Book Description:
Sins of September - Book 1
I'm no angel. I never was. But when Mama left us just short of my fourteenth birthday, any chance of me becoming angelic flew out the window.
My step-father, Jesse, had been the only 'father-figure' in my life from the time I was six years-old, but all that came to an end when Mama left. I was sent to live with my grandparents in another state; my half-sister, Scout, remained with Jesse, her daddy. And my world had crashed around me.
Fast-forward four years. I'm almost eighteen and a somewhat normal teenage girl who's curious about her sexuality, and determined to find someone like my Mama had - but hadn't appreciated. As luck would have it, my stepfather wants me to spend the summer going into my senior year in Arkansas with them. He needs me to take care of my little sister, Scout over the summer.
Four years have changed both Jesse and me in ways we hadn't considered. It isn't long before I encounter the obstacles involved in getting what it is I really want: Jesse Ryan.
Complications follow, and I learn more than I ever anticipated that summer, not only about myself and my sexuality, but also about being true to myself, and putting others that I love first.
ADULT CONTENT. SEXUALLY EXPLICIT
When September Ends - Book 2
This book is the sequel to "Sins of September."My name is Jesse Ryan. I'm thirty, single (not officially divorced) but that’s a long story. Up until the summer of 2010, I was doing just fine raising my only child, Scout. I'm a construction worker in Fort Smith, AK. But that summer I needed some help with Scout. So that’s when I sent for my 17-year-old stepdaughter—and Scout’s half-sister, September. She has been living with her grandparents in Mississippi ever since her mother—and my estranged wife, Libby, had taken off on all of us years prior.
September turned out to be a very resourceful young woman, effectively ambushing my first budding romance since her mother had left us. But she didn't stop there. Shortly after her 18th birthday, I found myself inexplicably drawn to her. Yeah, I get that there's a twelve year age difference, but despite my better judgement and solid resolve, the heart wants what the heart wants.
Up until now, we have kept our relationship discreet, planning our future together. I’m preparing to start my own business, and September is preparing to start her freshman year of college. Then we get . . . the news. And everything we’ve been planning is suddenly and inexplicably torn from us.
After more than five years without a word, my estranged wife, Libby, resurfaces. She had been seriously injured and now suffers from total amnesia. She doesn’t remember any of us.
Now decisions need to be made, and everyone looks to me to be the one to make them. But how can I make a decision that will be in everyone's best interest?
Mature Content. 18+
Buy Links:
September Series box set on sale for $2.99
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Excerpt:
Sins of September - Book 1
"You might’ve turned eighteen, but I’m still the adult here. If I wanna sit in my own house and get fucking hammered for once, then by God I will do just that! I don’t need a teenager watching over me. She’s my wife, goddamit!
“And she’s my mother!” I scream. “And she fucking left the both of us! Remember?”
“Hell yes I remember.”
“So that’s it? What? I mean are you gonna go through the rest of your life holding onto something—to someone—whether she’s dead or alive, that makes you feel the way you feel right this damn minute?”
I look into his eyes because I want to hear it from him. I want to know why he feels the need to punish himself for what she did.
He takes another sip of his beer, and shrugs. “Shit, maybe so. Maybe it’s what I deserve for not being enough, and not letting her be enough for herself.”
I have no clue as to what he means by that. I simply throw out a retort for good measure. “That’s weak,” I mumble. “Pathetic and weak.”
I start to get off the couch so that I can get away from his drunken ass. I can take almost anything except self-pity or self-loathing. I’ve no tolerance for it.
His hand clamps around my wrist and I’m jerked back around to face him as he stands, pulling me up against him roughly. “What did you say?” he growls.
“I-I think you’re acting weak,” I mumble, losing a bit of my courage.
He cocks a brow as he studies me intently. “What would you know about love—or life or any of it?”
“Maybe more than you think,” I reply softly, looking up at his beautiful, angry face, meeting his cool gaze with one of my own. Our conflicted eyes lock, and when they do, something passes between us; like a spark or something, and all I can think is that it’s about damn time.
He pulls me closer. I wrap my arms around his strong neck, and tilt my face back a bit to give him ample access because this will happen. I’ve decided that.
He captures my mouth with his roughly—almost savagely, but I don’t care. “Fuck you look so much like her,” he growls, “I need to see if you taste like her too.”
“Do it,” I dare.
When September Ends:
"How can you say that?" he asks, moving closer to me, "Have I ever treated you like some dirty little secret? I fucking love you! How many times did you hear those words from my mouth?"
And then it's my turn to flash some anger his way because that's exactly how he made me feel when he allowed too much time to pass without showing me his love with his actions and not just his words.
I face him squarely. "How many times did you and I go out in public, Jesse? Huh? Out to dinner or to a movie, like the way you treated Casey when you were dating her? Or maybe a weekend getaway, or, hell, maybe just cluing Scout in like you promised months ago? Yeah, you think about that and then tell me how I wasn't your dirty little secret.”
His eyes flare as he looks at me, leaning forward and placing his coffee mug next to mine on the table. "I'm here to discuss this current situation with you, September. We didn't get that chance yesterday, with everything happening so quickly."
"There's nothing to discuss," I reply getting up and moving over to the loveseat. I lower myself down next to him and, immediately, I feel my sex clench at his nearness. I need Jesse to not talk. There's nothing he can say that I want to hear right now--maybe ever. "Mama's coming home. I always knew you didn't really belong to me, but she's not here yet," I finish, my hands moving to the crotch of his jeans where I can see that he's got a semi going on. "Let's fuck, Jesse. It's our last chance."
