FREEING: a companion novel to the USA Today bestseller, Fading.
Knowing who you are and accepting who you are come at different prices.
Jase Kinrick grew up in your typical, all-American household. But after the death of his sister, his parents shut down, forcing him to deal with everything life throws his way alone. Terrified of the person he’s discovering himself to be, Jase has his way with every willing girl to try and rid himself of what he fears he is—gay.
Escaping California and moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, Jase frees himself to the reality that he likes men. Never staying with any guy long enough to get to know them, he doesn’t realize that he’s still hiding from who he is until he meets Mark. Scared of having real feelings for another guy stirs up the questions and fears he’s fought hard to bury.
To strip away the barriers to the heart of what is real, and to be okay with what lies underneath, will be Jase’s moment of truth. But he’ll need Mark to lead him there.
Jase Kinrick grew up in your typical, all-American household. But after the death of his sister, his parents shut down, forcing him to deal with everything life throws his way alone. Terrified of the person he’s discovering himself to be, Jase has his way with every willing girl to try and rid himself of what he fears he is—gay.
Escaping California and moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, Jase frees himself to the reality that he likes men. Never staying with any guy long enough to get to know them, he doesn’t realize that he’s still hiding from who he is until he meets Mark. Scared of having real feelings for another guy stirs up the questions and fears he’s fought hard to bury.
To strip away the barriers to the heart of what is real, and to be okay with what lies underneath, will be Jase’s moment of truth. But he’ll need Mark to lead him there.
BOOK GENRES: Coming of Age, New Adult
**THIS IS A FULL-LENGTH COMPANION NOVEL TO FADING**
Ryan's POV
Running my hand through my hair, I
knock on Jase’s door.
“Hey,” he
says when he answers.
“Hey, man.
You guys ready?”
“Mark is
still at Aiden’s place going over some of the new songs.”
“How’s that
been going,” I ask as I sit down on the couch and flip on the TV.
“You wanna
beer?” he asks, distracted, from the kitchen and as soon as I say, “Yeah,” I
turn my attention to his front door when I hear it opening.
Her.
She looks shocked to see me sitting
here. God, what is it about this girl that draws every piece of me in. I can’t
take my eyes off of her. Wet hair piled on top of her head, no make-up, and
wearing sweats. Definitely not what I normally go for, but nothing about this
feeling in my chest is normal. She’s beautiful.
“Hey, is everything all right?”
Jase asks her, and she finally peels her eyes away from me, and the bastard inside
wishes he would’ve just kept his mouth shut.
She walks over to the chair while
stammering, “Umm, yeah . . . I mean, no.”
“What’s that mean?” he questions as
she flops down, clearly aggravated, and I wonder what happened between now and
when I saw her this morning at her work.
“Nothing, never mind,” she sighs
softly.
Leaning forward, I watch her as her
attention is fixed on the TV. She’s small and petite and suddenly my mind fucks
with me again as I get a flash of that
night. That girl. That tiny girl.
“You okay?” I ask her. I speak more
for the sake of ridding my mind of the games my head is trying to play on me. I
know it’s not her. What are the chances?
“I don’t want to talk about it,”
she answers without ever shifting her eyes from the TV, oblivious to the affect
she’s having on me. She’s gonna be a hard one to crack.
My Rating:
5 TOUCHING STARS
"Nobody knows. I'm not sure anyone will
ever know."
"I
love her more than anything. She was the first person I met and became friends
with when I moved to Seattle three years ago. We had an instant
connection."
"It was him that opened me up, that freed me of everything I was so scared of."
I fell in love with Jase in Fading. I said it in my review that we all need a
Jase in our lives. Freeing confirmed that, with the addition that now I feel we
all need a Jase and Mark in our lives. This was an emotional and heartfelt
story that represents so many people in our world today. I commend E.K. Blair
on taking this chance. On showing us who Jase really is, where he comes from
and what went through his mind, his fears, his challenges. In Freeing we can
see that while he helped Candace through her ordeal he was also suffering and
having issues of his own. In order to really get Jase's story it is important
to read Fading first.
We met Jase as Candace's best friend. That friend that is really more important
to you than even family. Strong love. Siblings of the heart and soul. They give
each other the safety they failed to receive at their own homes. And they guard
that very fiercely. It is a necessity to survive. Jase has gone through a lot
and accepting himself is the ultimate challenge. He fights it every step of the
way but he meets Mark. Mark is on another level. He is secure, accepting of who
he is, has a supportive family that loves him no matter what. I love Mark. The
way he patiently waited for Jase to be ready in every step of their
relationship was simply touching. An example of true love. The way he also
cared for Candace and helped her heal by providing love and true friendship
24/7 to her was another factor that I also fell in love with Mark.
The highlight of this beautiful book for me is to see Jase evolve. Mark's love
and support gives Jase what he needs to finally free himself from all the hang
ups that stopped him from being accepting of the wonderful person he truly is.
The steamy scenes were beautifully written and it is always about the love, the
intimacy, and the connection in this story.
"It was him that opened me up, that freed me of everything I was so scared of."
I cannot wait to read the third book in this
amazing series. The next book is Falling, Ryan's story.
No comments:
Post a Comment