Until he found she had everything to give…everything—fans, fame, and fortune. He also has a heart full of bitterness and
a reputation for a short-fused temper. But an outward reputation rarely reveals
the true man inside. Facing assault charges after trying to protect his younger
brother, Sebastian is sent to Savannah, Georgia to lie low until the dust
settles in L.A.
lifestyle Sebastian has always embraced.
bar where she works, Shea is quick to recognize he is nothing but trouble, but
she’s helpless to the way her body lights up every time his intense gray eyes
tangle with hers.
passion that won’t let them up for air.
one who’s hiding them.
past that costs them everything?
Wow, wow, wow! I am buzzing, buzzing alight with both utter satisfaction and greedy want after just finishing AL Jackson’s newest book, A Stone in the Sea. Holy mother that is all good and bad. Everything about this entire book was so, so, so good but so, so, so bad that I have to wait for MORE! My left leg is literally bouncing off the carpet, my teeth painfully clamped down on my bottom lip trying to accept the fact that I need to be patient for more Sebastian and Shea.
Fair warning, my review is going to contain absolutely zero spoilers because there are so many factors in this book that is dependent on it being kept from being spoiled for readers to get the full effect. What I will do is try my very best to express everything I felt about this book—how it made my heart warm and fuzzy then shattered all at once. The push and pull between such powerful characters had me in such a frenzy that I couldn’t manage to reel myself in.
This book was primal and raw that you can’t help but also feel the clawing desperation that pours out from Sebastian and Shea. Each word that bounced off every page gloriously lyrical which could only be done by this author. Her signature writing style so evident but she has surprisingly mixed into that something breathtakingly brand new. I have never experienced AL Jackson in this way before and I was clamoring with such awe that someone who has solidified such a unique style could somehow still possess something MORE. To reinvent herself to a level all on her own. I am speechless, filled with pride, and reverence because my, my, my… I have to say that A Stone in the Sea has got to be AL Jackson’s BEST work yet. There’s a lot of wincing going on as I say that because in no way are her other books any less than best. But in this latest release, her writing just goes above and beyond what I have come to being comfortable with. She smacks me right in the face with a character like Sebastian whose mouth spews such crude and enticingly wicked sentences making the heat rise from the very tips of my toes traveling right up to the top of the crown of my head. Bad, so so so bad that it will make you feel so, so, so good.
No good book could be without a strong heroine in my opinion. As you may not know, it’s a make it or break it for me. Shea definitely made it. Every bit of her was so worthwhile, so ADMIRABLE in how she loved everyone in her life. She protected her loved ones, she became an unyielding wall in which no bad could penetrate. But I knew, God, I knew that what Shea had in store for me was something earthshattering; something so massive that it would knock the wind right out of me… And it did, it made me stagger and made me lose my footing just as complacency was setting in. Just when I let myself get to that place even though warning bells were furiously ringing in the back of my head. Shea Bentley held secrets. Secrets like that of a storm brewing so full of HAVOC there would be NO chance of survivors once it hit ground.
The instantaneous chemistry between Shea and Sebastian was insane. There was no denying their craving for one another, knowing full well the consequences they would both ensue to one another. They were combustible; powerful in every sense of the word. Their lure to one another animalistic in both the physical and spiritual sense. You can’t help but be caught up in their world; so caught up that you’ll feel the hum and the buzz that surrounds them. You can almost see the heat radiating between them, a shimmering effect that you notice on those hot, summer days. These two have got to be one of my FAVORITE couples to date.
When AL Jackson confirmed that she would write her first ever rock star book, I knew… God I knew, that she would put out something far beyond the norm. I fully expected an emotionally gutting novel told in a poignant way, as she has done countless of times. What I didn’t expect then was that I’d be moved beyond all the emotional turmoil but also moved in such heady way—taking me from the everyday life and allowing me to jump into the pages of this book into a tale so fervent and passionate.
I am impatiently, patiently waiting like a good little girl for the next book in this series. It’s a fundamental need that I get the continuation to Shea and Sebastian’s story ASAP… Impatiently… Patiently waiting. Like a good little girl who so desperately wants her next chocolate fix. AL Jackson will take you beyond your expectations. She will turn your book world upside down and you will also be impatiently… patiently waiting. I’ve saved a spot right next to me but you can be sure I wouldn’t hesitate even for a millisecond to elbow you right out of the way to get that first peak into the mind that could only belong to AL Jackson.
We Like It Big Tunes:
Part 1- Band Of Horses
With a smile, I turned around, then froze when my sight registered the obscured figure leaning against the wall. A strangled gasp caught in my throat, and my heart took off at a sprint, blood pounding hard in my ears.
Pushing from the wall, he stepped from the shadows, his hands again stuffed deep in his pockets.
My heart rate only increased, the energy radiating from him almost as strong as the disappointment he’d left me with when he’d gone.
I pressed my hand to my chest to try to still the panic thundering against my ribs. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry.” The words were soft. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”
But he did. I was scared of what he was capable of doing to me, the way I knew he held the power to trounce all over this hammering heart, to hold it in his hand and crush it into a million unrecognizable pieces.
“What are you doing here?” I asked on a shaky breath.
He looked to the sky and exhaled heavily, before he leveled his gaze back on me. “The same thing I’m doing every night, Shea. Thinking about you and wondering why the hell I can’t stop.”
My stomach flipped, and I gulped for air.
“What do you want from me?”
He laughed, lifted his elbows out to his sides in a helpless gesture without pulling his hands free. “Dinner?”
Nonsensical laughter shot from me. “At three in the morning?”
“Breakfast?” he amended, a coy smile pulling at his full, crooked lips.
Tingles spread across my skin, and I ran my hands up my bare arms. “I already told you I don’t have time for distractions.”
“Come on, Shea. It’s just food. Go out with me. Just tonight.”
Somehow I knew it was a lie, even though he wanted to believe it was true.
Nervously, I glanced to the back door all the while being inexplicably drawn to this man I didn’t even know. I knew I should make a break for it, run for the safety of my little world and give him no opportunity to rip it apart.
“I am hungry,” I found myself saying. After a long night of work, it was true. But it had nothing to do with the reason I was giving in.
Because I just wanted to…
I shook my head.
That was it. I just wanted. I wanted to be in his space. I wanted to understand why he had this pull on me. I wanted him.
Even though I’d never allow myself to have him.
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A.L. Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Take This Regret and Lost to You, as well as other contemporary romance titles, including If Forever Comes, Pulled and When We Collide, as well as the New Adult Romance Come To Me Quietly due out January 7, 2014. She first found a love for writing during her days as a young mother and college student. She filled the journals she carried with short stories and poems used as an emotional outlet for the difficulties and joys she found in day-to-day life.
Years later, she shared a short story she’d been working on with her two closest friends and, with their encouragement, this story became her first full length novel. A.L. now spends her days writing in Southern Arizona where she lives with her husband and three children. Her favorite pastime is spending time with the ones she loves.
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