His blue eyes have darkened, and I see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows, "Baby, that's not why I'm here," he argues softly, but he makes no move to remove my hand that is now rubbing the growing bulge in his jeans, and then my fingers pluck at the tip of his cock, and he releases a soft groan. "September…"
"Shh," I purr, leaning in to him, breathing in his scent, the one that will forever be ingrained in my brain. It's the smell of soap and a trace of woodsy pine in the mix. It makes my belly tingle, and my eyes are now focused on his mouth, his full sensual lips, and as he flicks his tongue along the bottom one.
Seconds later, we're melded together in a passionate kiss, both of us hungry for what we know, and what we've denied ourselves for too damn long. I won't deny Jesse this any longer, nor will I deny myself.
Our Review:
Reviewed by Donna ~ 3.5 stars
***ARC's received for an honest review***
“...the truth is she is mine. I’ve claimed her; I’ve marked her, hell I’ve fuckin’ imprinted on her if you want to know the truth. September does belong to me, in every possible way.”
This is one of those series that is hard to review, the subject matter is not for everyone but personally I felt the way that the story was delivered was not on the gross side of uncomfortable, it was honest and a situation that I can see many families finds themselves in. There were a few lines that had my stomach churning and I felt should have been left out, but other than that I really enjoyed this series.
September had to grow up fast. Her real dad had never really been on the scene and September’s mum had married a man a lot younger when September was 5, his name was Jesse and they eventually had a daughter too. September’s mum was a waste of space and oxygen, she should never have been a parent, she was extremely selfish and this hit the extreme when she upped and left leaving September and her little sister with Jesse, she didn’t even have the guts to face Jesse herself, she left that to September too. They managed to cope for a while but it soon becomes clear that it is not working so Jesse leaves September with her maternal grandparents thinking it was for the best.
September felt as if she had been abandoned once again and herein lays the crux of her issues, everyone she has loved has left. September is a gifted student and as she hits her late teens the raging hormones take over and she develops into a beautiful young woman. As we grow older, we all develop fantasies of our ideal man and for September that man is Jesse. She idolises him, despite the feeling of abandonment and in her teenage brain she has him firmly set on a pedestal. They have kept in touch and she still sees him on and off with her sister and these feelings have only progressed and strengthened through the years.
“...but maybe someday he will finally see
How he broke my heart when he set me free...”
One summer when September is fast approaching eighteen, Jesse asks if she could come and look after her sister during the summer holidays as he will be working out of town for long stretches at a time. September jumps at the chance, not only to spend time with her sister but also to see the man that she loves and idolises. September throws herself into “wifely” duties, ensuring the house runs smoothly and everyone is happy and cared for and it is here that the lines begin to blur.
September could be as conniving as the best of them and she is no martyr by any stretch of the imagination, but she was fighting for what she wanted by any means necessary. Coming up against a neighbour that could be just as conniving certainly makes for interesting reading and also ups the ante in the anger stakes too. For a girl that was inexperienced she could certainly flirt and knew how to use her fine womanly attributes. September actually becomes the seductress and I felt she actually took advantage of the situation, she took the lead. Poor Jesse didn’t really know what had hit him, but it seemed he had the same attraction to her for quite a while too, so in essence they were both as bad as each other.
Yes, they are step-daughter and step-father, yes there is a bit of an age gap, but I read it the way the author intended, as a love story. We have the conflicted emotions, the rights and wrongs but the heart wants what the heart wants and when feelings and emotions are running high there is not much you can do about it. As they spent so much time apart, they didn’t have that close father/daughter bond so for me those boundaries hadn’t been crossed. Yes it is taboo, yes it is not the norm, but it can happen and it does happen.
“...I don’t want you with me if you can’t trust it too.”
There is a great plot running throughout both books, at times I was angry, at times I was sad, but the re-introduction of a certain character certainly brought a lot of anger back to the surface for me. This is where a new direction is taken and brings the story back full circle.
The grandparents I wanted to throttle, as I did the neighbour and the mother. Some choices are hard to stomach but I can see why they were made, but at the end you do see the grown up September where she makes choices for herself and no-one else.
For me I was glad that I read both books back to back, I felt the ending to book 2 was rushed and I didn’t feel completely satisfied at the end but loved the epilogue. I would also have loved a deeper character connection, while I felt it, I didn’t live it with them and at times I felt more lust than love, but overall I enjoyed their story and more importantly could empathise.
About the Author:
Andrea Smith is a USA Today Best-Selling Author.
She self-publishes Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, and Sensual Romance with a paranormal twist. She also writes New Adult Romance under the pseudonym of Graysen Blue.
Here is a listing of her published fiction to date:
Baby Series (Contemporary Romance/Suspense w/erotic tone)
Maybe Baby
Baby Love
Be My Baby
Baby Come Back (Novella)
G-Man Series (Contemporary Romance/Suspense w/erotic tone)
Diamond Girl
Love Plus One
Night Moves
G-Men Holiday Wrap (Novella)
These Men (Spin-off) Part of the BEND anthology.
Taz
Past Tense Future Perfect (Baby Series Boxed Set trilogy, e-book only.)
Limbo Series (Contemporary Steamy Romance w/paranormal edge)
Silent Whisper
Clouds in my Coffee
September Series (New Adult)
Sins of September
When September Ends
M/M Romance
Black Balled (Co-Authored with Eva LeNoir)
To sign up for her monthly newsletter, visit her website: http://www.andreasmithauthor.com/
Follow her on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Andrea-Smith/e/B00A1MLQGY/
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