Today we are celebrating the release of the newest standalone title from Carrie Aarons. YOU'RE THE ONE I DON'T WANT is now live and available to read for FREE in KindleUnlimited. You will not want to miss this second-chance romance. Be sure to follow Carrie for exclusive updates about her releases.
Read
it for FREE in KindleUnlimited!
Purchase in Paperback
Sign up for Carrie's Newsletter for details about the book
Join Carrie's Street Team
You're the One I Don't Want by Carrie Aarons
Read
it for FREE in KindleUnlimited!
Purchase in Paperback
Add
the book to Goodreads
Book Blurb:
Love
is weakness.
Which is why Annabelle Mills vowed a long time
ago to never let it destruct her. A former pageant queen with a bite equally as
lethal as her bark, she’s interning at her dream job on the set of the
highest-rated home design show on television. Everything in Annabelle’s life,
though it may be cold and isolated, is going exactly as she always
planned.
Until her ex-high school sweetheart moves to
town. The same boy that she cheated on, once upon a time, essentially breaking
both of their hearts. But no one knows the full story, and being vulnerable
enough to open up about it is not on Annabelle’s
checklist.
Hate is fuel.
The kind that courses through Boone Graham’s
veins and allows him to shut out everyone around him. As the hottest rookie on
Austin’s professional baseball team, he should be spending his days hitting
homeruns and signing jerseys. Except he’s seen dreams ripped right out from
under those closest to him, leaving them with nothing.
Without a college degree, he’ll never take the
risk of pursuing his real dream. But when he runs into the girl who took a
mallet to his heart and stopped it beating, attending the same university might
just be the biggest challenge he’s faced yet.
As the semester unfolds, the line between love
and hate is blurred. And with the amount of baggage stacked between them,
together is the last thing they want to be.
That’s the thing about hearts, though. They
develop plans all on their own.
My Thoughts: 5 Stars
Annabelle broke Boone's heart in high school when she cheated on him. The book starts out a few years later when they run into each other again in college. She comes from a home that her mom ran out of when she was a little girl and never got over. She thinks she doesn't deserve love. She is going to college and on a TV show and hoping her mom will notice and be proud of her. All her life she has done things that her mom could read about.
Boone come from a home where his dad is an alcoholic who doesn't work and his mom works 3 jobs to keep the roof over their heads. He decides he doesn't want to end up like his dad and wants a college education and he wants to play major league baseball. Then his mom won't have to work anymore.
When these 2 meet again they both try to change a little. Boone though finds out something about Annabelle, that he thinks she is doing and is angry with her.He doesn't let her explain herself. As we get to know both of these characters and how much their hearts have been broken and Annabelle really hides everything and comes off as a bitch, you will fall for both of them. This takes place in Texas so it has a little bit of that in there. I also like the people that Annabelle works for and how they are like family to her.
EXCERPT:
Boone
I only have an hour in between my workout and the film session
that the hitting coaches want us to attend.
My entire schedule since moving to Austin has been busy as hell
and completely out of whack. Between getting my class schedule figured out,
sprinting across campus to get to the buildings, dealing with my moving
company, figuring out where to park my car in front of my building, practicing
with the Triple-A affiliate team I was drafted to and everything in between …
I’m fucking wiped.
I’ve been scouted for the major leagues since my sophomore year
of high school, so I thought I’d been semi-prepared for what was to come, but
my mind feels like it has been put in a blender for the last two weeks. I had
so not been prepared. It was as if I was hobbling around in the dark in my new
reality, trying to grasp at things before they moved on me.
I needed to get it the fuck together. I am a professional now and
having a career as a professional baseball player would only get harder from
here.
From the few times I’d visited Austin for tournaments or the odd
family trip, I remember we’d gone to Big Cheese’s Grill. They boasted the best
burgers in town, and it was close enough to campus that the place was always
packed with students and professors alike.
I open the door to the restaurant while glancing at my iWatch to
check the calories versus fat burned during my workout.
And I slam right into a body.
I bounce back, shocked at the person who just rammed into me. I
fumble to hold on to them, to keep our gravity from sending both of us flying.
I fail, and the body falls backward, the door slamming into my back. I absorb
that blow and keep upright, thank God, or I would have been sprawled flat on
top of whoever just plowed into me.
“Seriously?! Watch where you’re going!” An angry, high-pitched
tone fills my ears.
My head is down, trying to collect its scrambled thoughts, as I
reach for whoever I just knocked to the ground. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize
you were coming out—”
The air and words leave me as I pull her up. Her hand is still in
mine as we stand face-to-face, my surprise mirrored back at me. Those lips, the
lashes, the eyes a rich, deep, soul-searching brown. The freckles across the
bridge of her nose that make her look more innocent than she actually is.
