Book Review: The Fire Between High and Lo by Brittainy Cherry

THE FIRE BETWEEN HIGH AND LO

by BRITTAINY CHERRY

There once was a boy, and I loved him.

Logan Francis Silverstone and I were complete opposites. I danced, and he stood still. He was quiet, while I ran my mouth. He struggled to find a smile, and I refused to frown.

The night I saw the darkness that truly lived inside of him, I couldn't look away.

We were broken together, yet somehow whole. We were wrong together, but always right. We were the stars that burned across the night sky, searching for a wish, praying for better tomorrows.

Until the day I lost him. He threw us away with one hasty decision--a decision that changed us forever.

There once was a boy, and I loved him.

And for a few breaths, a few whispers, a few moments, I think he loved me, too.

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REVIEW: 4 STARS
"Maybe he was a person who simply existed instead of lived."

Brittainy Cherry is a newer author to me, but after reading The Air He Breathes, I knew that I needed to read this one. I love her storytelling and the way she breathes life into her characters. She definitely has that ability to suck you into a book and hold you hostage, forcing you to turn those page as you soak up her story.

This book was NO different. Once again, I was held captive by her words and I couldn't stop reading the book. I loved Alyssa and Logan. They are the hardest working couple that overcame so many obstacles to find their happily ever after in their love story. Absolutely LOVED them.

The way Alyssa and Logan fell in love was so beautiful.....and it was real. I loved how deep their love went and how it became secondary nature to them to go through all the different nuances they had. I loved their way of communicating, their way of making sure they were ok and reassuring each other. It was just beautiful! I need to say that the way she built up their background and their characters was perfect. By the time I finished this story, I felt like I could shoulder-shrug my way through a conversation with them....and they would know exactly what I was saying. HA!!

There was some drama in the book that tugged on the heartstrings a little, but the overall background of the characters and the emotional story was of Alyssa and Logan. Their love was good...it was thick, it was real. They are proof that real, heartfelt love can withstand ANYthing. I really loved them.  There were a few times their love just made me feel breathless....it was one the kind of love that you just wanted to wrap yourself in.

This book lacked the angst I was anticipating....so I felt like I wanted more in that aspect, though, but it in NO way diminishes the beauty of this story.

"Passion was our drug, and we were addicted to the high."
~BEE

~MEET BRITTAINY CHERRY~

Brittainy Cherry has been in love with words since the day she took her first breath. She graduated from Carroll University with a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Creative Writing. She loves to take part in writing screenplays, acting, and dancing--poorly of course. Coffee, chai tea, and wine are three things that she thinks every person should partake in! Brittainy lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her family. When she's not running a million errands and crafting stories, she's probably playing with her adorable pets.

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Excerpt for Stuck-Up Suit by Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland

EXCERPT

It felt like we were the only two people in the world, instead of inside a busy, posh restaurant. 

“This is beautiful. But odd,” I said.

Graham took off his jacket and settled into his side of the table with one arm casually slung over the top of the booth. “Fitting.”

“Are you saying I’m odd?”

“Are we going to fight about it if I say yes?”

“Probably.”

“Then, yes.”

My brow furrowed. “You want to fight with me?”

Graham tugged at his tie, loosening it. “I find it turns me on.”

I laughed. “I think you need counseling.”

“After the last few days, I believe you may be right.”

The waitress returned with our drinks. She set a highball glass down in front of him and a wine glass in front of me. 

Graham had ordered Hendrick’s and tonic. “That’s an old man’s drink, gin and tonic,” I said as I sipped my wine.

He swirled the ice around in his glass, then brought it to his lips and looked at me over the rim before drinking. ”Remember what arguing with me does. You might want to look under the table.”

My eyes widened. “You aren’t.”

He smirked and cocked an eyebrow. “Go ahead. Put your head under. I know you’re dying to take a peek anyway.”

After we both finished our drinks, and some of my nerves had started to calm, we finally had our first real conversation. One that wasn’t about sex or tongue rings. 

“So how many hours do you work a day in that big fancy office of yours?”

“I usually go in by eight and try to leave by eight.”

“Twelve hours a day? That’s sixty hours a week.”

“Not counting weekends.”

“You work weekends, too?”

“Saturdays.”

