Thursday, January 29, 2015

Release Day Blitz: Without You by Reylynn Purdue




Reylynn Purdue
Without You
Releasing: January 29th, 2015

About Without You:
Roxanne Daniels was supposed to be spending her summer getting ready to head off to Julliard. That was the plan. But that was before- Before she found her mother’s lifeless body- Before she walked in on her boyfriend in bed with someone else. Before she knew what heart shattering pain felt like.

Now all she wants is for the pain to go away. But it never does.
Until him. A complete stranger who could end up being much more.
But letting go and moving on is easier said than done.


3.5 Stars

Review by Nicole Lorenzo


“Life is made up of moments—good moments, bad moments and so-so moments. Some moments make enough of a mark on your soul that they become memories.”

Between her mother’s sudden death and her cheating boyfriend Roxy is being smothered by the grief. She can’t seem to face the days, she put off college, and she numbs the pain in a way she never thought she would. Alienating all her friends and family she spends her days sleeping and just trying not to feel. When the fourth of July comes her brother gives her no choice but to go to the annual party they have at the beach. Reluctantly Roxy agrees, but as she is getting out of her car she sees her ex-boyfriend heading her way. Panicking Roxy does the only thing she can think of to do in the moment. She walks up to the cute surfer guy parked in front of her and kisses him.

“People shouldn’t just grab strangers off the street and kiss them, but damn, this guy can kiss.”

Her knight shining armor turns out to be Jordan Carter, and he gave her butterflies, something she is in no way ready for! But when she runs into him on the beach and spends time with him she can’t deny that there is definitely something special about him. He insists on seeing her again but Roxy makes it very clear to him that she is not looking for a boyfriend. Jordan insists they can be friends, with more kissing of course. Not being able to resist his charm, Roxy agrees but gives two rules. No sleepovers and no falling in love. But that last rule will be harder to follow than she thinks.

“I wanted him more than I needed air. He was making everything else just fade away. There was no more pain and no more sadness. The world ceased to exist.”

Roxy wanted light and easy but the more she sees of Jordan the more she realizes she is in serious danger of losing her heart to him. He consumes her every thought and she is scared to death of getting hurt because she knows she can’t handle any more pain. Her mother’s death is still weighing on her. Her Father and hers relationship is volatile and her brother Ryan and his best friend Brent are insanely overprotective of her. Not to mention her ex-boyfriend keeps showing up asking to talk. Jordan is the only thing that keeps her grounded these days.

“I’ll help hold you together. You shouldn’t have to do it by yourself. I won’t let you fall apart.”

Roxy is emotionally damaged. She uses her fear of getting hurt to push Jordan away and hurt him. Their relationship is tested when Roxy catches Jordan in a lie and decides she can’t trust him anymore. Relationship problems are the least of her worries when she gets some startling information that can change everything. 

“You lied when you said you loved me. You don’t walk away from the people you love. You don’t just give up and run away because things get rough.”


The first thing I want to say is that I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. I liked where I thought it was leading. I loved how Roxy met Jordan. I like the chemistry between Roxy and Jordan as well as the chemistry between Brent and Roxy, who is her brother’s best friend. I am still looking forward to see if that part of the storyline gets played out more. Overall I enjoyed the book but there were some things that I had some trouble with.
The main thing was Roxy. Oh she was a spoiled freaking brat. I know her mom died, I know her boyfriend cheated on her but she acted out a little too much for my liking. The tantrums, the drinking, the sluttiness, the indecisiveness, it was a little too much too often. I’m hoping that we are supposed to feel this way about her and she will grow up some in the next book and gain some more redeeming qualities.

Then there is her brother Ryan. Now I understand him being overprotective, but this was so much to the extreme that it was annoying. He acted like a barbarian. And what’s funny is I actually really like his character, but not that aspect of it. The only other thing is that there are some parts that drag on and on a bit and then it ends abruptly with that cliffhanger.

It was a breath of fresh air that Jordan had his flaws, because for a while there I was worrying that he was a little too perfect. I am so curious to see where Brent is going to fit in with this next story, because to me it was very apparent to me that he had feelings for her. I am so looking forward to reading the next book to see where everyone winds up! 


About Reylynn Purdue
Born and raised in California, Reylynn Purdue lives with her loving husband and three beautiful kids. A lover of books, she reads like crazy. She has also always enjoyed writing, but one day, she decided to take it to the next level. She started writing her debut novel in 2013. To say she had no clue what she was doing is an understatement. As of today, she still has no clue what she is doing when it comes to publishing a book, but she is learning as she goes. She loves her story and hopes you will as well. She also finds talking about herself in third person to be very strange, and she kind of hates it.
To find out more about Reylynn, just ask.

Excerpt #1:
I blinked my eyes as I looked up at the ceiling. Music from downstairs came into my room and woke me up. I looked at my alarm clock. It was twenty after six. I rolled onto my side and opened my nightstand drawer. I retrieved the orange medication bottle and sat up. I dumped out the contents into a small pile on my pastel pink comforter.

One, two, three, four, five, six…

I counted the white pills as I put them back into the bottle.

Seven, eight, nine, ten…

I wondered if I belonged at one of those meetings for people with addiction problems.

I imagined myself standing in front of a room of strangers.

“Hi, I’m Roxanne, and I…”

I…what?

“And I’m a…”

The room I was standing in suddenly got a lot smaller. As I looked out at all the faces staring back at me, my stomach twisted. Those weren’t the faces of complete strangers. Every face now belonged to my mom.

The word addict stuck in my throat, choking me.

But I wasn’t an addict. I could stop at any time.

I beheld my mom’s face. Her beautiful blue eyes that had once
shined with pride for me were now full of disappointment. I hated seeing her looking
at me like that.

“You know me. I didn’t used to be this way. I have a good reason for using your pills. I need them. It’s the only thing that eases the pain.” I was begging for her to understand.

But her expression of disappointment stayed with me, even as each one of her disappeared.

The sound of a slamming door downstairs pulled me back to reality.
I glanced around my room, feeling empty. I shook my head, trying to forget the image

of my mom’s face.
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