The Whispering Pages Book Blog

Monday, November 4, 2013

Blog Tour with Review & Giveaway

A Risk Worth Taking
by
Heather Hildenbrand

Accendo Press - October 2013

~ Synopsis ~

When 22-year-old Summer Stafford’s parents split halfway through her senior year at college, Summer’s world is rocked. Everything she thought she knew—heck, everything she thought she wanted for her own life—feels like a lie. The truth is love is a risk. And the true kind, the kind that lasts, might even be a fairy tale.

Reeling from the divorce, Summer derails her own future by breaking up with her parent-approved boyfriend and giving up her lifelong plans for a big-city career. She moves back home, business degree in hand. Dad needs her to fill the gaps her mother left behind; Summer needs to find who she is outside of the cookie-cutter life that failed so miserably for her parents.

Ford O’Neal’s future involves one person: himself. He doesn’t have a permanent address and he definitely doesn’t commit. To a place or a person. Raised by hippies, he plans just far enough ahead to secure his next stop, this one landing him at a work-study program at Heritage Plantation where he can grow his own herbal and medicinal creations.

Summer is gorgeous and smart and fun to be with, the perfect way to pass five months. It won’t be love—Ford’s got too many things to accomplish, too many places to go, before he settles down. Yet Summer pulls him in, challenging him to rethink his own philosophy.

When Ford’s five months are up, each of them must decide if love is really worth the risk.

~ Add to Goodreads ~

~Links To Buy ~

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

~ Review~

Let me start by saying that this was my first read by Heather Hildenbrand but it will most definitely not be my last. This story grabbed me from page 1 and took me on an emotional journey. The characters were engaging, fun and sexy. I laughed and cried right along with them.

I felt for Summer. Everything she thought she knew was blown out of the water when her parents divorced. She gave up her dream of life outside the plantation and now had to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about falling in love and keeping it. And that was her intention until Ford O’Neal.

Ford was more of a “drifter” to me, refusing to follow in the steps of his parents. He was determined to live life and experience all his current location had to offer before moving on to the next. But what he didn’t count on was meeting Summer Stafford.

Let’s not leave out Casey. Summer’s almost brother. Casey had grown up with Summer so he knew how to rile her up and comfort her when she was down. He added fuel to the fire between Summer and Ford whenever he had the chance and made sure to call them on their own insecurities.

There was definite chemistry between Ford and Summer and although the both tried to deny it, it proved to be more powerful than the both of them. Ford’s ability to live in the moment seemed to rub off on Summer even though she was painfully aware that the time that they had together was limited.

“What we have, what we are, is beautiful. Don’t ruin it by worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet. This moment, right here is ours. Let’s take our moments.” ~ Ford

Ford’s realization that he was leaving more than just the plantation when he left broke my heart. I was truly pulling for him to…..stay. But they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder…would it be true for Summer and Ford? Would they find what they hadn’t been looking for in each other? Pick up this great read and see for yourself.

~ Rating ~

~ About the Author ~

Heather Hildenbrand was born and raised in a small town in northern Virginia where she was homeschooled through high school. She now lives in coastal VA, a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean, with her two adorable children. She works from home, part time, as a property manager and when she's not furiously pounding at the keyboard, or staring off into space whilst plotting a new story, she's lying on the beach, soaking in those delicious, pre-cancerous rays.

Heather loves Mexican food, hates socks with sandals, and if her house was on fire, the one thing she'd grab is her DVR player.

Heather is a co-founder of Accendo Press, a publishing group she operates with fellow authors: Angeline Kace and Jennifer Sommersby. Accendo (a-CH-endo), A Latin word, means “to kindle, illuminate, inflame, or set fire.” This is something Accendo strives to do inside a reader’s imagination with every title released. For a complete list of titles and author bios, visit www.accendopress.com.