Book Five of the Year Finished

So No In Between was my fifth book of the year and I finished it as of today. The end of this does contain a bit of a spoiler by the way.

To me it wasn't as long as the others when in actuality it was about the same length and the previous three books. This time however, we get a happy ending.

Like most though, it's not just about the ending. It's about the journey as well.

In this book, Sara must find her strength and fight back, against everything. Mark is shut down and he's kicking at everyone. Chris is trying to fight his demons and stand beside Sara no matter what.

Everyone has a stake in this murder trial against Ava but first they have to get through the bail hearing, and Ava's lawyers are pulling out all the stops to make sure that she can get out.

What seems impossible has become possible. There's no body to prove murder, just four witnesses to bring up attempted murder charges.

Panic attacks start coming at Sara again and there's only one person that can help her take them on. Chris Merritt has made good on his promise to never leave Sara again. He says and I just have to quote this "I left you once and it's a mistake I won't be repeating."

So sweet it just makes your heart go pitter patter lol.

With all the bad in this book there is one clear thing. Chris and Sara are amazing for each other. Thier love can seriously conquer all.

The question though that this book truly leaves in your mind, is will Mark be ok? He was the guy that we loved to hate throughout this series and now he's hurt beyond words.

The sweetest part though and I have to share this so I should probably put up a spoiler alert.

Anyway, about the middle of the book you finally see the ring that Chris is designing for Sara. It's absolutely gorgeous with intertwining roses and the gems in the ring are being kept secret for now.

If you have read the books though and are like me, you were expecting a dragon of some time. Not that the rose ring is a disappointment because it's not but not expected.

At the end Chris finally does what we expected. Chris had designed a dragon ring for her left finger the same side that his dragon tattoo is on. The ring symbolizes not his love for her, no that was the roses. No this ring means so much more, it's the strength that he finds in her. Sara is literally his rock and strength.

Together they finally beat the whip that was hanging over their heads. When Amber died, (she killed herself) Sara was terrified that Chris would walk out the door and head for the whip instead of her. Instead he went into his art studio and worked. When he got all of his emotions out on paper he got lost in Sara.

The whip was never even a temptation to him. Chris just needed her.

This book had me so torn up when I read it. An emotional roller coaster if you wish to call it that. It's definitely something that I'm recommending to all my friends.

No In Between- Lisa Renee Jones

I started this one about two days ago actually. See I really need to do a better job keeping up with this.

No in Between is the fourth book in Lisa Renee Jones' Inside Out Series. Originally it was a trilogy but I'm finding out that when an author says that there's going to be another couple books after the last one because there is always more to be said.

This series was no different. She could have ended the series after Revealing Us but there's still Ella missing and what's going on with Mark Compton.

In book four, Sara and Chris are back in San Fransisco to "aid" the police investigation of Rebecca's murder. The police there are running all kinds of theories that may or may not be probable.

They had called Sara in Paris to say that Ava was accusing Sara of murdering Rebecca and blackmailed Mark so Ava had confessed to protect her "Master."

Now the cops are switching gears, they are asking questions to see if maybe Sara murdered Rebecca to endure her dream job would stay hers. They are also going down the avenue that maybe Mark had something to do with this mystery and maybe even Chris.

Things have just become a hot mess for everyone involved now. Sara's even going back to work for Allure (Mark's art gallery) for a few weeks while things are getting settled. Mark's mom is battling stage 3 breast cancer and ended up with a blood infection just before he came back to talk to the police.

I can't imagine what Mark is going through right now. All that pain he has just got to be feeling over everything. It honestly makes your heart hurt.

Before I say anything else here's the synopsis from the back of the book so you can draw your own conclusions:

"Was Rebecca murdered--or has she simply vanished? Sara's obsession with Rebecca's fate has already lead her into danger once. Now the woman who nearly killed her is making accusations that implicate Sara in Rebecca's disappearance. Forced to defend herself to police investigators, Sara must expose dark private pleasures that she and her fiance, Chris, share. And while Chris remains strong and supportive, the formerly invincible Mark is crumbling. He's been too intimate a part of their lives to let that happen...but will he accept help?

