Breaking Nova by Jessica Sorensen
Blurb
Nova Reed used to have dreams-of becoming a famous drummer, of marrying her true love. But all of that was taken away in an instant. Now she's getting by as best she can, though sometimes that means doing things the old Nova would never do. Things that are slowly eating away at her spirit. Every day blends into the next ... until she meets Quinton Carter. His intense, honey brown eyes instantly draw her in, and he looks just about as broken as she feels inside.
Quinton once got a second chance at life — too bad he doesn't want it. The tattoos on his chest are a constant reminder of what he's done, what he's lost. He's sworn to never allow happiness into his life ... but then beautiful, sweet Nova makes him smile. He knows he's too damaged to get close to her, yet she's the only one who can make him feel alive again. Quinton will have to decide: does he deserve to start over? Or should he pay for his past forever?
Excerpt
I get caught up in it all—in her—and suddenly I’m pressing my lips against hers. I’ve done this a lot before, as a way to distract myself from my life. But this isn’t the same. This means something, but I’m still trying to figure out what and if I want it or even deserve to get it.
At first she stiffens, but then she hooks her arms around the back of my neck and inches closer, opening her mouth to me as she spreads her legs open and my hands travel higher toward the bottom of her shorts. She tastes like beer and smells like pot. Tristan’s gone but he could come back at any moment. I should stop this. I should care enough to stop Tristan from seeing this, but my will to care about doing the right thing at this moment has died. My thoughts are blurred by the lingering high and the scent and feel of Nova. All I seem to care about is caressing her tongue with mine and feeling her skin because it’s soft and soothing and in another life I’d touch it all the time.
I’m about to pull away, because emotions are prickling inside me, when she swings her leg over me so she’s straddling my lap, then she grips the sides of my neck and pulls me closer. She kisses me fiercely, to the point where it feels like my lips are going to bruise, then she’s crushing her chest against mine as she gently rocks her hips. I dig my fingers into her waist, bringing her even closer, before I push her back, breaking the connection of our lips.
She’s panting, wild-eyed, her hair falling out of the braid. She glances to the side at Tristan’s empty chair and then looks back at me.
“We should stop,” I say, but it sounds like a lame attempt, my voice drifting off at the end.
“W-why?” She stutters a protest and I have to admit that it’s nice there are no tears in her eyes. “I don’t want to.”
I brush her hair back from her eyes and let my fingers linger on the bruise on her cheek. “You don’t even know me, Nova. I’m no good for you… you deserve so much better.” Please run away. Because I can’t seem to do it myself.
Her jaw tenses, like I struck a nerve. “I think I should get to decide that.”
“Whether I’m good enough for you?” I ask.
“Yeah, which I can only decide if I get to know you,” she says.
I motion my hand in front of myself, pressing the point. “This is pretty much it. What you see is what you get.”
“That’s never the case,” she disagrees, flattening her palms onto my bare chest right over the scar and my body goes rigid. “In fact, most of the time people hide who they really are.” Her throat bobs up and down as she swallows hard. “Most of the time you think you know someone, but you really have no clue.”
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessica Sorensen, lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.
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K's Review
I think it makes sense to caution readers that this book focuses heavily on the topic of suicide. Just FYI if you are sensitive to this type of content.
Breaking Nova is definitely an appropriate title for this book. Nova needed to reach a breaking point. So does Quentin... but this story is mostly about Nova reaching hers. The story moves back and forth between Nova and Quentin, two people who have lost their first loves in very tragic ways. They are both struggling with self blame and the loss of themselves. Nova is drawn to Quentin because he reminds her of her first love Landon. It is the small flicker of light she needed to start her on a journey back from the dead. However, this is not an enjoyable trip. Nova has to hit rock bottom and walking with her on her journey to rock bottom was very hard, sad and depressing.
The hardest part of this book were the flashbacks that both Quentin and Nova experienced throughout the story to the deaths and memories of their first loves. Once again... sad and depressing.
There are no supporting characters in this book that are even remotely likable. Nova and Quentin are surrounding themselves with toxic people. This is not helping either of them cope with their loss but instead is dragging them deeper into a void or black hole. And, because there were no characters to give you any sort of relief from the sadness I felt myself in a constant state of doom and gloom. It was pretty much this way through the entire book up until the end.
I really struggled with how to rate this book because I did not enjoy it... it was not a fun read... it made me sad. But, after some thought I think that maybe that was perhaps the point. There really was no room for rainbows and sunshine in this story. Both of these characters are on a difficult journey and at the end of the day I think that the author did do a pretty good job at bringing us into their black hole. I just didn't like being there. I hope that makes sense!
I will say that I do like Quentin and Nova. And, I was very, very proud of her at the end of this book for making the smart decision to finally reach out to the one person in her life she should have been reaching for all along. And even more proud of her for finally realizing that she needed to rid herself of the toxic people in her life so that she can begin to move forward.
This is book one in a series and is mostly about Nova's breaking point. We are left wondering what will happen to Quentin. So, yes, it's a cliffhanger...
I have no idea if I will continue with this series. I am satisfied with Nova's journey but don't know if I want to continue to put myself through the emotional ringer to continue on with Quentin's. The content in this series was just very difficult for me personally. But, maybe after some time away I'll go for the plunge!
ARC provided by Forever Publishing via netgalley.
Breaking Nova is definitely an appropriate title for this book. Nova needed to reach a breaking point. So does Quentin... but this story is mostly about Nova reaching hers. The story moves back and forth between Nova and Quentin, two people who have lost their first loves in very tragic ways. They are both struggling with self blame and the loss of themselves. Nova is drawn to Quentin because he reminds her of her first love Landon. It is the small flicker of light she needed to start her on a journey back from the dead. However, this is not an enjoyable trip. Nova has to hit rock bottom and walking with her on her journey to rock bottom was very hard, sad and depressing.
The hardest part of this book were the flashbacks that both Quentin and Nova experienced throughout the story to the deaths and memories of their first loves. Once again... sad and depressing.
There are no supporting characters in this book that are even remotely likable. Nova and Quentin are surrounding themselves with toxic people. This is not helping either of them cope with their loss but instead is dragging them deeper into a void or black hole. And, because there were no characters to give you any sort of relief from the sadness I felt myself in a constant state of doom and gloom. It was pretty much this way through the entire book up until the end.
I really struggled with how to rate this book because I did not enjoy it... it was not a fun read... it made me sad. But, after some thought I think that maybe that was perhaps the point. There really was no room for rainbows and sunshine in this story. Both of these characters are on a difficult journey and at the end of the day I think that the author did do a pretty good job at bringing us into their black hole. I just didn't like being there. I hope that makes sense!
I will say that I do like Quentin and Nova. And, I was very, very proud of her at the end of this book for making the smart decision to finally reach out to the one person in her life she should have been reaching for all along. And even more proud of her for finally realizing that she needed to rid herself of the toxic people in her life so that she can begin to move forward.
This is book one in a series and is mostly about Nova's breaking point. We are left wondering what will happen to Quentin. So, yes, it's a cliffhanger...
I have no idea if I will continue with this series. I am satisfied with Nova's journey but don't know if I want to continue to put myself through the emotional ringer to continue on with Quentin's. The content in this series was just very difficult for me personally. But, maybe after some time away I'll go for the plunge!
ARC provided by Forever Publishing via netgalley.
K~
She is a new to me author, but I have some of her books on my TBR list!
ReplyDeleteThe Secret of Ella and Micha is a good one... one of my favorites by this author.
ReplyDeleteI am a new reader so i do not have any of her books but i will do some research on this author for sure.
ReplyDelete