Thursday 28 August 2014

*** Blog Tour - Sweet Fall by Tillie Cole - Out Now - 5 stars***

Sweet Fall by Tillie Cole


Title: Sweet Fall (Sweet Home #3)

Author: Tillie Cole

Genre: New Adult Contemporary 
Publication Date: 26th August 2014
Blog Tour Organised By: Kelly @ Have Book Will Read


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Blurb

From the USA Today Best Selling Sweet Home Series, comes Sweet Fall; a tale of heartache, beating the odds and finding strength in the most unlikeliest of places.
We all have secrets.

Secrets well buried.

Until we find the one soul who makes the burden of such secrets just that little bit easier to bear.

Lexington "Lexi" Hart is a senior at the University of Alabama. Surrounded by her best friends, her loving family and having fulfilled her life-long dream of making the Crimson Tide cheer squad, everything is going exactly as she always dreamed it would. But beneath her happy exterior, demons lurk, threatening to jeopardize everything Lexi has worked to achieve.

When events in her life become too much to cope with, Lexi finds herself spiraling down into the realm of her biggest fear. Lexi falls hard, victim once again to the only thing that can destroy her and, on the way, finds herself falling straight into the dangerous tattooed arms of a guy from the wrong side of the tracks.

Austin Carillo, starting Wide Receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide, must get picked in this year's NFL draft. He needs it. His brothers need it. Most importantly, his mother desperately needs it. Brought up in a world where the poor are forgotten, the sick are left to fend for themselves and no hero miraculously appears to pull you out of hell, Austin had no other choice but to make a living on the wrong side of the law—until football offered Austin the break to get his life back on track.

But when a family tragedy drags him back into the clutches of the gang he believed he had left far behind, Austin finds himself falling. Falling back into criminal ways and falling deep into a suffocating darkness. Until a troubled yet kindred spirit stumbles across his path, where Austin quickly finds he is falling for a young woman—a young woman who might just have the power to save him from his worst enemy: himself.

Can two troubled souls find a lasting peace together? Or will they finally succumb to the demons threatening to destroy them?
New Adult/Contemporary Romance novel—contains adult content, sexual situations and mature topics. Suited for ages 17 and up.


*CAN BE READ AS A STAND-ALONE NOVEL*

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Excerpt

Walking into the empty locker room, the smell of hairspray, perfume, and fruit-scented body wash seemed to hang like a veil in the air. I moved to my locker, taking out my wash bag and pulling out my cosmetic remover wipes, made my way to a mirror.
For a moment, I just stared. My green eyes were rimmed with black, my face pale with my light powder, and my lips were bright red, as red as the freshest of drawn blood. This was me now. This dark makeup defined me. My mask. And removing it at night was the worst part of every day.
With each swipe of the cotton cloth, my inner strength waned. My white-and-black makeup gave way to the pink skin of my natural face. All of my insecurities came flooding back. They always did.
As I dropped the caked wipe into the small trashcan at my feet, I inhaled. My armor was gone.
My eyes were firmly focused on the bright-white porcelain of the basin, but I forced myself to look up. Dr. Lund had taught me this process was an important part of my recovery.
The instant I lifted my head and faced my reflection, I had the same reaction I’d had for too many years—my heart proceeded to plummet to my stomach and all I felt was disgust.
There she was. Lexington. Lexington Hart. The girl with too many imperfections to ever be pretty. Everything unattractive, from her less-than-flawless complexion to the ugly spray of freckles on her nose.
She was disgusting.
She was fat.
We can improve this, Lexington. Just let me in. We can reach perfection.
My hands balled to fists on the lip of the sink as I fought the demon lurking within.
Reaching behind me, my eyes dipped as I unzipped my skirt, slowly working it over my hips and my feet. Next came my top and my underwear, until I stood naked.
Until I was again weak.
Tears fell from my eyes as I stood rock still, gazing at the tiled floor. It was the hardest thing to do. Facing the real me.
My cured body.
One… two… three… four… I counted internally, bracing myself for what I’d see today. Would I look better? Fatter? Thinner? Worse than ever?
Snapping open my pale-green eyes, I met my bare refection and just stared. My eyes swelled with water and my hand instinctively lifted to my collarbone. It was plumper than it should’ve been. It was once the most favorite part of my body, protruding, defined… visible. But not anymore.
Not anymore…
My fingers walked to the top of my arm, and my thumb and index finger pinched at the flesh of my bicep. I had to stifle a sob at how much fat I could pull.
Once all I could pull was skin. But not anymore.
Not anymore…
From out of nowhere, I heard faint laughing and my head whipped around to scour the room. There was nobody there, and chills ran down my spine as I realized who it was.
That is right. It is me, Lexington. No one else is here. Just me, looking at how much weight you have put on. And you, you are seeing the ugly effect of your gluttony too… I can see it in your eyes.
I physically froze.
Let me get you back to where you should be. To where you know you want to be. Just let me back in. Give me the reins. Hand yourself to me. Give yourself over to perfection.
As if being controlled like a puppet, my hands ran over my ribs. One, two, three, four, five, six… My fingers began tapping frantically at the skin. There was too much fat. I should be able to feel up to ten ribs, but I could only feel six. No! I could only feel six.
My hand dropped lower, my fingers prodding the excess flesh of my stomach. Lower still. No, no, no! My hips! My hips were not protruding, not angled or defined. There was too much fat. I’m too fat. Not again! Please! I… I—
Stop!
Lexi… fight it! I said to myself with urgency.
Panting hard, I came back to myself with a jolt. My pale, naked skin was peppered with red marks where I’d been hitting at my bones. Hives had broken out on my neck and chest, and my eyes were red with aggravation and stress.
Seven minutes.
Seven minutes and thirty-two seconds.
Seven minutes and thirty-two seconds until I could move again.
Until I could breathe right again.
Until I could fight the voice in my mind, trying to make me fall.