Although Sara and Chris love each other deeply, the pressure is triggering past pains. To make it through this, they must face and reveal their final fears: Everything must be exposed, and their hearts and bodies will be pushed to the limits. There can be no shame. No more secrets. No in between..."

Yeah, it definitely leaves you wanting more lol.

Revealing Us-Lisa Renee Jones The Complete Overview

Seeing as I complete this book in record time lol this is a whole overview instead of pieces.

Sara has decided to drop everything and go to Paris with Chris. He's so much a part of her that she has to try and make this relationship work. If going to Paris is what it takes for Chris to open up about his past and inner demons, then going to Paris is exactly what she'll do.

This whole book focus on Sara's best friend, Ella's, disappearance and the unveiling of Chris's secrets. The whole trip keeps getting turned upside down for them because Sara is going through emotional hell right now.

Not even a day after they had arrived in Paris, Sara gets a call from the detective back in San Francisco that Ava is trying to pin Rebecca's murder on her and blacked-mailed Mark into getting her position at the gallery. We all know that's not true but Ava's lawyer had to find a defense for the psycho somewhere I guess.

On top of that accusation, no one can seem to get a bead on Ella and it's driving Sara crazy with worry. Lets add one more thing, Sara keeps running into Chris' past everywhere she goes yet he won't open up to her yet.

That's enough to drive any reasonable person insane. If he wanted to test Sara's love for him, taking her to Paris was the way to do it. However, Chris does spill his secret and it has to do with his parents death, and the death of his friend Amber's parents.

See, he was visiting his parents' graves with Amber and her parents when they had walked out there was a 16-yr-old with a gun in his hand. Chris had looked into this boys eyes and seen what he needed to see. If Chris hadn't pulled the trigger and killed him first, he would have killed them all without a second thought.

His regret. Chris' demon that still haunts him, is the fact that he couldn't pull the trigger before the boy killed both of Amber's parents. After that she followed Chris down the wrong path. Using pain to get rid of pain.

A few days later, is the anniversary of his parents death. He laid out his coat and opened a bottle of wine for them. They just sat there and took sips. Wine isn't Chris' thing because that's how his father basically killed himself. Drowning his sorrows in wine.

Instead of letting Chris even think about the whip and trying to get rid of pain with pain, Sara takes him in the house and becomes the dominant for all of two minutes before he snapped out of his wallowing mood. When Sara had woken up she found a map on her pillow to where he was.

Now usually I would tell you the end because it's such a cliff hanger but this time, if you want to know the end you'll have to read it yourself. It was the most sweetest end that I could have imagined. If you don't read it then you'll find out when I finally get the other book lol.

I will say that there is a small epilogue. Ella is alive and in some serious trouble.

Stay tuned lol. You wouldn't want to miss the fun.

Revealing Us- Lisa Renee Jones

I am so ahead of myself right now it's not even funny. This is how addicted to the series I am. When I finished the second book in this series, Being Me, I started the next one right away. I barely even got the post up about the second book before I started it.

However I was so caught up in the book, I finished it in two days. That's me TRYING to stretch the book out because I won't get the next one until tomorrow. Now I finished it on Saturday and I won't get the next book I was missing until tomorrow, Tuesday. That's a long wait for me lol.

Even though I am ahead of myself though I will stick to the way that I've been posting lol. I'll post up the synopsis so you can draw your own conclusions then I'll post everything else lol.

"He has become her life, her heart, her very soul. But he is dark and damaged, and his secrets are many. Sara will risk everything for him. He, in turn, will dare to expose his deepest needs, his most erotic desires. And in the fury of passion he will reveal all that torments him, all that he can never escape. To love him, Sara must embrace the darkest part of him, and become his shelter in a storm that will be his ultimate salvation."