“So your only day off is Sunday?”

“I actually sometimes work in the evening on Sunday, too.”

“That’s nuts. When do you find time to enjoy yourself?”

“I enjoy my work.”

I scoffed. “Didn’t sound that way when I stopped in the other day. Everyone there seems afraid of you, and you refused to open the door.”

“I was busy.” He folded his arms over his chest. 

I did the same. “So was I. I took two trains to personally deliver that phone, you know. And you didn’t have the decency to even come out and say thank you.”

“I didn’t know what was behind the door waiting for me, or I would have come out.”

“A person. A person was behind the door. One who went out of her way for you. If I were a sixty­year­ old married woman with blue hair, you should have come out to thank me.”

He sighed. “I’m a busy man, Soraya.”

“Yet here you are on a weeknight at only 7PM. Shouldn’t you be working until eight if you’re so busy?”

“I make exceptions when warranted.”

“How big of you.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You want to look under the table, don’t you?”

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Other books from Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward

Cocky Bastard

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~MEET PENELOPE WARD~

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor, before switching to a more family-friendly career. She is the proud mother of a beautiful 11-year-old girl with autism and a 9-year-old boy. Penelope and her family reside in Rhode Island. 

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~MEET VI KEELAND~

Vi Keeland is a native New Yorker with three children that occupy most of her free time, which she complains about often, but wouldn't change for the world. She is a bookworm and has been known to read her kindle at stop lights, while styling her hair, cleaning, walking, during sporting events, and frequently while pretending to work. She is a boring attorney by day, and an exciting smut author by night!

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Excerpt Reveal: When I'm With You by Harper Sloan

◆ EXCERPT ◆

“I want you so bad,” I mumble through the arousal rushing and flowing over every inch of my body, tingling up every nerve and swimming around inside me in overdrive. “I’ve dreamed of this for so long,” I continue, my words coming out in a pant as I rock my hips. 

“Ember,” he warns when I jerk my hips out of his unforgiving hold, giving us both the friction we’re in the need of when my wet and swollen lips slide against his erection. “Stop,” he barks in a deep rumble, his neck straining as he takes my hips again between his hands. 

“Never.” I let my head roll back and start to pick up my movements, each thrust up getting the attention to my clit that has the burn in my core starting to fire up my spine, wrapping around me as it climbs through my body, gearing up to explode. 

“Fuck!” he roars.

Before I realize what’s happening, he's flipping us. My head lands in my pillows, just a breath away from the headboard in the center of my bed. It takes me a second, still clinging to the climax that had been just seconds away from taking over, and I push my hair off my face with both hands. When I look down my body, I almost retreat when I see the feral expression on the man kneeling between my spread legs. 

He takes huge body rocking gulps of air, his chest heaving with their power. His hair is a loose mess hanging free to dance at his shoulders, a few pieces falling into his face that he either doesn’t notice or just doesn’t care about.

And his eyes are focused downward.

If I didn’t believe he was fighting the same all-consuming feelings as I was, I would have thought that his downcast gaze was for another reason, but seeing those brilliant emerald eyes locked on my very exposed and wet sex, I know that I’m the reason he’s being slammed with a hungered need. 

The power I feel seeing his reaction to my excitement is a high I never want to live without. Something that I will wake up thinking about and fantasize every second we’re apart, trying to think of new ways to make him come alive like this. That uncontrollable, feverishly strong emotion he’s wearing can only be an aftereffect of our chemistry. Until it burns so bright that it’s exploding around us like a brilliantly beautiful display of fireworks.

And with that thought, he makes a sound low in his throat, pushing forward in the next breath to cover my body with his as his mouth takes mine in a deep, bruising kiss. His underwear still keeping him from me completely, but that doesn’t stop him from thrusting against my body as if he was already inside me. Each time he slams against me, the headboard slaps against the wall and my eyes roll back in my head.

It was foolish of me to think I would ever be able to control this man once I saw the fierceness burning in his scrutiny break free of his careful control. When I try to push my hands into his hair, he breaks our kiss with a hiss and narrows his eyes at me.

“You’re not to touch me, Ember. Not at all. I’m so worked up right now because of you. I’m about to fucking come all over myself and the only place that’s going to feel my fucking come will be the inside of your pussy. Do not test me by putting those wicked little hands on my body until I can take my time to show you what it’s really like to take while giving.”

