Title: Thick Love
Series: Thin Love #2
Author: Eden Butler
Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 31, 2015
Hosted by As the Pages Turn
He doesn’t ask their names.
He doesn’t deserve to know them.Ransom Riley Hale’s friends think his life is charmed: first string as a freshman on a championship-winning college football team. A father with two Super Bowl rings. A mother with platinum albums and multiple Grammies under her belt. But that brilliant shine on the surface hides the darkness beneath; it’s all Ransom has ever known.
Despite the shadows he walked in, once there was a blinding light fracturing the darkness. It brought the promise of hope and happiness. He’d been careless, filled with pride and stupidity and lost that light. Ripped it from the world.
Now, the shadows are dimming again. Aly King surges into his life threatening to pull him from the darkness. She is everything Ransom can never be again. Her light feels too warm, promises him that there is more waiting for him beyond the shadows.
But the shadows are relentless, resurfacing when he thinks he is safe, and Ransom knows he must keep Aly from them too before he pulls her down into the darkness with him.
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“Dance with me,” I said. He only stared up at me blankly.“I don’t feel like practicing.”
“I’m not asking you to practice. I’m asking you to dance.”
Ransom’s body stiffened when I picked up his hand, but he didn’t fight me. “Just be here with me. Me and you and the music.”
We came together in the center of my living room with that slow, soothing music wrapping around us. There was no Kizomba, no prequel to a seduction we both wanted to avoid. There was just Ransom bending low, arms around me, hand taking mine to hold against his chest. After a few seconds, the tension lessened, and his body did not feel as rigid. It felt peaceful, and safe, and simple—just two people, holding each other, swaying to the music.
His mouth hovered near my forehead and as we moved together with no form or practiced steps, Ransom’s grip on my waist got tighter. “I wish I could breathe again. I want that so bad.” The words were whispered, low.
I closed my eyes, reminding myself that I couldn’t touch him.
“Ransom. You can.”
He looked down at me and right then I saw just how lost he was. This realization didn’t come from flippant comments he made to me or desperate excuses I overheard him make. It was all there right in his eyes—the loneliness, the pain, as though each mistake he’d made was etched into the rise of his cheekbones and the worried, faint lines on his forehead. He was still drifting; he had been drifting for so damn long.
The pain in his eyes drew me in. There was nothing I could say that would make his hurt lessen. There was nothing that would take him from the lingering sorrow he’d created for himself. So I didn’t speak, didn’t give him advice I knew he’d never take. I just watched Ransom’s eyes, and felt the slow way he moved. And then with my hand on the back of his neck, I pulled his face towards me, I took his lips, kissing him, pouring into that kiss everything I’d held back from him since we first met.
This is who I am. This is what I want. That voice came from someplace hidden and secret inside me.
It was minutes, minutes of nothing but my mouth on his, nothing but two people finding solace in each other, before I realized I’d messed up.
He didn’t seem to want me to pull away, but didn’t stop me when I did. Shaking my head, I smoothed the collar on his shirt, unable to look at him. “I’m…modi, Ransom, I’m sorry.”
Ransom pulled my chin up and smoothed his thumb over my cheek, down the slope of my chin before he returned his attention to my eyes. “I don’t think I am.”
It was a moment I thought I’d always wanted. Him looking at me like I was real, like he saw me, finally saw me. I’d seen that look once before, just as Ransom whispered my name and kissed me over and over the first time. It wasn’t the look of someone hopeless. It was open and raw and I realized right then that I’d give anything for Ransom to never stop looking at me.
But this was against our rules. This wasn’t how we were supposed to be. I took his hand, thought of pulling it away from my face but didn’t have the strength, liked how it felt on my face too much. “Friends don’t kiss, Ransom.”
A small nod, and his eyes narrowed. His grip around me tightened. The music around us swelled. “No, they don’t,” he said, still touching my face, inching closer and I knew, right then, he was definitely not my friend.
Thick love is best. Thick love is…it’s when you KNOW.”
“It’s when you know what?”
“It’s when you know you’ve found the one that can pick up the pieces when you let your heart get broken.
Before I get to my review, let me get a few things out of the way with first.
(1) If a hero that you will want to strangle, then run over with your car, then back him the fuck over for good measure, then rush to him to fix all his boos boos because you can’t help but still love him in spite of everything doesn’t appeal; this book isn’t for you.
(2) If a hero being with other women (in explicit detail) before he meets the heroine isn’t something you can look past; this book isn’t for you.
(3) If angst that’s so THICK it’s borderline rage inducing sounds like it would cause you to stroke out; this book isn’t for you.
Eden Butler took a subject matter that is almost impossible to pull off and yet she did, and she did it effortlessly. Here’s the thing, it’s not often you’ll read about a first love lost where that love isn’t undermined in some way. Ransom never once devalues it and mourns it with his entire heart and soul. On the other hand, Aly never felt like his consolation prize. This, I believe, is the hardest to pull off. Aly was quite possibly my favorite part about this book. She’s not perfect and yet she has this undercurrent of strength. She wants to heal Ransom, but she’s no doormat.
