Claimed - Book 2 in the "Evermore Series"
RELEASES: September 30, 2016
Book Description:
Book #2 in the Evermore Series finds Neely Evans back in Malibu. She's seventeen and under her father and stepmother's care. Not the ideal situation, but Neely knows she has to bide her time and play the game until she goes off to college.
Seth Drake is studying in New York, and Neely is relieved she won't have to face him after the way things ended two years prior. But little does she know a chance encounter on the beach a few months later will rip open scars she thought had healed forever.
Seth Drake's rise to fame soon parts them once again, but he will forever be entwined in Neely's heart and soul, and that fact does not sit well with her. She's determined to live her life recklessly, and in doing so, she puts everything at risk.
Adult Content
17+
Our Review:
Crushed & Claimed ~ Reviewed by Donna ~ 4 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***
“I care about Seth. I wouldn’t do
anything to screw up his life, no matter how bad mine is right now.”
Crushed and Claimed are the first two books in a four-part
series and are novella in size. Both these books were quick reads for me,
especially as I was drawn into the story from the get go and couldn’t turn the
pages quick enough to see what life had in store for Neely Evans. This series
is a coming of age story and follows Neely from teenager to adulthood.
Crushed starts as Neely’s life is uprooted and she has to
move from her roots in Tennessee to California for her father’s job. Her father
is a lawyer and is now specialising in Entertainment so he has to go to where
the actors and actresses are, so Malibu it was. Neely feels incredibly out of
place, from Tennessee to Malibu is a culture shock and she struggles to fit in,
yet once she makes a friend, Malibu doesn’t seem that bad after all.
“As beautiful and golden as
California was – and is, I ached for the rolling hills, lazy creeks, and dirt
roads of Tennessee. I felt like I would never fit in here. But I did.”
Seth Drake is the boy next door, he is a year older than
Neely and these two strike up an incredible friendship, they truly were
inseparable. As Neely’s home life shatters due to her father working long hours
and her mother seeking solace at the bottom of a bottle, Seth’s family become
her adopted one and the Drake’s become the only people that she can rely on. As
these two get older though, those lines of friendship blur and these two cross
the line to something more and their reliance on one and other deepens even
further.
The relationship between Seth and Neely was adorable, you
sensed their attraction, their love for one and other and their chemistry. They
were responsible, no matter the temptation and tried their hardest to be what
the other needed. So what would happen when life strikes another blow and these
two are torn apart?
“I LOVE YOU, NEELY EVANS!”
Neely’s life was about to change for the worse when her
cheating father is discovered and Neely’s alcoholic mother makes them up-sticks
and move back to Tennessee. They write, they talk but what happens when that
all comes to an end and what happens when Neely finally makes it back to
Malibu?
Neely is a strong girl, she had to be to become the main
carer for a manic depressive and alcoholic mother. She lost her late teens to
the bottle and my heart broke for her so many times. Seth was always her anchor
and it pained me when interference often caused misunderstandings. There was
one particular person I wanted to throttle who seemed to be the one constant in
everything that went wrong in Neely’s life.
“I would never waste years of my
life getting wasted like Mama had, still allowing herself to be tortured over
something that just wasn’t meant to be.”
Now that Seth is following in his mother’s footsteps and is
now gracing the TV screen will fame and fortune go to his head, or will he stay
true to his roots and his friends? His life has changed in Neely’s absence,
will she forever be the past, or will she remain the one that got away?
Andrea Smith stays true to her character’s ages and their
dialogue and actions were very representative of their ages, something that is
often missed. Their stories are relatable and these two really got under my
skin because when they hurt, I hurt. First loves always leave an impression,
especially those born from a solid friendship and I cannot wait to see what
happens to Neely and Seth going forward. Has too much happened or will these
two get the happily ever after they so richly deserve? I cannot wait for
Paparazzi!!
Other Books in this Series:
Crushed
Book 1 in the "Evermore Series"
Book Description:
It's 1993 in the pristine coastal community of Malibu, CA. Fourteen year-old Neely Evans is coming of age, like it or not. A Tennessee transplant, she ended up in California when her father landed a job at a top law firm.
Neely fills her time painting seascapes, still life art, and combing the beach for her next perfect picture. And then, the boy down the beach enters her life, and she will never be the same.
Seth Drake, a year older than Neely, takes her under his wing. He enjoys hanging with her and they are soon inseparable. As they grow close, their friendship gives way to something more. But before the teens can fully revel in their budding romance, Neely's life is ripped apart. Her father's infidelity is made public, and her mother is determined to seek revenge by using Neely as her weapon. She takes her daughter and moves back to Tennessee.
Months later, when Neely returns for a visit, she finds that Seth has matured in ways she'd never imagined. Neely isn't sure if she's ready to take the next step in their relationship. In the end, Neely makes a decision she may live to regret.
This first installment in the Evermore Series is bittersweet; complete with first love, first heartbreak, a family forever fractured by infidelity, and a teenager that becomes the primary caregiver for her mentally unstable mother. But Neely has strength that sometimes surprises even her. She learns how to cope - any way she can.
Buy Links:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2dAOg7p
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2dcGKjG
About the Author:
Andrea Smith is a USA Today Best-Selling Author.
She self-publishes Erotic Romance, Menage, Romantic Suspense, and Sensual Romance with a paranormal twist. She also writes New Adult Romance, and has recently collaborated with Author Eva LeNoir on two M/M Romances, with the third in process!
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/
Stalk her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndreaSmithAuthor/
Follow her on Twitter: @GManAuthor
Here is a listing of her published fiction to date
Baby Series
(Contemporary Romance/Suspense w/erotic tone)
These Books should be read in order:
Maybe Baby (Book 1)
Baby Love (Book 2)
Be My Baby (Book 3)
Baby Come Back (Novella) (Book 3.5)
G-Man Series
(Contemporary Romance/Suspense w/erotic tone)
These Books do not have to be read in order, but they are most enjoyable if done so.
Diamond Girl (Book 1)
Love Plus One (Book 2)
Night Moves (Book 3)
G-Men Holiday Wrap (Novella) (Book 3.5)
These Men (Spin-off) Part of the BEND anthology. (M/F/M)
My Men (Sequel to "These Men") (M/F/M)
Taz (G-Man Book 4)
G-Man: Next Generation
(New Adult Romance)
Walk of Shame (Book 1)
Limbo Series
(Contemporary Steamy Romance w/paranormal edge)
Silent Whisper
Clouds in my Coffee
September Series
(New Adult- Taboo)
Need to be read in order.
Until September (Book 1)
When September Ends (Book 2)
M/M Romance
(Co-Authored with Eva LeNoir)
Black Balled
Guns Blazing (Spin-Off from Black Balled)
Hard Edit (Release Date 9-4-16)
Evermore
Series (YA/NA Serial)
Crushed (Book 1)
Claimed (Book 2)
Paparazzi (Book 3)
Star F*cking (Book 4)
Thank you so much!!
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