Join us while Victoria Klahr goes on tour with The Heart of a Reader and her novel That's a Promise. The book is a re-release, published October 10 with Booktrope Publishing, and is the first book in the Promises, Promises series.
Pain isn’t new to me.
I’ve been to hell only to find it never really leaves when you get back. It haunts me through nightmares, unrequited love, lies, broken hearts, and now death.
A monster almost took my life.
My best friend carries half my soul a world away.
My boyfriend broke my heart but refuses to let me go.
And my father is dead.
I don’t believe in fate and I don’t believe in happily-ever-afters, but for some reason, I still hope.
Live, even with a tainted spirit.
Long for my other half to come back to me.
Risk another broken heart, just to feel loved again.
And refuse to let another horror break me.
In the face of my most recent tragedy, I have to decide whether forgiveness is something I can give. But even if that’s an option, can I be forgiven?
September
2009
When we got outside, Blake grabbed me and led me towards the wall
where he caged me with a hand on either side of my head. He was breathing
heavily, and for a moment neither of us said anything. Our breaths combined as
if they weren’t coming from either of us— as if we were one breathing being. He moved his hand to my face,
traced down my cheek, and cupped my jaw.
“That was so stupid and
reckless,” he said, anger and awe mixing in his tone.
He moved his fingers to
softly trace my lips, and rested his other hand at the small of my back. His
fingers grazed over the skin between my
shirt and shorts, raising goose bumps all along my skin. It felt like I had been shocked and then reawakened with raw
passion. With a gentle tug, he pulled my hips right into his.
“It was also the sexiest fucking thing I have ever seen.”
He crushed his lips
against mine, and I moaned at the ferocity of the moment. I moved my arms to
wrap around his neck and pressed my chest to his so we were as close together
as we could be. My bottom lip was
trapped between his. The light touch of his tongue hinted at more.
He grabbed the back of my
head and put his other hand on the wall so he could grind his hips even harder
against mine. I could feel how much
he wanted me, and desire flooded me. With every lick of his tongue against
mine, I could picture that same pressure against other parts of my body.
I
moved my hands to rub his arms and his muscles tightened underneath my touch. Please,
touch me more. My heart thudded and I arched my back, desperate.
Blake moved the hand that had been in my
long hair down my neck, and touched the cleavage that was spilling from the top of my shirt. He ran his hand down my
ribs and then went under my blue top, to touch my bare skin. His hand,
splayed against my stomach, made the heat that was building inside of me turn
into a wildfire. I let out a loud moan, but I was too distracted by his lips to
be embarrassed.
He pushed me harder against the
wall and started trailing kisses and licks
down the side of my neck. When the bricks scraped against the skin of my back,
I was brought back to reality by the agonizing torment that would follow me
around like a grim reaper looking for death.
With a hand around my throat, stopping my screams, he pushed my
dress up to my neck.
“You make a noise, and I won’t let you get out of this alive. No one is
coming for you, sweetheart,” he growled. He shoved me back against the
brick wall. My bare skin scraped against the brick and blood trickled down my
raw skin.
I
gasped and pulled away from Blake. His brows knit in confusion, but once
he got a look at my panic-stricken face, he backed away from me.
“We… I… no more.” I couldn’t catch my breath
and fought to calm the intense emotions that consumed me. I was rocking back
and forth when I felt Blake slide down next
to me. I don’t know how he knew, but he didn’t touch me and I was grateful. His
presence was enough. There were no tears. There hadn’t been any tears
since that night.
After
a few minutes I calmed down enough to sit back against the wall. Blake rested
with his knees pulled up, arms bent, and face in his hands. He looked up
at me, and the anguish almost broke my heart.
“I’m s-,” he began.
“I’m so sor-” I said at the same
time. “Blake, there’s a lot you still don’t know about me. I’m sorry I freaked
out.” I looked back over at him and he sat up straighter and creased his brows
together.
“Don’t
ever say you’re sorry for wanting to stop or for needing a freak out moment. I
will never force you to do something you don’t want to.”
I
nodded, and felt a little better hearing his words. I wasn’t ready to delve into the reasons behind my change in mood.
It was enough to know that he understood, and wasn’t going to press
me for anything more than I was willing to give him.
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That's A Promise by Victoria Klahr is the first book in the Promises Promises Series. A story about love lost, found, abandoned; this book will captivate you from the very beginning of Blake, Josie and Seth's story. Wanting to know what will transpire in their relationships due to various circumstances; some in their controls and others not, the reader will continue to turn each page with a yearning for more. This book was a 3.5 star read for me and I look forward to the next book in the series; especially after the semi-shocking cliff hanger that the author left me with.
"I'm good at pretending. That's what I consider survival--putting up walls to block out the hurt, even if it makes for a lackluster life."
The story of Josie, Blake and Seth begins with her transferring to the University in her junior year. After two years at the community college putting her life together after a brutal sexual assault, Josie begins to live her life again; working through the issues that still plague her daily since that horrendous night. Her best friend Seth has been there for her every step of the way, pulling her out of the shell of a broken girl that she became to be someone that once again lives life to the fullest. Although Seth helped her in more ways than any other friend might have by giving her back the ability to view sex as anything less than a vial act, she refrains from confessing the feelings that she has for him because of his ladies man reputation. Wanting more but knowing friends is all that Seth will ever want from her, she meets Blake and begins to date him. But was her assumptions regarding Seth's feelings about their relationship accurate?
Blake Porter is every girls dream and he treats Josie with the utmost care and compassion. Blake is everything that Josie could ever wish for in a boyfriend, and she feels completely safe with him, the only guy that she has felt that way toward besides Seth since the attack. They become close and she shares details with him that no one else but Seth knows and Blake seems to love her more for the strength she exhibits in everything she has gone through. That is until the Spring Break where everything seems to fall apart. Blake brings Josie to meet his mother, and having little information about his family life, Josie is very nervous. It is during that trip that Josie questions everything that she thought about her and Blake's relationship and rightfully so; because eventually it turns from questions to heartache where Seth is there to pick up the pieces.
Although Blake and Josie part ways and her heart is broken, Seth and Josie also have a severe falling out and haven't spoken in some time. She learns that he is travelling around Europe doing photography from his mother and she misses him more when one of her dad's unexpectedly dies in a car accident. It is then that Blake returns to her life, telling her that he has been miserable without her the last year and he will do anything to prove that he loves her. Who is the right one for Josie, Seth or Blake. I went back and forth throughout the entire book with my opinion on that until the very end when Josie reveals a secret to Blake that he refuses to forgive. When it all seems impossible she hears a voice that she thought would never grace her ears again. And that is where the reader is left, wondering what will happen with this bizarre love triangle. I look forward to book 2 and I know that you will too!
Victoria Klahr (pronounced “Claire”) lives in Elizabeth City, North Carolina with her husband and daughter, Stephen and Alexis. She loves her chug (Pug/Chihuahua), Bandit, and daughter to pieces. She is a huge and proud book nerd who looks at her bookshelf in admiration daily. When she’s not daydreaming about book boyfriends and fantasizing about being a badass heroine like Rose Hathaway, she’s busy doing schoolwork for her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and writing the stories that speak to her in her head. She loves peanut butter with Oreos, good friends, amazing gossip, driving in the middle of merge lanes, comedies, crude humor, pretending like she can dance, pretending like she can kick major ass, and a really, really good laugh.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7304003.Victoria_Klahr
http://victoriaklahrwrites.blogspot.com/