I think that covers most bases here, so let’s get onto the review. Ever since I read Thin Love, I have been impatiently waiting for Ransom to get his book. I knew his story wasn’t going to be any easier than Keira and Kona’s, albeit in a much different way. I’ve been agonizing over my rating for a couple days now and I finally settled on one and I’ll explain it later in the review.
Now look, I can sit here and pick apart every single one of Ransom’s stupid decisions, but at the end of the day I have to remind myself that I’m reading about someone that’s only 18 years old. Someone that’s dealing with a loss and guilt that he’s ill equipped to deal with properly at his young age. This is someone that punishes himself in hopes of atonement that he doesn’t think he deserves. He’s not an easy character to get, but for me, he was still easy to love. Sure, there are moments in this book that will make you want to reach through your kindle and cockpunch him so hard that he finally sees reason. But what’s a good redemption without some pain in the meantime?
The first half of the book is very much a slow burn, but it never drags. The angst and emotions truly have you riveted to the pages, it certainly did for me. My heart broke for Ransom and yet in the same breath I wanted to curse him to hell and back for his behavior. It was frustrating, it was maddening, it was disturbingly enrapturing.
I don’t want to give much away about the book because it’s just one of those things you need to experience for yourself. What I can say is I loved the route that Eden took with book and I was shocked as shit about it that I was. See, here’s the thing, I HATE a drawn out story that I think could have ended in one book. Cliffhangers drive me to drink and induce near homicidal thoughts when I finish reading it. Thick Love is part 1 of 2 books, and you know what? It’s best that way. This book was not about the epic love between Aly and Ransom. It was more about Ransom coming to terms with his guilt, healing his heart, and learning to move on. Both these characters have a lot of growing to do still and there’s no way this book would have been the same had it been all crammed into one book.
As much as the bumps on the road to Aly and Ransom’s relationship drove me out of my ever loving mind, it also made me feel. This entire book, everything about it will do one thing, guaranteed; evoke emotion. Whether that be rage, tears, it will make you feel.
“Non, cheri…
You’re a good man who needs to forgive himself.”
The book was a solid five stars for me…until that damn epilogue. I’m not going to lie, my initial reaction was wanting to chuck my damn kindle out the nearest window than stomp to a corner and scream in rage. I felt like in just one short chapter, that epilogue managed to undermine the entire book and experiences that Ransom and Aly went through. But then I had some time to think about it…and think about it…and think about it some more.
And I’ve managed to calm my tits about it…mostly. It helps knowing that this was a story meant to be told in 2 parts. There’s really no way around it. Most of the time you can see when an author throws a twist at you just for the sake of stretching out the story, and that’s not what I got here. Even Ransom himself said their love wasn’t epic….yet. So the bar is certainly set pretty high for the next book, that’s for sure. And while I still think that the story could have done without that epilogue and maybe leave it for the beginning of next one, I also have a feeling that there’s a reason to Eden’s madness. I also think there’s a lot more than what meets the eye and the roller coaster is still to come. While I can’t lie and say that the epilogue didn’t dour my enjoyment of the book slightly, I’m not going to judge it on that and I reserve the right to go back and change my rating to this book once I read the next one. I’m holding on to my judgment until I read the next book and confirm that what it seemed to be is truly what is was.
“I don’t deserve it.”
“I’m still gonna love you anyway.”
You may wonder if this book is as good as Thin Love and the answer is no. Not because it wasn’t but because it WASN’T Thin Love. Ransom’s story is different from Kona’s and so it’s impossible to compare. While it may not work for everyone, this angst whore enjoyed the hell out of it. I may have had a slight urge to stalk Eden down after that ending and demand answers, but I’ll attempt to be patient and see what the next book brings. And by that I mean I’ll give the woman 3 months and then I’m coming at her ass for answers LOL!
Eden Butler is an editor and writer of New Adult Romance and SciFi and Fantasy novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. Her debut novel, a New Adult, Contemporary (no cliffie) Romance, “Chasing Serenity” launched in October 2013 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller.
When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.
She is currently imprisoned under teenage rule alongside her husband in southeast Louisiana.
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Eden is offering up the following prizes. The giveaway ends Sept 8th at 11:59 PM CST.
- (1) $20 gift card (Amazon or B&N) (Intl)
- (1) Signed set of Thin Love series (US only)
- (1) eBook set of Thin Love series (Intl)
Awesome giveaway!
Your review of “Thick Love” made me want to read this book NOW! I love a man who needs saving but this comment clenched it for me.
“…this angst whore enjoyed the hell out of it.”
I also share this affliction and relish a painful read, one where your heart hurts and soars from one page to another. Its kind of like literary cardio. Thank you for the heads up on the cliffhanger. Those are incredibly annoying. But, now that I know of it and that it is necessary, I will prepare myself.
thanks for the chance.
can the winner choose the gift card for amazon.ca
Great cover and excerpt! Thanks for the giveaway chance!
So excited to read it!
Can’t wait to read Thick Love!!