Really it's not as bad as it seems in the synopsis, I can promise you that. Enjoy :)

Being Me- Lisa Renee Jones....DONE!!!!!

Good afternoon everybody. I hope that you have all been enjoying my blog so far this year. I am making a better effort to be on here more. This series though has me enthralled.

As of this afternoon, before my family had even gotten home from grocery shopping today, I finished Being Me. I think this is a record for me, even when it comes to the first time I read Fifty Shades of Grey. I started it at around 8:30 last night and finished around maybe 1;30 or 2 this afternoon.

The ups and downs and twists and turns really got to me to keep reading. Can you see why I love my husband so much now? I totally shut him out for a book lol.

Everything at this time seems fine in Sara and Chris' relationship and things are even ok with her and Mark. Lines have been drawn and Mark swore he won't cross them.

Sara even gets Mark's blessing to go to Los Angeles with Chris to his charity function for cancer. It's there that she meets the little boy that has captured Chris' heart. Dylan has leukemia and there is no doubt that he is dying. The most they can do is make him comfortable and keep his spirits up.

Usually I wouldn't mention sad facts like that except this is a turning point for both Chris and Sara. At the gala function, Sara runs into her ex, Michael. The things he says to her are awful and he tries to blackmail Chris to get Sara to go home with him. It's the past that she wasn't ready to share yet rearing it's ugly head.

Of course Chris sees more than he should when it comes to Sara, so when she runs off to the bathroom he follows her and has two of his female friends keep a look out for him while he tries to talk to her. Bawling her eyes out on the floor of the bathroom she tell Chris. Two years ago she was feeling weak and Michael was being kind and she let him in her door. From that point he forced himself on her. She had said no but then ultimately gave into him and did exactly what he was asking her to do. Sara thought for sure that Chris would hate her after that confession but no, he actually confessed that he loves her.

I was so shocked lol. It's a good thing that I don't really read in public because all eyes would have been on me when I started squealing and laughing. It was a point that you shouldn't laugh and be happy but the moment itself was so sweet that you just can't help it.

Chris took care of her that night and the information didn't change how he thought of her. As he put it, one night doesn't dictate a lifetime. That night had made love to her like never before and it was so sweet.

The next turning point was Chris' turn. It was only a few days after they had returned home that Sara received a call from Dylan's mother. Dylan had just passed away but she was worried about Chris because when she told him, he didn't take the news too well.

Now here, this is where we see the side of Chris that Sara was never supposed to see. The dark side of this protective man. Unlike Fifty Shades of Grey and even the Crossfire Series, Chris does not revel in giving pain. He's not the dominant that we are all used to seeing in other series or even in this one. Chris likes pain.

Mark to her to his club to try and pull Chris back from the edge of the abyss. He honestly thought that Sara was the only one that could and it needed to be done because Chris was pushing limits that were way past safe. When Sara walked into the room and saw that Chris was chained up to some poles and being beaten she was shocked.

That would be enough to shock anyone but she got him to stop....at a price. Broken inside and bleeding on the out, Chris was in agonizing pain that she saw him like that and told her it was over. Chris was trying to protect her from himself and forced her away.

It was a week, I think, that she had just stopped eating. Sara wasn't even sleeping. Mark gave her some more to do in her new client's apartment building that was being built. Seeing as the owner, Ryan, and Mark were friends it was easy to convince Ryan to let her do the work. However it was after the opening night that Sara figured things out. Mark and Ryan offered her a way out of the pain she was drowning in. Master and submissive. Sharing. Everything that Rebecca had done with no feeling whatsoever.

Sara never wanted that life. Not even the pain she felt over Chris could make her choose that life and she ran out. To her surprise, Chris was waiting outside for her. Not one word from him and now all of a sudden he shows up. It's funny. Chris pushed her away and yet drove himself insane without her. Two broken people that NEED each other to pull out of the darkness. Now that is something that doesn't seem to change in any book.

