As You Wish Reviews: Promotion Event / Undertow by Elle Chardou

Title: Undertow
Author: Elle Chardou
Release date: February 3, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Group: New Adult
Event organized by: AToMR Tours

Book Description

Secrets...

Evie Sandstrom has always had secrets. She has grown up with them and now they are coming back and chipping away at her confident facade. Always one for an adventure, she decides to leave after college break and spend the summer in Boston.

The Irish Gangster...

Finn Reilly is not only a bad-boy drug dealer but he is also Evie's first love. When they meet again in Boston, sparks begin to fly and although they share one huge secret that should have destroyed them forever, it unites them at a time when she needs all the help she can get.

The French Model...

Evie's mother, superstar actress Athena Donahue, has remarried to Etienne Fournier, a model who is eighteen years her mother's junior and wants to get to know Evie in more ways than one.

Once Athena drags her daughter back to L.A. under dubious circumstances, she is within the sights of Etienne yet out of the sights of Finn. Can they resolve their differences and will true love prevail or will life get in the way and spoil their chances of happiness?

Excerpt

“It’s a simple drop, babe. We aren’t going to rob a bank,” he replied in his mixture of an Irish and Bostonian accent.

“Then you don’t mind if I go?” I inquired as I stared into his crystal blue eyes.

“Absolutely fucking not. We aren’t dealin’ with the Irish tonight—we got some Haitians to hook up and I don’t trust ‘em as far as I can throw them. You stay here with Lita.”

I shook my head slowly. “Finn, if you want me, if I am gonna be your girl then I have to know everything that is going on and that means going out on drops with you two. I’m not some vestal virgin so don’t treat me like one.”

He set his mug down on the kitchen counter and grabbed me by the arms. “Babe, this is no joke. I don’t want anything to happen to you and if they hurt one hair on your head, I’d fucking kill ‘em all and gladly serve the time at Cedar Junction.”

“I’m not staying here with that Oxyball head. I’m going whether you want me to or not,” I said out loud with fierce determination.

“That’s my girl.” Finn wrapped his arms around my waist. “Are you sure you’re okay? Is there anything you wanna talk about?”

I didn’t know whether we should talk about it so soon. I wasn’t even sure I had accepted the situation and it was best to just forget about the whole situation but something nagged at my gut and wouldn’t allow me to let go.

“If we are going to talk, I’d rather we do it in private,” I whispered to him.

He nodded his head and we walked outside to the backyard where there was a neatly trimmed lawn with two comfortable, cloth sun loungers. He sat down on one before he pulled me into his lap. Once he laid out, I got more comfortable and put my head on his chest.

“What happened when you went to visit your grandparents’?” he inquired, his voice deep yet soothing.

“I ran into Patrick and Clara. They had Kieran with them and nearly had a shit fit because I had shown up. Then, if my visit couldn’t get any crappier, Fiona and Chloe pay a visit after all night clubbin’ and I find out about this new business partner of yours…Brandon…isn’t that his name?”

“Yeah and he’s totally cool people. Dylan is a bit weary of him but he’s completely professional. He’s on the straight and narrow—doesn’t drink, smoke or do any kind of drugs. His mother was a big time strawberry back in Ireland…that’s how she got him. She ran away to London for a while and got caught up with a big time pimp. He had her on the streets hookin’ and he was usin’ her as well. It’s lucky Brandon is okay outside of a few anger issues he can suffer from. She used drugs and drank like a fish the whole time she was pregnant with him,” Finn explained.

“I guess that explains the mark on Fiona’s arm. She said Brandon did it.”

“Brandon didn’t hit Fiona. He loves that bitch though I don’t know why…well, actually I do. She could be a dead-ringer for his mum if she had taken care of herself and hadn’t allowed her life to get out of her control. Fiona has an issue of being faithful and chances are she fucked some random guy at a club and he roughed her up a bit. The only thing she is good at is having them wear condoms. Last thing she wants to do is bring something home to Brandon.”

“I don’t know,” I began, “Patrick and Clara were just so mean. They didn’t want me to spend any extra time with Kieran and they acted totally strange. I think they honestly thought I was going to pick him up and walk out of the house with him but why would I do that? How much sense does that make when I am in college and he’s our secret? You know how much trouble I would get in if any of those tabloids ever found out the truth? Athena Donahue’s daughter knocked up at fifteen and gives birth to a secret baby?”

“And with someone like me? Basically an Irish gangster who is no better than a drug dealer. Yeah, that is enough to ruin someone’s career. All I know is there was a serious issue that happened with Kieran when he was a baby. This is all passed along the grapevine shit because I wasn’t here but since then, they have been ultra protective of him. They left the state, settled in New Haven, and make it their business to visit this place as little as possible. Basically, they come enough to keep up appearances and that is it.”

I sat up and stared into his gorgeous crystal blue eyes. “Is this what Dylan told you?”

“Yes, and no. Fiona told me a bit and so did Chloe because she was around at the time. I seriously don’t think they see you as a threat. At least they shouldn’t because of who you are and who would you say the child belonged to? Plus, just like you indicated, you’re in college so what the hell are you going to do with a four-year-old kid?”

I wanted to get off this topic as soon as possible. “About this drop tonight, tell me how a typical one goes and what I should expect? Will you and Dylan allow me to take a weapon?”

“Can you still handle a nine millimeter or should I find something a bit smaller for those girly hands of yours?” Finn questioned in a joking manner.

The first installment of The Atonement Series.

Deirdre Bardot is a PhD student at Harvard and on her way home for Thanksgiving when she finds out her father has been murdered in a vicious hit and run by a drunk driver.

Forced to piece her life together after such a traumatic event, Deirdre moves back to Seattle to be closer to her younger sister, Caitlyn, and their mother.

When her psychiatrist, Dr. van der Meer, suggests she needs to get away from it all and take a vacation, her best friend decides to introduce her to a friend of his who has more or less the same idea. Colin is perfect: he's good looking, self-deprecating and sexy as hell but he also happens to be the Dr. van der Meer's son.

Deirdre finds herself falling hard for a guy she barely knows and one who is equally into her as she is into him. They decide a trip to Western Europe together is the perfect way to get to know one another a whole lot better.

Then an unspeakable and random act of violence occurs one night and Colin realizes he is forced to reveal a secret to Deirdre he has been hiding...a secret that is breaking him, and in doing so to free his conscience, he just might destroy the relationship he has created with Deirdre and lose her forever.

Publisher's Note: Due to mature adult themes, sexually explicit scenes and adult language, this novel is not suitable for minors under the age of 18.

About the Author
Elle Chardou is a world traveler and author of several different series.

Ms. Chardou is the author of The Ties That Bind Trilogy, The Atonement Series, The Hart Family Saga, The Vamp Saga, The Supernaturals, Beginnings: Book I (The Plague) series.

She is currently working on Only Love (The Atonement Series), Queen of the Immortals, Book Three in The Vamp Saga.

Ms. Chardou has lived abroad in Stockholm (Sweden), Manchester (England), Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland. She currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Author social media links:
Blog: The Beautiful People: A Writer’s Journey
Follow Elle Chardou on Twitter
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