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Synopsis:

Emma Donati

Some days, it felt like Emma had just imagined it all. Like maybe everything she had been with Calisto was just a dream. Emma knew it was crazy—it was impossible to forget what she had shared with Calisto Donati. All their love, the stolen moments, their foulness together, and the beauty underneath it all were real. They were real. But he didn’t know. He didn’t know any of it. And little by little, with every day that passed her by, Emma found she was losing those pieces that reminded her they had existed once. Just like the rosary. All too soon, Emma knew … there would be nothing left.

Calisto Donati

Emma hadn’t given him a choice. Her, not him. Yeah, that’s what Calisto was going to keep telling himself. He refused to feed into the strange curiosity he had about Emma Donati. It had been building from the moment he’d first seen her face after he’d awakened. He wouldn’t admit that for longer than he cared to admit, he thought there was more behind her false smile, polite words, and the distance she put between her and him—that there might be more to them. He couldn’t. Except … he was feeding into it. Calisto just wasn’t sure what it was. But tonight he was going to find out. Whether she wanted to tell him or not.

*** The final Bloodlines novel.

Excerpt

Suddenly, he lifted his arm and two of Calisto’s fingers stroked Emma’s cheek. Gently. Tenderly. Almost knowingly.

Before she could stop herself, the familiarity in his action had her tilting her face into the palm of his hand, and then his thumb grazed over her cheekbone like he had done so many times before.

It took Emma all of three seconds to realize what she was doing before she blinked out of her daze and took a huge step away from Calisto. He sucked in a sharp breath at her action, like she’d somehow hurt him.

“I-I have to go,” Emma said.

Calisto took a tentative step forward, hands up as if to reach for her. “Just wait a second, please.”

“No, I—”

“Don’t run right now. I just want you to tell me the truth.”

“I did!” Emma winced at the level of her shout before adding quieter, “I did about the baby and the date.”

“But we’re back to the same thing again like before. How close were we, Emma, that I couldn’t wait outside your hospital room during the delivery? How close that you only gave the baby to me to hand off? How close that I had to tattoo the date of that event on my body forever? What else is there about us that you’re not telling me?”

Everything.

There was everything, and she was scared.

“Stop,” she whispered, willing the anxiety in her tone away.

They were too close to Affonso’s car, or even one of his men.

“Emma, wait!”

“Stop, Cal,” she repeated stronger.

Calisto threw his arms wide, seemingly unbothered by where they were or by who might be watching. “I just want answers.”

“I can’t give them to you.”

Emma knew the truth of their situation, and why Calisto couldn’t see what was right in front of his face. He had so much love and respect in his heart for Affonso that the idea he might have betrayed his uncle was the very last thing he might consider as something he could do to the man. And so, he was looking for other things, instead of the obvious.

She was terrified what might happen if he found out the truth before he gained his memories back. What would that do to him? Would he even be able to protect her and their child, or would he be torn between the knowledge of what he had done and his falsely-grown affection and wrongly placed loyalty for Affonso?

If she was forced to tell him what she knew about the things that had transpired between him and Affonso before she even came into the picture, would he resent her for ruining what he believed was his life?

Would he hate her?

Emma couldn’t bear the thought of that at all.

She just didn’t know what to do. Not for him. But she knew she had to protect herself and his baby. Until things were clearer, that’s the one and only thing Emma would do.

“What is it?” Calisto asked suddenly. “It’s all over your face—you’re just standing there like you don’t even know which way to go.”

Emma blinked up at him, realizing that in one single statement, he had summed up everything that was wrong with her without even properly understanding why. Even being lost like he was, Calisto still knew her. He was still in there somewhere.

“Are you torn?” he asked softly. “About me?”

She stayed quiet.

Calisto wasn’t looking for that. “Just answer me. I’m missing something. I’ve been missing something since I woke up from that coma. I only want to know what it is.”

