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You know we love New Adult stories and supporting debut authors, so we were crazy excited to check out Until We Break by Jamie Howard. We were lucky enough to sit down and chat with Jamie today:
***INTERVIEW***
Well thank you so much for having me!
Five years ago Luke shattered Sloane’s heart. This time she knows better than to fall for him. Too bad her heart has other plans.
Fun fact: This was actually the tweet that helped land my agent!
Obviously I can’t say too much about it without giving away some serious spoilers, but there’s a particular scene in the second half of the book that takes place in a restaurant that was quite amusing to write.
Sloane is the girl who keeps hoping for the best but continually gets shown the worst. In the beginning she tries really hard to hang onto her hope and faith in people, but eventually, she loses it and ends up protecting herself the only way she knows how—by hiding her emotions and putting up a shield of indifference.
Luke can be tough to love sometimes with his manwhoring ways, but I think it’s his dedication to his family that’ll really steal readers’ hearts. He may not always do things the right way, but his heart is always in the right place.
I have a very strong suspicion that Sloane would get along famously with Lex Martin’s Clementine from Dearest Clementine. Both of these characters have gone through similar struggles and I could definitely see them hanging out together. Well…once they’d both let down their guards enough to get to know each other.
Honest. Dependable. Motivated.
I don’t match my socks. Ever.
Since Until We Break is my very first published novel, I’m going to have to say this one. It’s been an incredible journey and just seeing it out in the world is a really amazing experience.
My most swoon-worthy character award definitely goes to Ridge from Colleen Hoover’s Maybe Someday. One of my all-time favorite heroes for sure.
Well, the companion to Until We Break is releasing on March 1, 2016 and is titled Until It’s Right. You’ll see Haley again as the main character in that book and get to meet Kyle, an adorkable hero that is a true sweetheart. I do have several other projects in the pipeline as well, but right now there isn’t much that I can say about them!
I’ve actually been waiting for someone to ask me: If Until We Break were a song, what song would it be? That way I could tell them that in song form, Until We Break would be a mash-up of Ed Sheeran’s Photograph and Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood. I’m not sure what that would actually sound like in reality, but it completely sums up the tones of Until We Break.
***About Jamie Howard***
Debut author Jamie Howard spends her days as a legal and compliance specialist. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art from Ramapo College. When she’s not tapping away at the keyboard, you can find her devouring books and perfecting her gaming skills. She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs in New Jersey, and is almost always awake early enough to see the sun rise, even on the weekends.
***About the Book***
Until We Break by Jamie Howard Also by this author: All the Ways You Saved Me
Series: Until We Break
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on November 10, 2015
Genres: New Adult
Character(s): Bartenders, Blue Collar Guys
Pages: 258
Goodreads Buy the Book
When Sloane Avery stops to help a stranded driver, she finds more than a broken down car on the side of the road. Luke Evans is faster and sexier than her Maserati, but with her heart still on the mend, she's not interested in taking him for a test drive. Despite their initial disdain for each other, emotion and passion simmer, complicating their fragile friendship. But when a tragic loss and devastating betrayal send them spiraling, their growing love isn't enough to save them.
That was five years ago, practically a different lifetime and definitely a different Sloane. Before she's been hardened by booze, sex, and as much distance as she could get from the past. Now, called home on a family emergency, she's determined to hold onto her heart the next time she sees Luke.
Except Sloane's not the only one who's changed. Luke's turned his life around. Only the reappearance of Sloane and the reminder of his biggest mistake can put a dent in his plans. Luke is set on fixing what he's broken. But with her emotions boiling to the surface, Sloane needs to decide if falling in love is life's greatest gift or its cruelest joke.
***Our Thoughts***
Kassiah: I don’t even know where to begin with this book. So I guess I’ll start at the beginning.
Heartbroken over a terrible breakup with her high school sweetheart, eighteen-year-old rich princess Sloane is spending the summer with her grandmother when she meets nineteen-year-old Luke, a gorgeous guy from the wrong size of the tracks and total manwhore. Sparks immediately fly between them, but they’re not sure if it’s mutual lust or hatred. A series of epic miscommunications has them each believing they can’t stand each other. The stars seem to align for them for a brief moment, but after a few overheard (and misunderstood) conversations, one of them to does something unthinkable.
Fast forward five years and Sloane gets a desperate call to come back to her grandmother’s. She does so, very reluctantly, to face the very people who wronged her when she ran. She can barely handle the feelings she has, so she covers them up by becoming the (man)whore she despised all those years ago. With fate (and Gran) intervening, can Luke and Sloane deny their feelings again?
This story, ya’ll. It all pretty much centered around horrible miscommunication. I accept that for the first half of the story, when they’re eighteen and nineteen years old, because what teenagers sit down and discuss their feelings with the boy or girl who seems to not dig them? None. But the fact that it so dramatically alters their lives makes me think that one of them would talk to someone about it! Nope.
The thing Luke does is unforgivable. While I love dual first-person POV (and thank rob we had that in this book or I would have definitely flounced), I don’t understand his motivations even while he’s explaining them in his head! Also, View Spoiler »
The entire second half is just unbelievable. I don’t believe that Sloane would subject herself to those people at all. And don’t even get me started on Haley. Ugh to the second power. I am pretty upset that the companion book is going to be about her. I wish it were focused on Archer. I loved that guy!
Luke’s character had such dimension, even though I hated him during much of the book. When he was young, he truly felt like he was being objectified, even though that’s all he would allow people to see. Sloane made him feel…not worthless. In the after part, he was a better person. He took a terrible tragedy (or a couple of them, really) to turn his life around.
So why the four stars? When it all boils down to it, Until We Break made me laugh, cry, and swoon, and I could not put this book down. And I guess I couldn’t ask for more than that. Except for Luke to not have done what he did. The feelings were real and though I might not have been rooting for them in the end, I’m glad things turned out the way they did, and I’m proud of Luke for (finally) being a stand-up guy. Debut author Jamie Howard is without a doubt a force to be reckoned with. If you want to read a New Adult story with all the feels, I recommend this story. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you that you might want to throw your kindle across the room a couple of times.
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- {Spotlight} The DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman - March 26, 2019
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| Overall: | 4 |
