Rome (Marked Men, #3) by Jay Crownover ~ Review & TWO Giveaways

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Continuing my month of giveaways for my 3 year blogiversary, I'm giving away an eBook copy of Rome.  International, as you can accept an eBook.


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Source: Received eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Cora Lewis is a whole lot of fun, and she knows how to keep her tattooed bad boy friends in line. But all that flash and sass hide the fact that she’s never gotten over the way her first love broke her heart. Now she has a plan to make sure that never happens again: She’s only going to fall in love with someone perfect.

Rome Archer is as far from perfect as a man can be. He’s stubborn and rigid, he’s bossy and has come back from his final tour of duty fundamentally broken. Rome’s used to filling a role: big brother, doting son, super soldier; and now none of these fit anymore. Now he’s just a man trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life while keeping the demons of war and loss at bay. He would have been glad to suffer it alone, until Cora comes sweeping into his life and becomes the only color on his bleak horizon.

Perfect isn’t in the cards for these two, but imperfect might just last forever . . .

My Thoughts:




5 stars - My favorite of the series - Rome and Cara are complex, hurting, and perfect for each other.

I loved Rule, totally and completely.  Rule and Shaw together were perfect and I was so happy with their story.  I enjoyed Jet even if I wanted to smack Ayden a few times.  But Rome and Cora?  They captured my heart.  This is my FAVORITE of the series, by far! This is high praise considering how much I loved the first book.

Rarely do I fall for both the main characters of a book.  I usually always like one more than the other - admittedly it's usually the guy I like best.  But this book was different.  I adored Cora.  She's bada$$ and mouthy.  She tells it like it is and makes no excuses for it.  She's protective of her friends and fiercely local.  Feisty and fun, I love how she can push captain no-fun's buttons like no other and I truly love her.  She is the perfect match for Rome.

Rome.  My poor Rome.  So in need of cuddling, I totally volunteer for service.  This soldier comes back with more than a few ghosts.  Dealing with the horrors he saw and experienced at war is bad enough but Rome is still struggling with the secrets that were kept from him by his family.  Nightmares and attitude are driving him to hide in a vodka haze.  Enter the beer dumping, not putting up with you ruining my BBQ girl Cora - so ready to battle this soldier.  Sparks fly in more ways than one and these two are not going to make things easy.  There are way too many battles to fight for both of them before the smoke clears and the victor is declared.  And it was a fun war to watch.

I can always tell a five star book by the speed with which I read.  When the pages and time are flying by, when the emotions are riding up and down, and when I don't want to put the book down, then it has to be true.  That was the case with this one.  I read it in a day - yes all 400 pages of it.

What I so love about this series are the way the books fit together like puzzle pieces.  The characters I loved from previous books are still there and more things are happening to them.  I'm meeting new characters that I'm hoping will get their own book.  And secondary characters are breaking my heart too.  It feels like a episode of the very best.  I very much want the next book and I hope they keep coming because I need my fix of marked men.

If you have read Rule and/or Jet, you need this book as soon as possible.  If you haven't started this series but love the New Adult genre then what are you waiting for?  I love the imperfect but real characters and how the story involves my heart.  I love these friends and family that take care of each other and each others back.  Don't miss out on being part of their circle!


 

Tour Giveaway

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About the author:

I'm supposed to share interesting details about myself so that my readers get to know me so here we go in no particular order: I'm an natural redhead even though I haven't seen my real hair color in years, I'm a big fan of tattoos and have a half sleeve on either arm and various other pieces all over the place, I've been in the bar industry since I was in college and it has always offered interesting insight into how men and women interact with each other, I have 3 dogs that are all crazy, I live in Colorado and love the snow, I love music and in all reality wish I could be a rock star not a writer or a bartender but I have zero talent so there is that. 

I love to write, love to read and all I'm interested in is a good story with interesting characters that make the reader feel something.

Thanks for taking the time to check my stuff out....