Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Release Day Launch & Review: I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre

IWITW RDL Banner   
I Want It That Way



Nadia Conrad has big dreams, and she’s determined to make them come true. But between maintaining her college scholarship and working at the local day care to support herself, dating’s the last thing on her mind. Then she moves into a new apartment and meets the taciturn yet irresistible guy in 1B…. Daniel Tyler has grown up too fast. Becoming a single dad at twenty turned his life upside down—and brought him heartache he can’t risk again. Now, as he raises his four-year-old son while balancing a full-time construction management job and night classes, the last thing he wants is noisy students living in the apartment upstairs. But one night, Nadia’s and Ty’s paths cross, and soon they can’t stay away from each other. The timing is all wrong—but love happens when it happens. And you can’t know what you truly need until you stand to lose it. 


  




"Not all love stories end happily.  Sometimes they just end."

I Want It That Way By Ann Aguirre is a story of perseverance in rising to any situation and making it work, to be happy with your life, no matter what the outside world may think of the choices that you have made.  I give this book 3.5 stars and would recommend it to others who enjoy a good old fashion love story that has a happy ending.

Nadia moves into an apartment building with some friends during college, downstairs from the super hot Ty.  They meet each other on move-in day and he is anything but friendly and welcoming, but Nadia just can't shake the attraction that she has for him.  It was an instant feeling that she has never had before.  Working in a day care while going to class to be a special education teacher, Nadia is focused on her studies and all paths point to the future for her.  That is until her feelings started to change, and it was all because of her connection with Ty.

Ty was a single father who worked during the day and took college classes at night to be an architect.  Often tired and frusterated, he was less than pleased that a group of college kids were moving directly above him and Sam.  He feared that the party attitude that often surrounded normal college students, would interfere with the routine that he and Sam had created for themselves.

Ty can't seem to avoid Nadia even though he has tried time and time again and Sam has grown to love her.  She is the helper in his day care classroom and he becomes attached to her rather quickly.  Ty refuses to let Nadia into Sam's life in any other capacity because he is afraid of what will happen if they don't work out.  Ty and Nadia only spend time together when it is Sam's weekend with his grandparents, and although that arrangement seems to work out in the beginning, it isn't long before Nadia's feelings grown and she wants to take on a more important, permanent role in their lives.  Ty pushes her away, saying that she is too young for such responsibility and essentially breaks her heart.

Will Nadia be able to get over Ty or will she do everything in her power to get him back?  Will Ty give into his feeling for Nadia and finally realizes that he too deserves happiness?  You will have to one-click this book to find out!



 I Want It That Way was a great romance.  It had just enough angst, romance, sexy scenes and even heartbreak scenes.  I would give it a 4 star.  It is told in one POV of Nadia.. but don't worry even though we don't get all Ty's thoughts you will definitely feel his emotions.  Thankfully it does end with and HEA... but it isn't an easy one by any means.

Nadia is college student who just moved in to an apartment with her friends.  On her first day moving in she meets her neighbor downstairs.. but he doesn't seem very happy to be meeting her but helps move some furniture.  He is sexy as sin but there is just something off about him and Nadia is intrigued by this man.  What she didn't understand is that he was there age but seemed more mature... so that made her want to know more about him.  She finds herself sitting on her balcony just to be near him because he has a nightly routine of sitting outside like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and is trying to relax from it all.   When the nightly routine of just sitting outside turns into finally talking and then more steam when they finally hang out together there world will explode together.