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My Review

5 Incredibly Moving Stars!


Sweet Fall is book #3 in the Sweet Home series the first two books Sweet Home & Sweet Rome are two of my favourite books.

I’m going to give every reader a health warning now.... You Will Cry, You Will Need Tissues, I cried like an idiot!!!

I’m a big ole fangirl for Tillie Cole’s books she’s one of my favourite authors so I was incredibly excited to receive an ARC of Sweet Fall in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book, I mean I absolutely loved this book and I’m probably gonna spend the rest of this review gushing about it so sorry but I don’t really care I loved this book.

I’m gonna be honest and say that although I was aware of Lexi & Austin in the previous books I paid them very little notice, because seriously Rome!

 After reading this book how I didn’t notice Austin before is beyond me!!!

I love a good old fashioned bad boy and hell that’s Austin down to a T. I swooned every time the sexy, tatted up, badass spoke Italian and called Lexi ‘Pix’.

As much as this is a love story it’s also a heartbreaking, harrowing, emotional rollercoaster. Lexi is just a mess; she is dealing with an illness that is as much psychological as it is physical.

Lexi’s inner voice was just terrifying; to suffer that constant, relentless inner monologue that highlights all of your worse insecurities must just be horrific.

I love Austin & Lexi together, they are both incredibly broken but somehow together they create a bond that can help fix them both.

I found that I struggled to engage with Lexi, purely and simply because I can’t begin to imagine what her life was like or how she struggled.

What I felt for her was sadness that she had this horrible disease, remorse that her life was a constant everlasting cycle that she was slowly loosing, but then hope that she would be ok.

Her character grabbed my attention and it dragged me along for the ride, I normally find I can relate to characters, perhaps I see bits of myself or people I know in them. With Lexi I became the voyeur I watched and followed and hoped and I became so absorbed that I felt her revulsion at her appearance and I felt the love and trust she felt for Austin.

This character knocked me off my feet, it’s obviously an intensely personal book for Tillie Cole and at times it felt a little wrong to be reading it. I know that’s going to sound daft but it felt like I was reading a real personal experience not a fictional character, only someone who has experienced this disease first hand would be able to make the reader truly understand how Lexi felt and  why she did what she did.

I loved Austin his strength was in silence and trying to be a better person, get a better life, I was almost in tears ever time he interacted with his Mama. Austin was a massive contradiction he was a ruthless gang member, a fierce football player but then he was a man who tenderly cared for the women he loved. He cried several times in this book and I wanted to comfort him, I loved that he loved Lexi so intensely.
This book has made me a bit of a wreck, I loved every heartbreaking moment 5 incredibly moving stars!!!

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Buy Links


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About The Author



Tillie Cole is a Northern girl through and through. She originates from a place called Teesside on that little but awesomely sunny (okay I exaggerate) Isle called Great Britain. She was brought up surrounded by her English rose mother -- a farmer's daughter, her crazy Scottish father, a savagely sarcastic sister and a multitude of rescue animals and horses. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tilliecoleauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7074846.Tillie_Cole
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tillie_cole
Blog: http://tilliecole.com/


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Giveaway

Tillie is giving away a Kindle Fire HDX open internationally

a Rafflecopter giveaway



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Posted by I Read Far Too Many Romance Books at 14:16

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