Friday, November 7, 2014

Forgiving Reed by C.A. Harms Blog Tour


Kori suffered a great loss, one that left her feeling so desolate and alone, that she believed nothing would ever fill the void...

The only thing that kept her going was the one little piece of joy she still had in her life, her baby boy, Rhett.

She had no choice but to move forward and give her son the best life she could. Which meant moving back home.

Except there was one problem.

Home was where Reed would be...

The man who once held her heart, then shattered it into a million pieces.

Grieving the loss of Rhett’s dad, and learning to forgive those who have betrayed her, Kori was battling it all.

But will she ever have the strength to forgive Reed?

**Mature Content Warning** Recommended for ages 17+ due to language and sexual content.

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Fourth of July weekend came quickly. I knew that only meant it was time for me to once again climb out of my shell, make an appearance to those who pitied me.

Maria insisted that I take part in the festivities. She was in charge of the food. She was making a big impression in town with her fancy cooking skills. It was her new found hobby and she was really good at it. This was her chance to gather the praise she deserved. She was able to try out some new items and get some real feedback. Oh, how the cowboys loved every little bit. I know her appearance only made it a little better on their behalf. They got to ogle her and devour her food.

I stood under the tent, placing out the new filled dishes, after the current ones were emptied. I heard someone clear their throat and I quickly looked up. Connecting immediately with a man that could still make my knees feel weak. The thought of that seemed to spike my temper and had me wanting to lash out.

“You gonna act like you hate me forever Kori? Or are we gonna move passed the fact that I was a dumb kid that made an even dumber mistake?” He stared at me directly in the eyes, waiting for my response.

I narrowed my eyes and glared, “I think I’ll just stick to hating you forever.”

I heard him chuckle as I continued to busy myself with refilling the food that was running low.

“You don’t hate me Kori…not like you say you do.”

What in the hell did he know? He had no idea how I felt. I leaned forward bracing myself against the table in front of me with both hands. I could see the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Cocky arrogant son of bitch thought that he had me in the palm of his hand.

“I can promise you one thing Reed.” I paused to look up over his shoulder. Connecting my vision with none other than the girl he felt was worth throwing away everything we had, all those years ago. “If the last eight months have taught me anything, it would be that life is short. I don’t plan on wasting a moment of my time on those who don’t deserve it.” His smile fell as I continued. “You, Reed, took what we had and threw it away, for a quick roll in the hay with the town slut. That was the moment I started hating you.”

I pushed up off the table causing a few of the dishes to rattle with the force.

I spun around and walked away leaving him staring after me in what I assumed was regret.




Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica☆☆☆
This is a lovely story that deals with issues surrounding the death of a partner and how you move on from such a great loss, especially when there is a child involved. It is also about forgiveness (as the title states). The author takes her time dealing with these issues – nothing is rushed.

The big issue I had with this book was the friendship between Kori and her best friend Maria. The way the spoke to each other (calling each other bitches and twats etc.) and their interactions were contrived and simply didn't ring true.

Overall the issues of forgiveness and moving on after the death of a partner really got me thinking and challenged me. I look forward to reading the next story in the series.


Mary☆☆☆☆☆
This is one of those stories that will rip your heart out from the beginning and by the end it will be put back together again. I was crying while reading the prologue and that told me that this was gonna be a fantastic story that would use all my emotions to get to the end. And it did, every page was like holding my breath to see what would happen next. Kori will go through hell and with Reed and Rhett’s help she will learn to live and love again. She will have to decide if she can forgive Reed for his past mistake and make a future with him. I will stop there, don’t want to spoil anything and just say that you will not be disappointed with this one. I love CA Harms and her writing style. I loved this one and can’t wait for book 2 to see what happens with Maria & Gavin.


Ruthie☆☆☆☆
Definitely a book which needs a tissue to hand! This slow paced, emotional read takes us through the wringer a few times, although the book blurb forewarns the reader that this will be the case. Kori suffers a great loss, but is fortunate enough to have an amazing family who support her and allow her space to recover. Moving home makes her face her past, and reconcile her guilt with a more positive future. Good story with strong, calm and gorgeous male lead – who can fail to enjoy that?!

This is the first in a series – the next book is about another couple, Maria and Gavin. I am hopeful that we will get more about Reed and his family too!


Angela☆☆☆
Forgiving Reed was a good book. I guess I was just hoping for a bit more to Kori and Reed’s story. I hate to say it, but I spent the first third of the book having to remind myself that grief makes us do stupid things, especially when grieving the loss of one’s significant other. And that Kori’s grief over Blake’s death was most likely compounded by post-partum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder from the accident. Even knowing personally what it’s like to lose your partner, Kori’s yes-no-yes-no internal monologue about Reed began to drive me nuts … or I should say that I felt like as a reader I was subjected to it for too long. I get the wavering, I really do because I’ve been there, but I just felt like the story dragged a bit because of it. I also think Ms. Harms dropped the ball on two story threads and as I was getting ready to list them, I realized I can’t because of spoiler issues; hopefully they’ll be addressed in the next book, but I feel like it was a missed opportunity.

Normally I like dual perspective books and enjoying getting inside the head of both main characters. In this case, however, being inside Reed’s head wasn’t much different than being inside Kori’s head. I grew up in the Panhandle of Florida, the part referred to by people in that area as L.A. (Lower Alabama), so I know ‘Bama boys and Georgia boys, and Reed just didn’t feel like one. There was almost no discernable difference in the characters’ voices. Did this ruin the book? Not at all. I doubt that it will be an issue for the vast majority of readers; but for me, it was the difference between a good book and a great book.

There were definitely parts of the book that I loved. I loved it when Kori finally told Kim off – how Kori resisted smacking her, I’ll never know. I absolutely loved the way that Reed loved Rhett. The bedtime scene when Reed tells Rhett about his father had me in tears. It’s the kind of scene I imagine every single mother prays for, yet not enough of them get. Most importantly, I loved that Kori gave Reed the chance to prove that he was not the 18 year-old boy she left behind, thus allowing herself to be in the position to forgive him and giving them both another chance at love. I definitely enjoyed Forgiving Reed, I just didn’t love it and I really wanted to love it. This is my first book by Ms. Harms, but it won’t be my last as I plan to read the next book in the Southern Boys series, Finding Gavin, because I have to know what happens to Maria.




C.A. Harms is like any other addicted reader. She enjoys happy endings and HEA love stories. She hasn't always been a lover of Romance and had once been addicted to a good Mystery. Just recently she has taken on a new liking and now is a full blown Romance novel addict.

She lives in Illinois and enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. You will always find her with her kindle or paperback in hand as it is her favorite pass time.

Connect with C.A.

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Blog  ~  Goodreads



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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Forgiving Reed (Southern Boys #1) by C.A. Harms to read and review for this tour.

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