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Synopsis
When I was a boy, I met a girl.
She didn’t know it then, but…
She changed me.
Now…..I am a man.
A man who is broken by the stories of the women who come to me.
They are my birds with broken wings.
I help them heal, help them to make them strong, so they can fly free.
Lark changed me. Loved Me. Made Me Strong.
With her, I am free.
I write…
To the girl of the past.
To the girl of my present.
And, the girl of my future.
Dear Dish….
**Although Nico is considered part of The Leaves Series, it can be read as a stand alone**
Excerpt
“Nico…” she begged.
“What is it, babe?” In that moment, I was a tease. I was going to make sure I took this bad fuckin’ day and turn it into something she would remember happily.
“You know what I want,” she moaned.
“Don’t move.” I walked away, into the kitchen and dug into one of the bags. The store fuckin’ got me, what could I say. I was gonna barbeque in style next summer. But one thing my kitchen needed was a new spatula. Nice rubber handle, strong, and wide, flat, heatproof silicon…perfect for what I wanted. I came back and rubbed over her left cheek, pulled away for that perfect first contact and…
Thwack!
Inky (Book One)
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Synopsis
Anika "Inky" Redding has it all: a great fiancé and a job that allows her to follow her passion of painting and considering her history, that's plenty. All is well until someone from her past sets events in motion that upend Inky's careful world. When a handsome customer comes to her rescue, will she take a risk with her whole heart?
Cole (Book Two)
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Goodreads
Synopsis
Cole Carlyle, successful hotelier, has lived his life on his own terms.
Burned by a gold digging ex-wife, he never expected to find his soul mate in Anika “Inky” Redding.
Anika Redding, talented artist, overcame her past to live her life free of shame.
Betrayed by people she thought she could trust, the last thing she expected was to find true love in Cole Carlyle.
Their love for each other has helped them overcome their demons before, but now faced with an unimaginable challenge, Cole must turn to the last person he wants involved in his life, and hope that those demons don’t once again try to swallow them whole.
Inky and Cole’s romance and passion ignite and in the sequel to “Inky” we follow their journey to overcome their pasts once and for all, while building their love into something everlasting.
Kota's Review
JB Hartnett has created a series that is equal parts Hot, Romantic, Humourous, Emotive, Compassionate, Suspenseful and just full of characters that you cannot help but love.
Book 1 is Inky’s story. Inky (aka Anika) is the story of a young girl who becomes a gracious lady. Her story is about strength and survival and ultimately love.
Inky has very few people that she can trust in her life, and the one she thought she could trust the most turns out to be not the person she thought.
Inky’s childhood is nothing but traumatic and it is a confronting story that unfortunately is the reality of many. The way Inky’s trauma manifests significantly impacts on her life, however on her journey to happiness we meet some wonderful people who help give Inky the strength she needs. These are Amelia, the best friend, Nico, the tattoo artist and Cole, the man that helps Inky see her true worth.
Along the way to her HEA, there are some serious obstacles… I’m talking serious and these come along in a number of places… particularly at the very end.. agghhhh did someone say cliffhanger. JB is lucky I was reading these consecutively – because this end needed to be followed up immediately.
Anywho – Inky and Cole is a beautiful story – it took me a little while to warm up to these characters and their connection, but in the end – their love is pure, not untainted but perfect for them.
Inky and Cole’s story continue in Book 2 – Cole, and lucky it does, because there seriously was a lot more that needed to be told. Cole has his own demon’s that require their own air space.
Cole’s story takes us on a journey to HEA with Inky, but also unpacks the importance of family in this relationship and how our histories can certainly influence and change our paths before we even realise we have allowed it to.
Cole is a wonderful character who cherishes Inky, but that doesn’t mean those all around them see things the same way. Inky and Coles ending is perfect for them, and makes you feel good inside – their hard work was so worth it!
Let’s move on to the man of the moment though – Nico Nico Nico…what a truly amazing character. Nico is able to be read as a standalone – however, if you have the time, read Inky and Cole first – they enable the reader to develop a much greater appreciation for Nico than you would have if you just read his story.
Nico is a business owner and resident man whore. His reputation is so bad that well – he’s an ass – but he own’s it, everyone knows it, and he has his reasons for it.
Nico is close to his parents and with the intro in his story you can understand why. As characters they too are amazing and full of compassion, commitment and integrity.
Nico is on a journey of self destruction because he is too caring – his role in town with the women who come to him, mean that he carries way to much emotional baggage for any one person. He then meets Lark – and well their story is one of building trust, passionate connections, and history/fate playing an even bigger role.
Ok so my actual thoughts on these books? I thoroughly enjoyed them, although it took me a while to warm up to the characters in Inky – once I had – they really took hold of my heart – you could not help but want to be their champion in all things good. JB Hartnett has written the characters with a great amount of depth that allows you to feel and understand their experiences, but not so heavy all of the time that it is without any humour and normalcy.
The premise of this series is quite simple. All women in the stories have had experiences that leave them with a sense of loss, be it loss of themselves, their identity, their safety, their integrity – no matter they all have a story. The men in their lives for the most part are egotistical pieces of shit – until they meet their mate (aka Cole or Nico, Olaf, Zack, Frodo among others (ie: respective Dad’s)) who shows them how real men appreciate the beauty that is a woman who is a survivor.
The connection between Nico and Lark is so obvious, but the story is not impacted by predictability because of this. It was however, slightly anticlimactic when this connection was discovered.
I guess my concern about this series more so comes because I read the three books back to back – but I found that while the stories were different, the similarities between all the character’s stories began to lose some impact – if this series continues, which i suspect it may between Olaf and Serena – I would like to see some variation to the plot just to give the next a point of difference. Ultimately Inky and Lark are artists at heart, all the women have traumatic stories that try to define them, the men all have very similar character traits and have hit lows … not in a bad way – just in a variety is the spice of life kind of change!
I have enjoyed JB’s style and tone, the humour broke heavy topics up nicely, as did the sex. These stories do end with HEA’s (well Inky’s comes in Cole’s story) and they are well written and easy to read. The series as a whole is getting an average 4 star rating from me…
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About the Author
Julie is a Southern California native, a fan of a really good story (preferably romance with a happily ever after), really good pie (preferably pumpkin) and copious amounts of coffee (preferably Folgers).
She has always enjoyed writing and at one time thought she could be a singer songwriter...the 'writer' part is the one that stuck.
Julie is obsessed with pi...the equation(and the food). She's allergic to cats and cantaloupe and hates mushrooms...so if you ever want to give her a gift, those are out for sure.She currently lives with her own romance hero husband and two boys in Melbourne, Australia.
Giveaway
$50 Gift Certificate
Signed Set of The Leaves
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