A current of tension radiates back and forth between our
interlocked hands, and I can smell the glass of wine she must have just drunk
on her breath. It’s sweet with a bite of alcohol, and my mouth waters for a
drink. I haven’t thirsted for alcohol in five years, yet in one
chance meeting, Annabelle has me reaching for a bottle. She’s poison to me,
makes me want to do crazy things. I drop her hand as the thought crosses my
mind, as if she’s burned me.
“You should really watch where you’re going. Or did you knock me down
on purpose?” Annabelle sniffs.
I scoff, “Right, I often go around pushing women to the ground on
purpose. I see the cold hard ice hasn’t melted off your personality, Annabelle.”
And a woman she is. So much more grown up than I remembered her.
She’d always been beautiful but gone was the gangliness of teenage years. This
is a woman who stands in front of me, curves abound and an unseen knowledge of
the world to match. I couldn’t help but get that jab in there.
“And I see you’re just as focused on yourself as ever. You never
did care what anyone else was doing, did you, Boone?” She folds her arms over
her chest and my eyes stray to her boobs in a sizzle of heat between us.
We’re like a
bunch of children fighting like cats and dogs out in the street. How can she
still pull out every insecure and immature trait within me? My brain is moving
seconds slower than it usually does, and I know I’m standing here staring too
long. Even though I hate Annabelle Mills, I can’t help but memorize every
detail about her for the first time I’ve seen her in about five years.
“Move.” Annabelle
pushes past me, not using any manners, and starts to stalk down the sidewalk.
Talk about rude. She’d always been aggressive, harsh, and just a
little bit more high-maintenance than any of the other girls. It’s what had
drawn me to her. And then seeing those glimpses of vulnerability, that’s what
had made me stay. It was addicting feeling like you were the only one who got
to see the nice side of the mean girl.
I should walk into the restaurant. I should pick up my to-go
order and drive back to my apartment where I’ll eat a quick lunch and change
and go to the practice facility.
But a flash of Annabelle in the bar the other night dances
through my head. And her callous words just now piss me off even more.
She always did have the perfect way of getting under my skin and
driving me wild. When I’m around her, I forget who I am. I turn into some
raging bull, with a fuse shorter than the bombs Itchy and Scratchy use on each
other.
The stupidest thing I could do right now? Stomp after her,
yelling, in the middle of a crowded downtown street.
So that’s exactly what I do.
“You really haven’t changed a bit!” Oh, fuck. What am I doing?
Annabelle rolls around, her eyes sparking with rage. “Nope, still
the same cold, heartless bitch you dumped.”
“Yeah, like I said, I can see that.” Lord, my mama would be so
disappointed in me agreeing with a woman that she was a bitch.
“Well, no one said you had to be around it. You’re the one who
moved to my city. You’re welcome to leave.” She waves around like I should just
get out of here.
I fist my hands in my hair. Christ, she’s so aggravating. “No can do, I’m getting
paid to be here.”
She rolls her eyes. “Like I’m not? Have you watched TV lately? Or
did you take one too many fly balls to the head? I know there weren’t a lot of
brain cells in there to start.”
Fuck her. Now it’s time to really piss her off, get under her
skin like she’s under mine. “Oh, you mean that show you play house on or whatever?
They’ll get bored of you when the next eye-candy pageant queen comes along.”
I swear Annabelle could spit nails at me if she willed it right
now. “You’re an asshole, Boone Graham. You’ve only ever cared about yourself
and where you want to be. It was silly of me to think you’d ever think of
someone but yourself.”
I drop the anvil. “Says the girl who cheated on me. Who lost her
virginity to another guy.”
People around us are starting to stare, to really look at the two
people arguing openly on the street. It’s not a good idea for me to stick
around any longer; people know who I am on a national level and being seen
fighting with a girl, who someone will inevitably social media stalk and find
out is my ex, is not good publicity.
Except I can’t stop staring into Annabelle’s eyes. They are
furious, yes, but there is something more there. I’ve really … hurt her. I’m
shocked, to be honest. I didn’t think I could remotely hurt this girl, who
self-identifies as a cold, heartless bitch.
But there it is. The raw flash, miss-it-if-you-blink second of
real pain that flickers through those mocha pools. I open my mouth to say
something, to take it back, maybe apologize, but she speaks first.
“You have no idea.”
Her tone pulls at my heartstrings, it’s low and somber. And then
she melts into the crowd, giving no explanation of what I have no idea about.
-------------------------
AUTHOR INFORMATION:
Author of romance novels such as Red Card and Privileged, Carrie
Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic. A
former journalist, she prefers the stories she dreams up, and the yoga pant
dress code, much better.
When she isn't writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV,
having a love/hate relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She
lives in the suburbs of New Jersey with her husband, daughter and
dog.
FIND CARRIE AARONS:
Sign
up for Carrie's
Newsletter
Join
Carrie's Street
Team
No comments:
Post a Comment