It was that night that they decide to try and work through this and figure it out more. No more secrets, no more shutting each other out. Then there's one other little secret that Sara finds out. Packing to go see Chris' god parents, Sara finds Chris' paint brushes.....that match the one that Rebecca had kept.

That leads to a fight that takes Sara to Mark's house. At the time she knew that she was interrupting something but didn't know what. That is until Ava, the girl she thought that she made friends with and owned the coffee house next to the gallery, came stomping out in only a shirt and with Ryan in tow.

Ava threatened that Mark wasn't going to do the same thing with Sara that he did with Rebecca. She would kill her first before that happened again. Which she did try to do.

In that moment everything happened so fast. Ava had a gun on her and Chris was riding his Harley down the street to get there for her not even knowing what he was walking into. Ava fired a shot that sent Chris crashing and somehow the police got called. Thankfully they arrested her but it put Sar and Chris' relationship on rocky ground.

Chris hated that she turned to Mark for the facts instead of trusting him but even though he vowed it would be over if he found her here, he was giving her another chance. It was that evening that Ava confessed. She had killed Rebecca before she could take Mark back again. Very nearly killed Sara for the same reason except that's never been the relationship between her and Mark.

Ella is still missing and there's a gaping void in Sara's heart at the distance that Chris has put between them. Sara spent that night in Ella's empty apartment. Chris showed up for all of five minutes with another one of his little tests. He's leaving for Paris in the morning and he wants her to go with him.

There were no fluttery words, no romance just a simple if you want to know all of me then this is where you'll find it. Just leaving her there and the book in an emotional turmoil.

Does she go and risk her heart again for this man or does she stay and try to make a life for herself again?

Being Me 50% Through

We have officially hit the half-way point in the book and everyone should consider themselves lucky that I stopped reading long enough to post this lol. I really didn't want to put the book down at all.

Rebecca is still missing and all the clues point in different directions. Things between Sara and Chris are getting more serious which is leading her deeper into confusion. Mark is still dark and overbearing with minor moments of humor.

We're getting closer though to what is happening with Rebecca. Chris did as promised and hired a P.I to find out what is going on. So far all we know is that she did go on vacation with the boyfriend but she came back early and alone. There's no way to track her yet because she doesn't own a car and she didn't rent one at the airport. We have also discovered that someone else has also hired a P.I but not to find Rebecca. They hired him to find her journals.

Even though no names were mentioned in them, someone wants them bad enough to hire a P.I to find them. That was who was in the storage unit with Sara at the end of If I Were You and the beginning of this book.

The relationship with Sara and Chris is getting deeper. He has asked her to move in with him and she doesn't know quite how to answer that. It's only been a few weeks after all and the major fear right now is that she loves Chris and it's not reciprocated.

Boundaries are still being tested and they're still trying to figure out how to be together without destroying each other. Both people are broken in different ways and neither has told the other what is actually broken. It's all in bits and pieces.

Sara is determined though to tell Chris her dark secret and lie. Will he stay with her after she tells him though is a big fear.

I just HAVE to get back to this book. Check in later lol

Being Me- Lisa Renee Jones

Book two of this year is the second book in Lisa Renee Jones' Inside Out Series. I have become thoroughly addicted to this series, much like with Fifty Shades and Crossfire.

I never expected it to be this good when I started reading this series but the mystery of it has me completely wrapped up.

Before I give too much away I want to provide the synopsis from the back of the book. With the first book I just jumped into it and never gave anyone time to make their own assumptions or draw their own opinions.

"Sara McMillan is still searching for Rebecca, the mysterious woman whose dark, erotic journal entries both enthralled and frightened her. Tormented by a strong desire to indulge the demands of her new boss while also drawn deeper into her passionate bond with the troubled artist, Chris Merit, Sara must face a past as deeply haunting as Rebecca's written words. In one man's arms, Sara will find the safe haven to reveal her most intimate secrets and explore her darkest fantasies. But is safety just an illusion, when the truth about Rebecca has yet to be discovered?"

So there is the back of the book. What are your thoughts?