Under the Orange Moon
Title: Under the Orange Moon (Mathews Family #1)
Author: Adrienne Frances
Release Date: November 7th, 2014
Add to your TBR: Goodreads
Purchase Links: Amazon US / Amazon UK
Dylan Mathews grew up in a house that was always filled with good-looking guys. However, with four protective older brothers they never stood a chance.Except for one. Dylan knew she loved Ben McKenna from the first time she laid eyes on him. When he started sneaking in her room, she thought he felt the same way. But just as their passion ignited, he left for college and never came back. Until now. Returning home after 5 years, Ben realizes Dylan has always been the one for him. Can he win back her heart and finally find love under the orange moon?
Review
A broken man with and even more broken family returns home again after five years away. It’s the last thing he wants to do with an overbearing mother who has been anything but loving to him in the past. Raised to believe he is worthless and unwanted, his only peace and normalcy in life has been is surrogate family- The Mathews.
The Mathews have been family to Ben for as long as he can remember. He is best friends with the boys and considers them brothers. However, when it comes to Dylan- their sister- he has anything but sisterly feelings for her. She has been his only sense of calm in his distorted life.
Yet Ben knows the kind of boy he is- and the kind of man he is destined to become, so when it comes time to leave for college he does just that. He leave Dylan behind without so much as a goodbye with hopes she will move on and find someone more worthy of her then he could ever be.
Dylan is heartbroken. The only boy she has ever loved just vanished out of her life. She is smart, beautiful and humble and even after five years, broken or not, her heart still belongs to the one man who left her in the middle of the night all those years ago. But seeing him again she is afraid. She knows he is the one man who has the ability to leave her broken all over again.
"Well, that’s just it. You don't seem very happy to see me."
Dylan stopped peeling and stared at his face. He was so full of himself that sometime she wanted to slap her own cheek for even holding him in the high regards that she did.
She gasped dramatically. "Oh my lord! Is it really you, Ben McKenna?" She covered her mouth. "My life make so much more sense now that you're home. Take me Ben. Take me now."
She let out another fake, girlish yelp and went back to peeling.
When Ben reappears he is taken back by the woman Dylan has become. No longer the skinny awkward girl that dresses in baggy clothes. She is no longer worthy of the childhood nickname “Weed” because she is anything but. Ben knows it is wrong and yet he can’t find it in himself to push away the need to be around her again.
Falling into old habits, Ben and Dylan fall into a secret romance. Dylan has always seen a side of Ben that no one else was ever able to see. She knows the type of man he really is despite the player he becomes when he is without her or the useless and unwanted child he thinks he is to two parents who never deserved him.
Ben flashed a rare, peaceful smile.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked gently.
Dylan smiled and touched his cheek, sighing as she thought long and hard.
“Happiness,” she finally answered.
“I don’t believe I knew what that was until just now,”
he admitted, surprising them both.
I loved Dylan. She is a strong and beautiful girl. She has a good heart and loves her family dearly. She doesn’t want to upset anyone by outing her relationship with Ben. However, Ben is finally ready to come clean and show the world that Dylan belongs to him. When tragedy strikes, will Dylan and Ben be able to work through it together or will it tear them apart and cause damage so bad it is irreparable.
"Someday you're going to fall in love. Someday you're going to fail. Someday you're going to be broken. You have to keep the fight inside you-the fight that I love about you.
The fight that makes you Dylan."
Huge thank you to the author for bringing us such an remarkable story.
***4 STARS***
Reviewed by Alissa Evanson
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Beyond the Orange Moon
Author: Adrienne Frances
Release Date: November 7th, 2014
Add to your TBR: Goodreads
Purchase Links: Amazon US / Amazon UK
Sometimes fate strikes in unexpected ways.Lucy Dalton was tired of living a life she didn't want. Charlie Mathews was living the life he always wanted. But one night, fate changes the course of their lives forever. A year later, Lucy and Charlie's paths meet again, igniting a spark that neither can deny. Lucy knows he doesn't remember her, but she's already in too deep. Charlie knows the unwritten family rule: Mathews men never admit when they're broken. Can they leave the past where it belongs and find a way to look beyond the orange moon?
Review
Incredible. Amazing. Emotionally gripping!
When I read the synopsis for Beyond the Orange Moon I was confused. I couldn’t understand how the story was about Charlie and some girl named Lucy. It made me so eager to read it I had to start it immediately. Then I read the Prologue and I was a gonner. The prologue ripped my heart out and shredded it. I felt so lost and confused as to why the author would take the direction with this family that she did. But it hooked me. Full on I can’t put this book down until its over hooked. It was gripping and emotional and I knew that this would be a story that would stick with me for a long time after it is over.
This is just as an emotional and heartbreaking story as it is beautiful and funny. It is a story of overcoming tragedy and loss. It’s a story of finding peace and learning how to love again.
Through the sadness there is laughter. The author does a great job to make parts of this story deep and emotional but then lightens it up just enough to take the sting of the sadness away without losing the depth of emotion.
Lucy had witnessed one of the most heartbreaking scenes possible and it changed her entire life. A year later, she is still trying to cope. She doesn’t understand how life can be so unfair and cruel when it comes to love and life.
Then one day in the park she sees Charlie Mathews and finally those broken parts of hers start to fill. Little by little and week by week she is starting to reclaim a little of her old self back again. Charlie is the one man who she knows it is wrong to get involved with and yet, she can’t seem to stay away from.
“You go where I go,” he reminded her.
The beat of her heart sped up and pounded in her ears. It was like falling into oblivion, unsure of where you would land. Every day—each moment he even looked at her—was another reminder of how blissfully happy she was. She felt adored; she felt like she belonged.
As Charlie and Lucy become closer, Lucy struggles with the one thing she knows has the ability to tear them apart for good. Lucy has a secret, one that she knows will change the course of her life yet again, but this time it will rip everything she never realized she wanted right away from her.
She couldn’t look at him, especially when he was running his fingers through her hair in such a gentle way. He didn’t deserve this—this lie that she was living. He was one of the most tender and wonderful men she had ever encountered and she was a horrible person for allowing him to believe that she was good.
Between medaling family and friends, ex-in-laws, and life changing secrets, what will it take for Charlie and Lucy to finally find the peace in each other that they so desperately deserve.
Congrats on an amazing release Adrienne! You have gained a huge fan in me and I cannot wait for more from you or the Mathews family!
****5 BRILLIANTLY BEAUTIFUL STARS****
Reviewed by Alissa Evanson
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