My heart skipped when he leaned into the light, a golden glow from his living room, and our eyes met, more or that hungry- looking. I felt the skim of his gaze over my bare shoulders, on the curve of my cheek and the line of my neck.  I'd swear to my grave it was the night air, but my nipples actually tightened, just from that look.  I licked my lips. He watched me. -- NADIA

Tyler is a single father and swears off any serious relationship with woman.  He does have sex every so often but nothing earth shattering just a release.  His main focus is his son and trying to get through night school to become an architect to make a better life for his son Sam.  When he has new neighbors that move in above him he is more than weary of what they may bring because they are college students and he may be there same age but he doesn't have the patience with dealing with rowdy neighbors.  But he is surprised to find that he is intrigued by the girl Nadia.. no one has made him feel the things she is provoking in him since his ex--who left him after Sam was born.    But something about Nadia will leave him thinking he can have a fling with her while his son isn't around so thats what happens... but Sam knows Nadia and loves her because she is apart of his everyday life with his day care.  

What happens when things get to serious?  Will Ty let his heart have what he wants or does his heart only have room for Sam?  Will Nadia be able to hold back her feelings and walk away and not fight because its a losing battle?  

I saw him below, and my heart opened like a flower.  In the moonlight, he was everything beautiful and broken; I loved him to madness.  There were no brakes for me anymore, just endless rush toward him.  And I'd fall if he didn't catch me.-- NADIA

"I would've robbed Sam of this,"  he whispered.  "Of having more people to love him.  I was so angry at Diana, so sure I could be enough for him, it never occurred to me that he deserved more.  We would've been so fucking lonely without you, and I never would've known.  I wouldn't have noticed when I changed from a tired, grumpy asshole into a bitter old man."-- TYLER

Go get this book now!  This is the first book I have read from this author and look forward to much much more in the I hope near future!



IWITW Teaser


 “Where are you from?” Ah, an actual question. That means I can ask one back. “Nebraska, toward the South Dakota and Wyoming side, if that helps.” “I’ve never met anyone from there.” Michigan was a long way from home. “I usually get ‘not in Nebraska anymore’ jokes, and then I have to decide if I’m going to remind them that’s Kansas or play along.” “What do you usually do?” “Play along.” “You don’t like conflict, huh?” He sounded normal tonight, as if talking to me wasn’t an unpleasant chore anymore. That was a relief since I’d come to look forward to these moments with him so much. More, maybe, than I’d like to admit.Right. Friends. I distracted myself by considering his question. “Not if it can be avoided. I’m not what you’d call pugnacious, no. But I like to think I don’t back off important issues. What about you?” “No.” His voice was bleak and quiet. “I don’t. Even when I should.” Wow, that took a dark turn. If I could’ve jumped onto his patio without breaking an ankle or waking Sam, I’d have been down there like a shot. The distance between us seemed intolerable, and from the knot in my throat, I didn’t see how I could live another second without touching him, finding out if his hair was as soft as it looked or what he smelled like. I wanted him in a way I never had before. In high school, I had a boyfriend who played basketball, and we broke up when I left the state. It was a rational decision, and I didn’t miss him that much once I was gone. My freshman year, I went out with a lot of different guys, one date here, two dates there, but I never clicked with anyone enough to focus on them. Sometimes there were hookups with no strings, no expectations. Classes, friends and work seemed a lot more important. The intensity of this attraction was foreign and frightening, if exhilarating. I might already be backing off if I had the faintest sense that Ty was jerking me around on purpose. Wish he didn’t make me feel this way. It’d be so much simpler if I could friend-zone him. I realized I still hadn’t touched his verbal grenade. “We all have things we’d do differently in hindsight.” “What is it about you?” he asked in a wondering tone. “Huh?” “You make me…better. Calmer.” “Like a sedative?” I snickered. It was the least sexy thing a guy had ever said to me, including a junior high squeeze who said my face wasn’t actually that bad. He laughed, too, a sheepish sound. “I didn’t mean it like that. Just…I’m worried pretty much all the time that I’m dropping the ball somewhere, about to face-plant, but when I come out here and hear your voice, everything backs off like ten steps. I can breathe again.”


Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author and RITA winner with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. Ann likes books, emo music, action movies, and she writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens, published with Harlequin, Macmillan, and Penguin, among others.