with Water. Water is one of those people you can't help but feel for. She wakes up in the hospital after having been brutally attacked not knowing who she is. You an't help but want to root for this girl. And believe me when I say I did. It didn't take long for me to figure out what had happened to her, and when I did it only made me want to root for her even more. And as much as I wanted her to get her memories back, to understand who she really was, I didn't want her to have to relive everything that happened to her when she was attacked. And Water and Jesse were just good for each other, despite what the people around them might have believed. And more than anything, I wanted everything to be okay for them.

As you might have guessed by now, I loved K.A. Tucker's Burying Water. As apprehensive as I might have been about this book, I have no regrets now that I've read this story. And I can't help but look forward to Becoming Rain, the next book in this series.

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