Title: Sweet Hope
Series: Sweet Home
#4
Author: Tillie Cole
Age group: New
adult
Genre: Contemporary
romance
Release date: 29th
March 2015
BLURB
From
the USA Today Bestselling Sweet Home Series, comes Sweet Hope.
My
name is Ally Prince and I've always been unlucky in love. I don’t know why, I just
always… have.
When
all of my best friends were falling for their soul mates in College, I was left
behind. I was Ally, the pretty cousin of superstar quarterback, Romeo Prince. I
was Ally, the best friend to the most amazing group of girls I've ever known—a title I loved, but one
I became tired of 'just' being. And I was Ally, the one on which they could all
rely.
But
to me, I was Ally, the girl with the heart no one had claimed... And I was,
Ally, the girl, who underneath it all, was heart-breakingly lonely.
I
LOVE love; the thought of it, the nervous excitement of falling for Mr. Right,
the desire of someone becoming my entire world... of me becoming theirs. I’ve always wanted
passion, heart-stopping, epic, life-changing romance... I’ve always wanted the
fairytale… I’ve always wanted it all.
It
just never seemed like I would get it.
For
the past few years I've thrown myself into my career as a museum curator. I’m the best of the best,
the person every museum wants to hire, so when an opportunity came up to move
to Seattle, I jumped at the chance. My cousin and my best friend lived in
Seattle and I needed a change.
I
needed a new beginning.
I
wasn't expecting to meet anyone in the Emerald City. I wasn't expecting to work
closely with the reclusive new sculptor my all-important gallery design was
centered around. And I certainly wasn't expecting to fall for him...
heart-stopping, epic, life-changing love...
My real
life fairytale come true.
But,
like in every fairytale, there’s a villain, a dark and tortured soul... I just didn't know that
the villain and the hero in my story would end up being one and the same.
New
Adult Romance Novel—contains adult content, sexual situations and mature topics.
Suited for ages 18 and up.
Book Links
AUTHOR
BIO
Amazon & USA Today Best Selling 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
SOCIAL
MEDIA LINKS
GIVEAWAY
Excerpt
As the curtains closed behind me, I
jumped in surprise when I caught movement ahead.
My eyes slowly traveled upward to a pair
of legs clad in black jeans, to a sculpted waist and torso covered in a
short-sleeved black shirt splashed in what looked like marble dust.
My heart was in my throat as I drank in
large arm muscles, sculpted and pronounced under heavily tattooed olive skin.
My gaze drifted to a muscular tattooed neck, partially covered by a dark short
scruffy beard and shoulder-length dark brown hair.
Elpidio…
I had to blink to believe the man I’d wanted to meet
for years was really standing right in front of me. I forgot how to breathe. I
forgot how to speak, move, or anything else that should come naturally to a
human being.
Elpidio’s head was down, avoiding my gaze, but I
knew he knew I was there. Every inch of his body was taut, as if ready to
spring.
My voice failed to work as I watched his
broad chest rise and fall. Then, with deliberate slowness, he exhaled harshly
through his nostrils and lifted his head.
I nearly staggered back.
He was… dark. There was no
other adjective I could think of to do him justice. Dark, aggressively
tattooed, and absolutely yet unconventionally… beautiful.
Elpidio was as inspiring to look at as
his sculptures, and when his almost-black eyes pierced mine, I released a pent
up shuddering breath.
I thought my legs would give way as I
watched those curious onyx irises rove all over my body. I trembled under his
scrutiny, knees weak, heart fluttering.
Italian, I thought. Austin
had been right. Elpidio definitely looked Italian.
It felt as though minutes passed in
silence as we stood motionless, not knowing what to say.
Trying to salvage a modicum of
professionalism, I snapped out of my stupor and stepped forward, timidly
holding out my hand.
“Hello…”
I said in a
cracking voice.
Elpidio’s stern gaze never once drifted from
mine, his dark eyes stabbing. “I’m Aliyana. You… you must be
Elpidio?”
In a second, I witnessed paleness spread
on his cheeks and his eyes dropped to the ground, his shoulder-length brown
hair falling to cover his face. He was protecting his anonymity. Vin had told
me how uncomfortable he was with any acclaim or recognition. His mentor clearly
wasn’t lying.
“It’s okay,” I rushed out. “I’m the curator of
your exhibition. Your being here stays with me. I’m ethically bound to protect your
anonymity if you so wish.”
Elpidio’s shoulders seemed to relax some at that,
and sighing reluctantly, he raked back his long hair from his face and raised
his head.
This time I could see him more clearly.
He was ruggedly edgy, and on his left cheek, he wore a tattoo of a black
crucifix just below his eye. He simply screamed danger. His eyes were
unnervingly assessing as though he had no trust in me, or toward anyone else
for that matter.
Suddenly, Elpidio reached forward and
encased his hand in mine. When our hands touched, I lightly gasped, the heat of
his palm searing. I’d forgotten I’d been holding my hand out to greet him,
too entranced by his unrefined looks and silent temperament.
“Aliyana,”
he said gruffly. My
heart skipped a beat on hearing his husky drawl.
5 STARS
Ally, an art curator, meets the reclusive artist, Elpi, when she obtains a job to curate his first showing. Before meeting Elpi, Ally has studied and followed his work meticulously. Falling in love with his pieces of art, the masterful depictions, that elicit raw emotions from Ally. Giving a piece of his soul with every piece of his creation.
Upon meeting Elpi, Ally's entire world is turned upside down. Elpi isn't what she expected, and yet, he is everything she always dreamed of. Long hair, thick beard, heavily tattooed and with a muscular body that will taunt any woman. Talk about a swoon worthy bad boy, that is not only the villain but our hero. Ugghhhh!!! Just love it!!!!
"He's the most inspiring, courageous, beautifully dark, tortured, talented sculptor I've ever encountered..."
Elpidio has lived life on the verge of death for more years than he can count. Living in a self imposed prison, while paying for his sins, his youthful years of living a rough and tough life, has toughened his exterior. Yet, the tough man before Ally, is a man living in regret, whose emotional capacity has been drained. Using his sculpting as a method of expelling his past regret, he used death, betrayal and pain to create beautiful creations that has awed all that ever set eyes upon his work.
"Your art is your redemption....
Elpidio is your rebirth, your second chance at life.
You are a victim of circumstance, not a sinner by choice."
Elpidio couldn't understand why Aliyana couldn't understand how dangerously dark he was. Why she kept pushing him. Soon, the lines of professionalism became blurred and Ally and Elpidio became more intimate than Curator and Artiste.
“You should be running away from me, not willingly running into the darkness holding my fucking hand.”
“It’s too late,” she said quietly, “You’ve already consumed me. There is no turning back from you, not now. My hand’s never letting go of yours, eternal darkness or not.”
His art gave him one woman, that fights for him, against all the odds. He became his own worst enemy, and Aliyana Prince became his hope.
“You are my hope, Ally. You’re every hope I’ve ever dared to have…"
This was as much an emotional as well as passionate story. The intensity that is Elpidio and the fierceness that Aliyana showed, in fighting for him and them. It was remarkable.
*ARC provided by Have Book Will Read on behalf of the author for an honest review* Thanks!!!
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