Author: Mia Asher.
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Women's fiction
Release Date: Friday, August 23rd 2013
Book Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17999935-arsen
Book Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17999935-arsen
Blurb:
I'm a cheater.
I'm a liar.
My whole life is a mess.
I love a man.
No, I love two men…
I think.
One makes love to me. The other sets me on fire.
One is my rock. The other is my kryptonite.
I'm broken, lost, and disgusted with myself.
But I can't stop. This is my story.
My broken love story.
Review -
Review—Arsen.
A Broken Love Story by Mia Asher
“’Babe, please…don’t give
up. It will be okay…’ As I return his
embrace, I believe the earnest prayer he’s chanting in my ear, and I believe
his words with my whole heart, but even Ben can’t stop the numbness settling
around me, settling around my heart.
I can feel myself
withdrawing from him.
From his love.
From my marriage.
And there’s nothing I can
do to stop it.
Nothing.”
Cathy and Ben have an epic love. The kind of love most people only dream about. Meeting by chance and having that instant
connection is stuff books are made of, right?
Well, this story is just that way…except it isn’t. This story is real (as real as real gets in
fiction); a story where life gets ugly and someone gives up. Cathy is that person.
Devastated over their losses and continued struggles, Cathy mentally checks out of her marriage. Ben, being the man that he is, doesn’t want to believe that this “road block” is permanent; instead choosing to hold on tighter and work harder in order to move forward. What Ben doesn’t do, is listen. He hears Cathy’s cries for help, but doesn’t absorb them the way she needs him too; causing her to shut down and shut him out.
“With this huge gaping hole
inside me, and my taunting doubts as constant companions, I’m left hollow,
angry, and afraid of intimacy with my own husband. Physical intimacy won’t close that gap.”
Finding a way to cope with everyday life is becoming
more and more of a struggle for Cathy.
She is growing resentful of her “perfect” husband and his need to “fix”
her. Pushing him away doesn’t help…but
along comes a distraction, one Cathy had never anticipated to destroy her life
as she knows it: Arsen.
“It’s funny that his name
reminded me of fire because he certainly looked like someone who could burn you
to the ground.”
And so the match is struck. There is an instant attraction to the
forbidden; fight as she may, Cathy ultimately caves to the fire that will burn
her marriage to ashes. Arsen. Playboy
heir to a hotel fortune. A man who was
supposed to be a boy, and has absolutely no regard for other people’s
lives…sometimes, even his own. Reckless
and young, Arsen goes for what he wants, and he wants Catherine. Knowing that she is married I guess is part
of the allure…I mean, who doesn’t want what they can’t have? Cathy suddenly finds herself tangled into a
web of deceit that she no longer has any interest of getting out of.
“I loved the attention he
paid to me and the way he made me feel.
Alive. Happy. He made me forget. Ignorance is bliss, right? Well, knowledge is misery. And the truth hurts.”
Finding solace in the arms of another seems to be the
only thing that keeps her together (at least in her mind). This is NOT normal! This is NOT okay! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Every alarm bell is going off in my head, my
heart, my stomach is even in knots as I watched the story unfold. What I didn’t anticipate was that Arsen did
something for Cathy that her husband couldn’t do (not because he actually
couldn’t but because she wouldn’t let him); he gave her hope back. Arsen convinced Cathy that life is what you
make of it…and you have to make it work, no matter the obstacles.
“’Life without love,
without chasing your dreams, is nothing. It means nothing. It’s a sad f*cking
empty shell, Catherine. It’s so easy to
drown in darkness, to let it smother you, swallow you whole, to be blinded by
it. But you gotta fight. You gotta f*cking fight…You need to look the
f*cking sick joke that is life straight in the eye and tell it to bring its
f*cking A game because you shouldn’t go down without a fight.’”
What does a woman do, who feels she has nothing left
of her life? A woman who feels less or
not worthy. How can one cope with those
immense feelings of despair, pain, and loneliness when she, herself has no
control over the very make-up of her being?
Cathy doesn’t cope. She retreats.
She self-soothes (in the worst possible way).
Unfortunately, she isn’t the only one who pays the price of her
indiscretion.
“And now I have to face the
music. I have to make a choice once
again. And it doesn’t matter what choice
I make. Which path I choose to
follow. Either way, I will break my own
heart. I will lose a part of myself.
But I think I already have.
I love two men.
And this time, the monster
that I am, the one I’ve become, will bring someone else down with me. It’s the darkness in me, I tell you…it
follows me everywhere I go, spreading like spilled black ink on white paper.”
I can’t even tell you how many times I broke down
sobbing while reading this book. It tore
my heart to shreds. I couldn’t even escape
it in my dreams because it played like a movie on repeat. All I could do was picture the agony that
each person went through on their separate journeys through hell. I absolutely
do not sympathize with anyone who cheats on their spouse. I also think there are two sides to every
story. Mia does a phenomenal job of
describing her characters and with the attention to detail for every
aspect…ugh, tearing up just thinking about it.
I loved that this book touched on multiple POV’s because it gave insight
as to what the other was feeling while events were taking place. I highlighted
so many passages in this book, I’m surprised there was any unmarked text…what I
found interesting though; most of it was with Ben or from Ben’s POV. So, yes, I am totally TEAM Ben.
“Falling in love with
someone is easy. It’s loving when the
newness has worn off, when life gets tough, when things get in the way, when
physical passion is gone, that true love remains. When love can conquer it all.”
I only wish it were enough for her to remember that in
the beginning; before the fire started burning for someone else…before
everything went up in smoke…all because she fell for Arsen.
**5 Charred-Heart Stars**
About the Author:
My name is Mia Asher.
I'm a writer, a hopeless romantic, a wanderer, a dreamer, a cynic, and a believer. And, oh yes…I might be a bit crazy - but who isn't?
Author Picture: is the black and white picture of the lips
Author Links:
Email: miaasherauthor@outlook.com
Website: www.miaasherauthor.com
Twitter link: @miaasherauthor
Facebook link: www.facebook.com/miaasherauthor.
Giveaway info: (Two - $20 dollar amazon gift cards)
Direct RC Link:
EXCERPTS:
Excerpt one:
I need to feel him inside me.
I need Arsen to burn me to ashes with the fire roaring inside his blue eyes.
I need to kiss him.
So I do.
When our lips meet, it’s not a tender moment. It’s fierce.
Passionate.
Cannibalistic.
Teeth clashing... Hair pulling… Like this is the last kiss we will ever taste.
Arsen breaks away first, breathing heavily, color coating his cheeks. “Let’s get out of here.”
Silent for a moment, I let myself drink in his beauty. The color of his eyes, his strong jaw, the golden stubble adorning his face, his full lips…
I’m not naïve. I’m aware that if I leave with him right now, we’re going to do more than just hold hands.
We are going to fuck.
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