We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the Review/Excerpt Tour for BUILT by Jay Crownover! BUILT is a Contemporary Romance novel being published by
HarperCollins, and it is the 1
st full-length novel in
The Saints of Denver Series, a spinoff of her
New York Times bestselling
Marked Men Series. This amazing book releases on January 5
th!
About BUILT: From the
New York Times and
USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes an electrifying new spin-off series,Saints of Denver, featuring all the characters fans have been dying to read about. Sayer Cole and Zeb Fuller couldn’t be more different. She’s country club and fine-dining, he’s cell-block and sawdust. Sayer spends her days in litigation, while Zeb spends his working with his hands. She’s French silk, he’s all denim and flannel. Zeb’s wanted the stunning blonde since the moment he laid eyes on her. It doesn't matter how many smooth moves he makes, the reserved lawyer seems determinedly oblivious to his interest—either that or she doesn't return it. Sayer is certain the rough, hard, hot-as-hell Zeb could never want someone as closed off and restrained as she is, which is a shame because something tells her he might be the guy to finally melt her icy exterior. But just as things start to heat up, Zeb is blindsided by a life altering moment from his past. He needs Sayer’s professional help to right a wrong and to save more than himself. He can’t risk what’s at stake just because his attraction to Sayer feels all consuming. But as these opposites dig in for the fight of their lives, battling together to save a family, the steam created when fire and ice collide can no longer be ignored.
4 Stars
Review by Trinette Dungee
You know the old saying about judging a book by its cover? Well this is the perfect example. Considering the title of the book and the picture on the cover, my mind just naturally associated it with something physical. But it was so much more than that. Built had many levels, many meanings. Built was Zeb rebuilding his life, building trust in they people who will decide if he should be allowed to raise his son, building a relationship with his son, building trust in Sayer that he was the man for her. It was also Sayer building a new life for herself, building trust in herself that she’s capable of loving Zeb and his son the way they deserved to be loved, the two of them building a home together but mostly the two of them building and life and a family together.
In that split second that I laid my eyes on her I wanted to be the reason she stayed.
Zeb Fuller made one huge mistake in his past and has been on the straight and narrow ever since. After a stint in prison he’s made a good life for himself. He owns his own construction business and he’s just looking for the right woman to share his life with. For Zeb, that woman is none other than Ms. Sayer Cole. Not only is she the sister of one of his good friends but she’s polished and poised and about as opposite from Zeb as she can get. She’s also very “walls up” and closed off, all the reason why he should just stay away. But of course he can and Jeb soon realizes that under that tough, hard exterior of a lawyer lays a passionate woman in desperate need of love.
Control was everything to me, and Zeb Fuller made me want to lose it even when he was sound asleep in his own bed all the way across Denver.
Sayer Cole has been attracted to Zeb Fuller from the moment she laid eyes on him. But Jeb couldn’t be more opposite from the men she’s dated. He’s huge, beardBed and tattooed. He’s timberlands instead of wingtips; he’s ripped jeans and flannel instead of tailored suits and crisp shirts. He’s everything she shouldn’t want but everything she really needs. Sayer quickly learns that letting Zeb in just a little bit is all she needs to realize that there is the possibility of the life she never thought she could have which terrifies her because she’s convinced she won’t be able to return the feelings.
Sayer grew up on the right side of the tracks; she drives the right car, wears the right clothes has the right career, and dates the right men but her life is anything but right; in fact it’s unfulfilled and lonely. She was an only child to a father that never loved her and a mother that didn’t love her enough. After her father’s death Sayer learns that she has a half-brother, she does something very un-Sayer-like. She uproots her life and moves to Denver to find her brother in hopes to finally have the one thing she always craved family and love. She didn’t count on her brother’s friends welcoming her with open arms into their family and she most definitely didn’t count on Zeb Fuller. Zeb is larger than life, literally. He knows what he wants and he makes it well known that he wants Sayer. Sayer fights Zeb constantly insisting that because they come from such different worlds that she has no idea how to be with him or how to understand him.
“You want me to teach you about a man like me, Sayer? I’m pretty simple to figure out.”