“I … I am torn, but I don’t know.”

Emma didn’t know a lot of things, and for that, she was sorry.

“Then how about I help, huh? I’m going to look for it. Whatever it is you’re hiding that you don’t want me to know, I am going to look for it, Emma.”

“Then do what you need to do, Cal, but don’t get killed in the process.”

That was just about the best and only warning Emma could give Calisto. As it was, she had already given him too much.

It was like playing with fire.

And she wouldn’t survive the burns.

Thin Lives Playlist

My Review

I have been eagerly awaiting this conclusions since the first book of the series. And Thin Lives delivered. The passion, angst, and desperation felt in the first two books was certainly continued here but as Emma and Calisto's illicit love affair concluded, the impossible became reality.

Their story picks up right where book 2 ended. Calisto and Emma are putting the their broken pieces back together separately until everything becomes clear and they can begin fighting for the HEA. It wasn't easy and it wasn't perfect but their ending was beautiful nonetheless.

Reviewed by Paige

★★☆ 4 "I've Love You Since I Could Remember" Stars ☆★★

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CALISTO AND EMMA AREN'T STAR-CROSSED. THEY ARE IMPOSSIBLE. READ WHERE IT ALL STARTED IN THE FIRST 2 BOOKS IN THE DONATI BLOODLINES SERIES!

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Synopsis: Calisto Donati She was just a woman. That’s what Calisto wanted to tell himself; that’s what he wanted to believe. Emma was nothing more than a woman. There were other women for him to want. To obsess over. It couldn’t be Emma Sorrento. Not for Calisto. She was taken. She was claimed. She was not his. In a few days, Calisto would hand her off, and that would be that. He wondered why it wouldn’t be that easy to let her go. What good had saving her done? He had simply taken her from one monster to give her to another. Emma Sorrento Emma slid on her mask. All someone would need to do was look close enough to see what was really beneath the sheer falseness of her smile. At the other end of the table, Emma found her lies staring her right in the face. He smirked. And winked. Calisto Donati was her worst mistake, her greatest shame, and the one thing she still wanted more than anything. Emma could still feel him all over her, long after his touch and kiss was gone. In thirty days, her entire world had changed—he had changed her. Emma had a feeling that if she played another game with Calisto, she would surely lose. She had already lost once. Wasn’t it enough?

WARNING: The first two books in the Donati Bloodlines Trilogy end on a cliffhanger, the third is a HEA.

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Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/29WHd32

Synopsis: Calisto Donati Calisto had never been a fan of pain, but he found it provided a certain relief. It was a high that couldn’t compete with anything else he experienced. That was why he fought bare-knuckled, why he drove fast, despite knowing he might crash, and why he still enjoyed looking at Emma Donati—no matter her current status. Pain felt good. He might have been a fool for doing so, but as long as he got what he wanted from it, he didn’t really care. When he fought, he was given release. When he drove, he was given freedom. When he looked at Emma, he was given memories. All of them brought a certain level of pain. All three might kill him someday. Calisto glanced at Emma, taking her in again when she didn’t know he was looking. He realized then that only one might actually be worth dying for. Emma Donati Emma kept her gaze on the book in her lap, pretending like there wasn’t an argument going on across the room. She had become terribly good at acting like she didn’t hear. Calisto watched her out of the corner of his eye while he argued on with Affonso. She was too focused on Calisto to care about their fight. His anger. The tightness of his jaw. Searing soul-black eyes. The two men were not the same. They might have shared blood, but their hearts were entirely different. One man never let her out of his sight when he was nearby. The other acted like she didn’t exist. This was what it was like, she realized, to be in love with someone she couldn’t have. Calisto Donati would never be hers. This wasn’t a fairy tale that would end happily. They weren’t star-crossed. They were impossible.

ABOUT BETHANY-KRIS

Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time. To keep up-to-date with new releases from Bethany-Kris, sign up to her New Release Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bf9lzD

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