*ARC* Push - Review

Push

By: Claire Wallis

Published: May 1, 2014 by Harlequin MIRA

274 pages

(Goodreads / Amazon)

Summary:

I feel like I am wrapped in a cyclone. Everything is whirling around me, drawing the air out of my lungs and filling me with the best kind of turmoil. Every time his tongue slides against mine, a prickle in my gut tells me how right we are together. How much I need David. How much I need us.

I hope the cyclone never stops.

Emma Searfoss has spent a lifetime trying to escape her abusive stepfather. It's why she moved far away from home. It's why she's kept no ties with her remaining family. And it's why she's got a major rage problem. When her neighbor shows up to fix the kitchen in her new apartment, his enigmatic charm calms the fire in her. David is cool and collected, and he makes Emma feel safe for the first time ever. But David has his own chilling past—his six previous girlfriends have all disappeared without a trace. Emma's walking a dangerous line, but David's pull is intoxicating. And impossible to resist…

This is a new adult romance with mature content for readers 17 and up.

MY REVIEW:
I don't think I've ever read a book where I had so much inner turmoil over my feelings. I was in love (or maybe lust....or maybe both) with the main male character and then wondered what that said about my own mental state all at the same time. Claire Wallis does an amazing job of pulling you in and just as our female main character falls in love with David, so does the reader - even though you are left wondering what is going on in his mind. Clearly he has demons far beyond any that a sane person would want to get mixed up with. I was hooked from the prologue all the way to the last page of the epilogue. And I thought this was a stand alone novel so when I reached the end I realized I was left hanging off the edge of a cliff. Not cool!

Emma moves into her first apartment and is starting a new job. She is a strong woman. She's dealt with her crazy abusive stepfather and her equally crazy older brothers and has managed to come out stronger. Perhaps a little screwed up in the process, but she's definitely not a naive young woman. Her first day in her new place a hottie shows up to work in her kitchen. He's the landlord's handy-man, fix-it man, carpenter, etc... He's charming, hot, covered in tattoos, witty, and there is major spark (as in take-a-cold-shower spark). She feels it and decides to act on it. Emma is a forward, go-after-what-I-want kind of woman. And David, the hot carpenter, does not disappoint!

This is a new adult romance novel - which the Goodreads summary mentions, however I will say this one is pretty graphic in content. So if you don't like books with that much mature content this might not be for you. If you were to rate the HOT factor in a book out of 10, this book is an 11! The disturbed factor would be pretty high up there too.

Favorite Quotes:
The high I get from David is unlike anything I've ever felt before. It's like a surge of perfection and clarity and power pumping straight through me. It's bliss in its purest, most craze-inducing form.

Because whatever it is - when you love someone - it doesn't matter.

I know because each of us consists of half lunacy and half absurdity - and neither of us is fit to be with anyone else.

...all I can think about is how his actions have served to tether my heart to his, to fasten me to him with a braided rope of protection and covetousness and insanity. Everything he did was for me. To keep a secure grip on what we have. To keep the bottom intact.

Final Rating - 4.5 stars!

This review is part of the ARC Thursday feature on Words Fueled by Love.