And that’s pretty much how the story goes. Sayer pushes him away and Jeb fights his way into her life.
All I could think while I held her was that there was no falling in love with this woman, there was only being in love with her. She had owned me from the very start; now I just needed her to take possession and keep me forever.
Even when Jeb gets news that he’s the father of a five year old boy, he’s determine to be a father to his son and the man that Sayer needs. Jeb turns to Sayer for her lawyer expertise and Sayer is more than happy to help. As professional as she tries to keep it, Sayer finds herself becoming not only attached to Jeb but somehow his son wiggles his way right into heart.
Jay Crownover simply slayed me with this book, simply slayed me! While I liked Sayer, it was Jeb that kept me wanting more. I never expected him to be open. I expected this grumpy, grouchy, grunting angry guy who although he knew what he wanted, bottled up his emotions; but Zeb couldn’t have been further from that description. I loved his passion, his determination and his ability to express his feelings.
“My truth is that I like the woman you are with me and I like the woman you are in court. I like the woman you are with your brother and the way you fought to be his family. I like the woman I first met at the Bar that didn’t judge me when I told her I had been to prison. I like the woman that lets a scared young woman use her house as a sanctuary and leaves a bright red wall in her kitchen to make that same young woman happy. I like the woman who looks at my son and sees that he is everything and is willing to fight for him just because I asked her to. My truth is that you could never be anything other than fascinating and amazing, Sayer, and I fucking hate that you think you are anything else than all of that. So again you have two options, dinner or bed, which one do you want to pick?”
I swear my heart melted after I read that. This man truly had no problem letting Sayer know exactly how he felt.
“I don’t know what else to do here, Say. I built you a house I made love to you. I gave you all the colors and helped you celebrate them. I melted you over and over again. I want to tell you how much I care about you . . . you tell me what else I can do?”
Jeb laid his emotions and his heart out in the open for Sayer. Every chance he got he let her know how much he not only wanted her but needed her. But Sayer being Sayer continued to fight him at every turn. It would have been very easy to dislike Sayer but because she knew what she was doing to Jeb and she hurt just as badly as he did, I couldn’t help but feel for her.
He destroyed me with openness and stark honesty. I destroyed us by not having any space inside of myself. Even with the emotions I was purging and choking on leaving a hollow and empty space, I still couldn’t find room to hold all of those wonderful things he was trying to give me.
At one point Zeb has to accept the fact the he can’t force his love on Sayer, he’s going to have to walk away and wait for Sayer to come back to him.
“When this is over, and I’m on my way out the door, I’m going to tell you that I love you.”………I used my hips to point her toward the edge of the bed since my legs were still trapped half in and half out of my pants. I had no intention of getting any more undressed. I loved her, but I couldn’t make love to her right now. I was too pissed. Pissed at her. Pissed at myself for following her inside when I knew it was going to end in sorrow. And just generally pissed off at the entire situation. We deserved to be happy. We deserved to make this work. It infuriated me that I couldn’t just force things to be the way I wanted.
That’s pretty much what it took for Sayer to realize that her place in the world was with Zeb and his son.
“I’m telling you that I choose color, I choose happiness, I choose to be all the things I am, and I won’t feel bad about any of them. I choose to be better than my parents were and not to let them define me. I choose me and what I want. I choose to be brave and risk my heart. I choose love, Zeb, so that means I choose you and Hyde. I’m never going to be totally comfortable with all the space you take up and how much you make me feel, but I want you here, so you don’t have to push against the door anymore. I’m giving you the key to it. Being uncomfortable is a good thing. It makes me human even after all my father did to make me nothing.”
This is a spin-off from Crownover’s Marked Men Series and I’m definitely looking forward future books.
BUILT Review & Excerpt Tour
December 28th
December 29th
December 30th
December 31st
January 1st
January 2nd
January 3rd
January 4th
January 5th
January 6th
January 7th
January 8th
January 9th
And don’t miss the previous novella in The Saints of Denver Series!
About Jay Crownover:
Jay Crownover is the
New York Times and
USA Today bestselling author of the
Marked Men and
The Point series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.