“Please,” I rasp past my dry throat, needing that so desperately.

“No, not please. From this point on, the only word I want to hear from your lips is my name. Moan, groan, scream out your pleasure, but you say no other word than my name. I want to hear you scream that, Ember,” he stresses with a hard thrust. “You don’t come until I tell you to,” he rumbles deep in his throat. I lose his eyes as he bends to trace my ear with the tip of his tongue before whispering against it. “And when you do, you had better do it loud enough to feel pain in your throat from the pleasure I’ll give your pussy.”

“Take me,” I beg, trying to rock against him, but his weight on me restricts my movements.

“Nate,” he grunts in my ear. “No more fucking words but my name. Know who is claiming you. Let the whole fucking world hear who is taking you and making you his.” 

He runs his hands up each of my arms, stretching them out until I can almost feel the edge of my mattress and his hands are curling around my fingers.

“Hold on,” he commands with a wink.

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WHEN I'M WITH YOU

by HARPER SLOAN

Nate:

It’s nearly impossible to be surrounded by love but not understand it. My parents, my sister, and just about everyone around us has no trouble accepting that love. To give your trust to someone else and believe they would die before hurting you. I’ve witnessed it—I’ve seen the power of it—but I’ve also seen the pain. Because for me, I’ve only loved someone I could never have, and my biggest fear is that by giving her my love, all I would do is ruin her. I should have tried harder, but I’m not sure I can because I only feel complete when I’m with her.


Emberlyn:

The only time I feel like I belong is when he’s near. His infectious smile warms me straight to my bones.

Any insecurities I have vanish with just a wink from him. A sliver of his attention makes me feel invincible. But all it took was one drunken night of truths for me to lose everything I had begun to crave.

Now, I’m not sure how to move on because I only feel complete when I’m with him.

He said I was too young. I said he was perfect. He said our families wouldn’t understand. I said we could weather any storm. He said he would ruin me. And he was right.

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~MEET HARPER SLOAN~

Harper lives in small town Georgia just a short drive from her hometown of Peachtree City. She (and her 3 daughters) enjoy ruling the house they dubbed 'Estrogen Ocean', much to her husband’s chagrin. Harper has a borderline unhealthy obsession with books; you can almost ALWAYS find her with her eReader attached. She enjoys bad reality TV and cheesy romantic flicks. Her favorite kind of hero­­the super alpha kind!

Harper started using writing as a way to unwind when the house went to sleep at night; and with a house full of crazy it was the perfect way to just relax. It didn't take long before a head full of very demanding alphas would stop at nothing to have their story told.

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Book Review: Down to My Soul by Kennedy Ryan

RHYSON

She doesn't wear my ring.

We never stood before a preacher.

The only vows exchanged were between our bodies; between our souls.

But she was mine and I was hers until I ruined it. I have to believe that every day, every step, every breath brings me closer to making things right.

To making her mine again.

KAI

I've seen promises broken.

I know love makes no guarantees.

But things were different for Rhys and me, until he lied, and I walked away. Only there's a chain between our hearts that I can't break. Even if I forgive him, a shadow from my past hangs over us; over this love that reaches all the way down to my soul.

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REVIEW: 5 STARS

Deep calls out to deep.

OOOOH!!! You need to read this series!!! I waited four months for this conclusion....and it was so very worth it!!! Kennedy Ryan is so good at creating such intricate worlds and inviting you into them. I love her words and the way she uses them to describe life and love. It was beautiful and lyrical, and gut-wrenching and happy, all wrapped up in a pretty bow. 

To watch Kai go through something she never should have had to makes me sad, but also mad. Literally, mad. The nerve of some people to manipulate others' lives is insane. While I don't much like overly dramatic plots for things that I wouldn't normally see 'happen', this storyline worked and I really couldn't stop reading it. It was a really good conclusion. My Soul to Keep left me on a cliffy with a whodunnit, so it took me for a wild ride during this conclusion. It wasn't overly angsty, but it was a page turner for sure. I really enjoyed it.

