Blog Tour, Review & #Giveaway: ★If★ by N.G. Jones

Title: If

If…
Someone hadn’t scarred my face.
I hadn’t followed my dreams to LA.
That tweaker hadn’t attacked that homeless guy.
I hadn’t invited a stranger over for Thanksgiving.
I hadn’t fallen in love.If I hadn’t lost him.
——
If…
I hadn’t gone for that drive.
I saw the world like everyone else.
My “genius” wasn’t slowly destroying me.
I had just walked away before I could ever know her.
She hadn’t ignited the spark.

If the spark didn’t ignite the madness.

Most people’s souls hide inside of their minds and bodies, but Bird is inside out. Her dancing, with the sweeping transparent ribbons of color that followed, was the embodiment of a divine gift. Her dancing was the closest I could get to heaven without dying.

With Debt being the only other book I’ve read by this author, this book couldn’t be more different. So if you’re going into this expecting a mindfuck or steam, think again. It’s neither of those. It’s an emotional and touching story about two broken souls finding some solace in each other. If truly showcased Nina’s range as an author for being to give her readers stories that are so different from one another. If is a book unlike any other I’ve read lately, and kudos to the author for broaching a subject that isn’t touched on enough in the romance genre and not only doing it well but truly bringing some light to something that mainly gets glossed over.

Bird was tempting a live wire and she didn’t know it. She stood there, her finger on the switch, without even knowing how close she has come every time we met. She’s tempting me…she’s triggering me…

Bird is a talented young dancer trying to chase her dreams of becoming professional after moving away from her family home and parents that wanted her to have a more suitable career. While her skill as a dancer is unquestionable, her facial scarring prevents her from landing any starring role. It’s truly a source of shame for her and something that she has a difficult time living with….the stares, the whispers, the pity. All she wants is to dance and all she needs is a chance…

Ash is a talented young artist that has given up on his dreams and barely keeping his head above water. Leaving behind his career after a terrible tragedy, he lives on the streets and has long since forgotten about his aspirating in the art world. He just wants to disappear. But in the shadows of his street corner, there’s a woman whose colorful aura that calls to him and draws his eye like a magnet. He’s perfectly content to just watch her, until a night where the brave girl stands up for him while he’s being attacked by a tweaker and he’s forced to come out of his shadows to save her life.

I knew no one, not even Jordan could understand what Ash and I had going on. People only saw us on the outside. My scars, his situation. We saw each other inside out.

Bird and Ash form an unconventional friendship from that day forward. Ash paints her while Bird dances for him, and their presence seems to soothe the other. But Ash is hiding a secret; a secret about who he is and his past, that just may cost them everything.

You don’t want me, Bird. You want the idea of me. The quiet artist. The guy who saved you, painted you. But I am a mystery you don’t want to solve. I am a question you don’t want to answer. It was simpler when it was just you dancing, and me painting.

This is a slow paced love story about two very unique individuals. I really appreciated how different this was from anything else I’ve read lately. But at the same time, there was also something missing for me to really make this the captivating read that it could have been. Maybe the fact that (view spoiler)[Bird’s scarring is never explained. She doesn’t know who gave them to her or how she got it. (hide spoiler)] I understand that it may have done that way on purpose, but I think having a WHY or WHO to it really would have helped me connect to her more as a character. There was also an event at the very end that seemed to be really unnecessary for the story and was just too much. The book is already emotional enough on it’s own, and that particular event didn’t seem necessary for the plot or the characters. It was incredibly sad but empty. I really don’t understand WHY it needed to happen since it just completely came out of the blue for me.

I did enjoy the story as a whole and the unique situations of both the characters. I didn’t even find myself missing the steam since the emotions of it all were perfectly enough on their own, the steam never felt missing. If you’re looking for something different from your everyday romance that you find lately, definitely give this one a try. I don’t think you’d be disappointed.

Nina G. Jones is the author of the bestselling novel DEBT, the Strapped Series and the erotic romance, Gorgeous Rotten Scoundrel. She wants to say something clever here, but all her good material goes into her characters.

Nina currently resides in Milwaukee, WI with her husband and two crazy Boxers.

Her first new adult romance, If, releases on March 16th, 2015 under the moniker N.G. Jones.

Nina LOVES connecting with readers. You can connect with her via Facebook, Twitter, or email her through her website, NinaGJones.com.

 

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