We Are Us by Tara Leigh-Review & Excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 27, 2020
I fell in love with a beautiful, broken boy.
His whispered words of love were the sweetest of lies.
He gave me his heart and destroyed mine.
I am his.
I fell in love with the beautiful man who broke me.
His boldly spoken vow was the cruelest of cages.
He gave me his name and destroyed my soul.
He is mine.
The boy I once loved is now a man.
The man I once loved is now gone.
We are us.
I have been called many things.
Victim. Survivor. Daughter. Sister. Wife.
Now I am called something else.
Murderer.
Believe it or not, this is our love story.
•••••
REVIEW: We Are Us by Tara Leigh is a stand alone book of second chance romance, but nothing can prepare you for what awaits. This is arguably one of the most complex yet deeply moving love stories to be told. Reading the reviews before going in, no one wants to give anything away! Which is probably for the best. While there are delicate matters involved, the author does an extremely well and meaningful take on them.
Poppy wakes up from an accident with no recollection of how she has gotten there. She has no idea where her husband, Tucker is, or what has happened to him, but her first heartbreak / true love is there for her.
Special Agent Gavin Cross was Poppy’s first love, but then he disappeared – breaking her heart. But now he is back, and he means to keep Poppy safe from the fate she is facing.
This book is written from Poppy’s POV. Poppy was a brave 13 year old girl that grew up with not the best of childhoods.
She spent time in foster care due to her mother’s addiction, but she is back home with her mom and sister Sadie.
She doesn’t have the greatest home life and the only comfort she had in her life, she found in a boy that she met in the woods between their houses. That boy was Gavin Cross.
The woods, the preserve, “their” cave, the moment is theirs. Poppy and Gavin’s relationship was beautiful, sweet and everything you want in a teen romance. They both somehow needed the other. Healed each other. Built trust with each other. And it was beautiful. Their love is strong well into high school – until Gavin disappears.
Devastating Poppy. But she knows he will return to her in college. They had plans…
“I am his. He is mine. We are us.”
“I am hers. She is mine. We are us.”
But things at University does not go the way Poppy has planned. She gets there fully intending to see the love of her life – Gavin. But Gavin doesn’t show.
What has happened to him to not follow through with the plans they had made for their life together.
Poppy meets her roommate Wren, who’s personally leaves a lot to be desired. Wren’s best friend turns out to be Tucker Stockton. And, after one fateful night of over drinking Tucker and Poppy’s life is forever intertwined.
Poppy’s sadness and feeling of loss at Gavin not showing up at school, causes Poppy to make some decisions that she wouldn’t otherwise make. Trying to fit in, have fun, and excessive drinking has consequences. And those consequences do not make Poppy’s life any easier!
Not going to lie, some of her decisions truly upset me and I did not agree with them at all. But this is a broken child becoming a woman. My heart completely aches for her. Connecting with Poppy was easy, we have all had our own angst growing up. Hard not to feel that. This was not an easy read, your heart will be wracked with emotions, aching with pain – but there is healing, and hope, and promise.
Her choice to build a friendship with Tucker after their fateful night bothered me. But I completely understood it on a deep emotional level. You tend to seek comfort in those you have had trauma with. But what becomes of Gavin…
Where has he disappeared to and when we will find out where he is…
When Gavin returns to her life, Poppy has begun a relationship with Tucker.
And while she is happy to see Gavin, Tucker has manipulated the situation to benefit himself. But Gavin truly loves Poppy. And he has never stopped. Even when she pushed him away. The years has separated them, but what will the future hold.
Poppy continues with on paper – her fairy tale life! But in reality he life and relationship is anything but a fairy tale.
Tucker is manipulative, demanding and over-bearing. By the time Poppy wakes up in the hospital and her husband is missing – I was glad he was gone!
I completely hated the demeaning way Tucker has treated Poppy, and even more upset that she allowed it to happen. But it does happen. Even in real life the same happens. We lose ourselves completely….
This book was the most amazing roller coaster of emotions. And will leave you completely wrecked yet relieved.
Dismayed at the betrayal yes not surprised in the least.
Twists and turns – but true love will prevail.
Highly recommend if you want to a book that takes you to the emotional edge and then slowly builds to a fight your way to your happy ever after!
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Erin K.
I slant a curious look at Gavin, taking in his kiss-swollen lips and flushed skin, his untamable mop of hair and the blaze of excitement lighting up the blue of his corneas.
Gavin squeezes my hand reassuringly as I do what he’s asked, then slowly walks me the remaining few steps toward our cave. Without vision, my other senses are heightened. The cry of birds sounds closer, like they are perched just overhead instead of on branches thirty or forty feet above. The bite of the breeze on my skin is sharper, each gust sending a chill racing along already sensitive nerve endings. The smell of ripe earth and rich evergreen and the clean, bracing scent of Gavin himself is downright intoxicating, my head swimming as I pull breaths deep into my lungs.
Most of all, the moonstone pendant laying against my collarbone is making my chest tingle, my heart fluttering against my ribcage.
“Okay, open them.”
I do, immediately gasping in surprise at what Gavin’s done to our little cave. There are candles burning and scattered rose petals—no, poppy petals—and a basket filled with drinks and snacks. A pile of blankets and pillows.
“You did all this for me?” I ask, my voice sounding whispery and weird.
I feel whispery and weird.
I’ve never had a birthday like this. I’ve never even imagined a birthday like this. First the necklace and now, seeing the lengths Gavin has gone for me…
Beneath the surface of my skin, I’m a chaotic mess of emotions. I don’t know what to say, how to act. This is uncharted territory for me.
“Of course,” he says, as if it’s nothing. But it’s not nothing. It’s everything.
Before I dissolve into a teary puddle, Gavin reaches into his pocket and pulls out a deck of cards. “You taught me how to play gin rummy—how about I teach you to play poker?”
A strangled laugh leaves my throat. “I think that’s fair.”
We sit down and Gavin spends a few minutes going over the basics of the game before dealing out the cards. It’s not as easy as gin rummy, but I get the hang of it after a few rounds.
And when Gavin lifts a mischievous brow and asks, “Want to make things interesting?” I know exactly what he’s doing. Not just poker. Strip poker.
That’s when I realize just how much planning has gone into tonight. Beyond buying me an expensive present. Beyond pimping out our cave. Gavin found a way to make my first time—our first time—a mix of old and new. An experience evoking our past and celebrating our future.
I’ve imagined the night Gavin and I would finally go all the way a million times. But I’d only focused on the physical aspects. Would it hurt? Will there be blood? What if I do it wrong?
It never crossed my mind that he would take such care with… everything.
But, of course, it should have.
Gavin Cross is one of a kind.
And he’s mine.
Tara Leigh is a multi-published author of steamy contemporary romance. A former banker on Wall Street, she graduated from Washington University and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, but she much prefers spending her days with fictional boyfriends than analyzing financial spreadsheets. Tara currently lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut with her husband, children, and fur-baby, Pixie.
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