Book Review and Giveaway for The Real by Kate Stewart

THE REAL
by KATE STEWART

They say it happens when you least expect it.

It did for me.

It started the moment I saw the simple message pop up on my computer screen:

Cameron’s Mac: Hi.

And when I met the eyes of the gorgeous man messaging me from across the coffee shop, I never thought my reply would lead to the most intense, sexual, and passionate relationship of my life.

We both agreed to check our bags at the door and put our future hopes and aspirations on the table.

It worked.

I fell in love with his no holds barred attitude, sexy smirk, and undeniably good heart . . . and for a while we forgot about our baggage. We happily tripped over it to get to the other, neither of us willing to show the contents of our pasts in the off chance it could ruin us.

We built our love on a foundation of gray.

It was life in black and white that threatened to tear us apart.

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REVIEW: 4.5 STARS
"Sacrifice would be my penance for taking her trust and muting it to hear my own heartbeat."

FIRST AND FOREMOST:  I will need this signed on my shelf. I will need to regularly pet it, smile at it, think about it, and then set it back very carefully. This will be the kind of book that you remember fondly after reading it. While 95% of it was the epitome of the perfection of falling in love, there was some heaviness to it, and it was very well written, but overall it's a very fun story to read. I smiled throughout...I may have even <sighed> a few times.

This book pulled me in and, for the sake of not sounding cheesy.....well, I'm going to: It held me hostage! I blocked out the world and got sucked up into messages and hearts, secrets and filthy comments. I loved the feeling of the anticipation for new messages. I reveled in the excitement of butterflies and the discovery of a new love. I felt giddy at the possibilities and where this was leading up to. I swooned at how PERFECT Cameron was. With a heartbreaking chain of events, some out of their control, and others slipping away without them even being ready to accept them, this book was one heartfelt exercise in trust. Dreamy....seriously. Dimples on a man make me weak in the knees, but add a sexy smirk, a wink, and a raspy voice and I'm a goner.

Sometimes, there is an author that writes that perfect boyfriend....the one that makes you smile, makes you squirm and gives you the goosebumps. Well, Kate did that with Cameron. Even though I was on edge because there was a secret he was hiding, I couldn't help but fall for him. His secret, while it was his to bear, was a true testament to his character as a whole. I had a really hard time with what happened to him, but it made me fall deeper for him, for his entire character, in the long run. The weird thing is, I figured out the twist, but it was a "what if" scenario for me and seeing it all unravel was making me turn the pages with intent. Because if I thought I had it figured out, Kate made sure I did NOT.

"Love broke us both and put back together."

And my gosh, when I say Cameron was just so perfect, I mean it - flaws and all. Even though they both had a rough go at love, Cameron didn't let it stop him. But Abbie was jaded. It took someone with the patience of a saint to bring her back to a trusting person, and while that was no easy feat, Cameron went in with determination. The thing about his determination (and love) was that it wasn't over the top. It wasn't in your face. It wasn't anything that made me side-eye him or his intentions. What it was was pure. It was understanding. It was patient. It was comforting. I just loved how he took care of her from afar. How he made sure she was always ok. He always had her best interests in mind. There was a lot of gray in their world though....some murky parts that needed some clarity. I adored him. I just did.

I can definitively say that you want to read this book. You do. It was that fun. That smile inducing. That perfect of a love. This one was just one of those books I fell in love with easily and comfortably. I know that Kate seems to have the words that speak to me. Her flow is easy. Her cadence is easy. Her stories are easy. Twice now I've read her and twice now I've loved her books. I will happily recommend this book to anyone that wants a book with a truth behind the love; a depth behind the need. I loved it so much.

"And in case it's not clear by now when it comes to weakness, you're becoming mine."
~BEE

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~MEET KATE STEWART~

Kate Stewart lives in Charleston, S.C. with her husband, Nick, and her naughty beagle, Sadie. A native of Dallas, Kate moved to Charleston three weeks after her first visit, dropping her career of 8 years, and declaring it her creative muse. Kate pens messy, sexy, angst-filled contemporary romance as well as romantic comedy and erotic suspense because it's what she loves as a reader. A lover of all things '80s and '90s, especially John Hughes films and rap, she dabbles a little in photography, can knit a simple stitch scarf for necessity only and does a horrible job of playing the ukulele. Aside from running a mile without collapsing, traveling is the only other must on her bucket list. On occasion, she does very well at vodka.

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