The love that Rhyson had for Kai is what big girl fairytales are made of! Seriously! Their love, and the depth of their love, was beautiful. Their love withstood some serious turmoil, but I couldn't help but swoon over the pure devotion he had for her and how much he was willing to do for her!!! He has never given up on her and he never will. Nothing or no one would ever do for him, and he realizes it's only her. His very life depends on it and he treated it that way. It was such a breath of fresh air to see a love that had no requirements or decisions that had to be made. It was pure unadulterated love between these two.

"You know there's already a vow between us that goes beyond all of that, and for you to be with anyone else would be adultery of the soul."
~BEE

BOOK 1: MY SOUL TO KEEP
Check out my review HERE. 

KAI

I had two things in life that mattered. My mother and my music.

Mama was taken from me too soon, and now music is all I have left. It's the thing that's pushed me right out of backwoods Georgia into Los Angeles, where the line between fantasy and reality shimmers and blurs. I'm finally making my way, making my mark. I can't afford to fall for one of music's brightest stars. Not now. Music is all I have left, and I'm holding on tight with both hands. I won't let go, not even for Rhyson Gray.

RHYSON

I had one thing in my life that mattered - music. The only constant, it's taken me to heights most people only dream about; a gift dropped in my lap at birth. I thought it was enough. I thought it was everything until I met Kai. Now she's all I think about, like a song I can't get out of my head. If I have to chase her, if I have to give up everything - I will. And once she's mine, I won't let go. 

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~MEET KENNEDY RYAN~

I'm a wife, a mom, a writer, an advocate for families living with autism. That's me in a nutshell. Crack the nut, and you'll find a Southern girl gone Southern California who loves pizza and Diet Coke, and wishes she got to watch a lot more television. You can usually catch me up too late, on social media too much, or FINALLY putting a dent in my ever-growing To Be Read list!

Kennedy Ryan FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/681604768593989/

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Excerpt from Logan Kade by Tijan

EXCERPT

I didn’t quite know how to react to someone like Logan Kade.

The second he sat down next to me, others started glancing back at us, but now that he was laughing, more and more they were openly staring. A few girls down the row were almost glaring. Kade saw them too and raised a hand. “Hey.”

Their stares morphed into smiles, and they waved back. One girl asked how the party was last night, and it clicked. These girls already knew Kade. I gave them a second look. They might really know him. A couple were giving him come­hither looks.

I muttered under my breath. “So this is what it feels like.” Huh.

“What is?” He leaned back in his chair to rest against the wall behind us. His eyes pinned me down, but not in a bad way. He was curious—and amused. His mouth lifted in a grin. He was cocky. I hadn’t lied about that, but maybe I’d gotten the other part wrong. The arrogance of a narcissist was lacking with him. He just seemed to be enjoying himself.

My eyebrows bunched together as I remembered the night before. He’d had the same look. That is, until those guys had gone after his girlfriend. Dark, brooding, and dangerous had taken over then. A shiver went down my spine as I remembered him hitting that guy.

Our professor entered the room, but Logan raised an eyebrow at me. “What what feels like?”

She cleared her throat and held up a stack of papers. “Here’s your syllabus. We’re going to hand these out and go through them before we start anything else.”

I shifted back in my seat and shook my head. I was partly grateful for the interruption. Even though I’d just gotten to this college, I knew Kade was at the top of the social ladder. Hell, he probably defined the top tier.

He walked into a room and got attention.

Kade commanded this whole room. It was overwhelming, all of that power radiating from him, and having it directed at me? It was a whole new experience. I shifted in my seat, trying to get comfortable, but I felt torched. 

“Welcome to Sociology 101, the scientific study of human society,” our professor announced.

Logan leaned over and whispered, “Or as I like to call it, the tutorial guide on how to mindfuck entire groups.”

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~MEET TIJAN~

I didn't begin writing until after undergraduate college. There'd been storylines and characters in my head all my life, but it came to a boiling point one day and I HAD to get them out of me. So the computer was booted up and I FINALLY felt it click. 

Writing is what I needed to do. After that, I had to teach myself how to write. I can't blame my teachers for not teaching me all those years in school. It was my fault. I was one of the students that was wishing I was anywhere but at school! So after that day, it took me lots of work until I was able to put together something that resembled a novel. I'm hoping I got it right since someone must be reading this profile! And I hope you keep enjoying my future stories.

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