Blog Tour and Review: Frozen Barriers by Sara Shirley

 

"Live your Dreams, Follow your Heart"

Emily Cameron is America's newest figure skating star looking for her own personal identity. Her high profile life was never her dream, it was her parents.

Jeremy Page is a minor league hockey player who always imagined himself playing for the NHL.

A chance encounter has them crossing paths after several years apart. Which way will his heart lead him? Will Emily embrace his charm?

Just when things finally fall into place, an unexpected event occurs leaving Emily reevaluating everything in her life.

Can Emily escape from under her parent's intrusive ways and take a chance on love? Will Jeremy be able to break down the barriers that have held her back for so long?

**Mature Subject matter. 18+ due to strong language and sexual situations**

      

I hope you enjoy this debut book as much as I did. I fell hard for this dual POV story that grabs your attention quickly and holds it. I'm hooked on this authors distinctive style of storytelling.

Emily Cameron has been manipulated her whole life by her pretentious parents. Leaving her alone and frustrated during a crucial time in her life. While many are having fun being typical teens and young adults Emily is focused on skating and competing only. But is it her dream or theirs? How long can she continue on this path?
"He has brought out something unknown in me, and I can't tell if he's broken into my head or my heart."
My heart broke for the girl she couldn't be and the girl she will never know. Her continual isolation and forced independence made me feel sad for her until he came along.

Jeremy Page comes from a tight nit family. He's having fun and paving his way to his NHL dreams. While doing this he's making good choices and maybe some not so much. At the end of the day he's loyal, fun loving and living in the moment. Oh, did I mention he's incredibly HOT!
"I might of knocked her on her ass years ago, but every time I see this girl, she knocks the words right out of my mouth."

"Why am I so wrapped up in this shy little skater chick?"
Frozen Barriers is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. Sara Shirley captured the love between these two destined souls. Watching their lives intertwine was addicting. Their hardships broke me and lifted me. The story was beautifully written, packed with playful banter, spicy moments, strong family ideals and an interesting supporting cast. I enjoyed that this is a standalone book. a treat since most have cliffs these days. I feel that the author has set up some good story lines and intriguing characters to build upon for future books. Bring on more Sara Shirley.....

I love a book when the opposites are so different but yet so perfect for each other.  Sara Shirley does a great job in that with Frozen Barriers.  Even though these characters come from the same area, they are polar opposites.   They fight to make it work and the result is a good ole love story!  Sometimes you just need to read a love story that will melt your heart.  I think the author did an amazing job in her debut novel in giving us just that. I also loved that in each chapter we get each characters POV in the flow of the story. 

Emily Cameron is an upcoming figure skater with her eyes on Olympic gold.  Her parents have raised her to be the epitome of perfection.  She must act, dress, and speak a certain way.  They only use her to further their own agendas in the road to gold.  She’s has not lived the life of a normal child. Practice was always the number one goal.  While other girls where out hanging with their friends, Emily was prefecting her routines.  That was all that mattered.  Being a champion figure skater was the only thing that mattered in her household.

Jeremy Page is your typical all American boy next door we all love.  He’s charming, good lucks, and a suburb athlete.  He has his eye’s set on the NHL as a professional hockey player but knows he must do his dues in the minor leagues.  His family is the kind of family we all want, supportive and there for you through thick and thin.

Jeremy has always crushed on Emily for years.  They thought in high school they would have a chance but Emily’s career was more important.  A chance encounter years later brings those feeling back again.  Emily finally starts to see there is more to life than chasing the gold and starts to let her guard down.   Their love starts to blossom and had me falling in love with both of them! Of course there are struggles along the way but overall I thought this was a love story that any romantic at heart would love.  4 stars from me!

Emily Cameron

Jeremy Page

“I’m more than shocked when Emily orders herself a Shipyard Pumpkinhead beer with a rim job. I glance at her completely engrossed in her boldness, when the most amazing words come of her mouth. “I don’t know about you Jeremy, but I just love licking off those rim jobs!” Time for me to readjust my cock again, thanks in part to my naughty little ice princess sitting next to me.”

 

Something inside of me keeps telling me to fight for this girl. “Quit, just say the hell with it! Do what makes you happy for once. From the first time I knocked you on your ass when you were eleven at the Forum I knew you didn’t belong in that life.”

“You don’t even know me Jeremy! Shit! I don’t even know me.” Emily exclaimed. “Emily, I want to get to know you. But you keep pushing me away

 

If I’m going to go through hell and back again, at least it’s going to be her I’m doing it for. Call me crazy, but I’m going all in on this one, I just hope luck is on my side.”

“You’ll have no problem getting to hell, you’ve seen her mother. That’s not going to be easy to get through, but for some reason I think you’ll handle her better than anyone. She’s totally not going to be into you for a status fuck. But, if you are going to go to battle for a girl, at least its one as smoking hot as Emily. Best of luck man, you‘re gonna need it, but I’ll have your back if you need me.”

Standing up on my wobbly legs, I giggle. Why are my legs like rubber? I turn and my eyes run up the length of the guy standing in front of me. My eyes meet those intoxicating big brown eyes. “Oh Shit,” I whisper.  That’s when I feel as though I’m falling and the last thing I remember were two warm, strong arms wrapped around my body.

 

Staring at myself in the mirror, I see what I am. I’m just nothing but a commodity for my parents to use for their own self worth. I’m disgusted with myself for never putting up a fight, even once I was old enough to realize it. So, why is it when Jeremy asked me what I wanted to do with my life once my skating career was over, I froze up? A part of me saw that everything I’ve worked for in my life so far, is going to be gone soon and after that I’ve got nothing. What do I want to do?

I’m talking to Dave about some random hockey play when his eyes go wide, spitting his beer from his mouth. “I need a minute, it’s just not right.” What the hell? I watch Dave walk away before turning in the direction he was just looking, I see what caused him to turn away. There’s my girlfriend in her naughty Alice in Wonderland costume on her knees, blindfolded with her hands bound behind her back. Then she starts bobbing her head and a million different thoughts are now running through my mind. Just the main one is enough for me to run my hands through my hair and start pacing the yard because the wrong head is working at the moment.

Turning my back, while lifting my curled hair up I say over my shoulder, “Once you unzip this dress you can do whatever you want with me. Drink me. Eat me. Spank me. Fuck me. I don’t care just so long as you end up in me.”

“You’re my everything. You’re my yesterday, today and my tomorrow. No matter where we are five years from now, you’re a part of my heart Jeremy Page.”

A romance novel addict finds herself staying up well past her bedtime to see how the next story is going to end. Sara spends her days living on a vineyard in wine country with her husband and cat. Her family hailed from Italy where her ancestors lived in the mountains of Rocca di Cambio. A former Broadway star and champion skier whose career was cut short because of her passion for being a wine sommelier. It was on her way west where she met her husband, the President of a very influential MC in California. You can find her riding off through the vineyards on the back of a Harley almost every night.

Her passion for books has been viewed as borderline obsessive. But, when all you have is time and a bottle of wine awaiting you as the sun sets off the veranda writing became second nature.

In Vino Veritas