Blog Tour & Giveaway: Selling Out by Amber Lin

Shelly Laurent escapes her life as a high-class escort, but against her better judgment she takes the scared young Ella with her. In retaliation, her pimp and his dirty cops frame them both for murder. On the run, Shelly turns to the one man who could be her salvation: Detective Luke Cameron. She doesn’t know if she can trust him or if he’s just a mirage, but she needs his help to free them all.

With a heart forged in fire and irreverence born of necessity, Shelly fights Ella’s demons—and faces her own. She throws light on the shadows of Chicago’s underworld, challenging everything she knew and the man she’s come to love. Together, a prostitute and a cop fight for truth stronger than secrets, hope deeper than deception, and a bond more enduring than betrayal.

Selling Out is not your typical romance read.  It’s got grit and backbone to it.  Shelly has such a horrible past.  I just wanted to climb into a time machine, go back and shelter this girl.  Fight for her, protect her like someone should have done.  She really would like to have a normal life; feel worthy of a nice, decent man.  She would like to be worthy of Luke.  What she doesn't realize is she already is.  Luke sees past what's on the surface to the gem below.  He sees what Shelly cannot.  Unfortunately, it's not as easy as that.  They both have emotional hurdles and secrets to overcome.  Oh yeah and dirty cops and bad guys too.

"Jesus.  For a girl who's seen everything, you can be really blind sometimes."

If you read the first book from this series, Giving It Up, you know Amber Lin does not pull punches.  Just when you think you have things figured out, Ms. Lin will throw twists and turns at you and take you on one hell of a wild ride.   But oh what an exhilarating ride it is!    Seriously I’m still waiting for Lifetime to pick up these books and make a mini-series out of it.  HBO, Showtime, anyone listening?  Alright, in the mean time add this to your TBR list and hang on because it's going to be quite a show!

  

EXCERPT

I drove home on fumes and climbed directly into a scalding hot shower. I scrubbed away the rejection from earlier, the fear and the stench of the streets. After using up half the bottle, I poured the rest of the soap out and watched as the peach-colored gel swirled down the drain. I couldn’t have used it again anyway, not after using it today. Maybe it was strange, but the rituals kept me sane, and what did they hurt? Who did they hurt? I lay down on the cold, hard floor of the tub and curled into a ball on my side, letting the water rain down on me.

Distantly, I heard the phone ringing, but I couldn’t have moved. Not until the water turned cold, and I began to shake. I pulled myself up and turned off the shower. After throwing on a large shirt to sleep in, I grabbed the answering machine and climbed into my plush bed with 600–thread count sheets. I curled my body around the little black box and pressed Play.

“Hey, it’s me.” He sounded tired. “I guess you’re busy.”

There was a pause, which I scribbled in with well deserved recriminations. I may not have been with a client today, but I would be tomorrow. This was my life. I could apologize for it, but I couldn’t change it any more than a ship could change the tides.

“I worked a double shift today,” he said on the recording. “One of the other guys, his wife went into labor, so I took over for him. Wasn’t too bad, though. Just tiring. For her, I mean. It took her ten hours to push him out, so what the hell do I have to complain about? Nine pounds, a boy. I didn’t see him yet, came straight home.” There was silence. “Straight home and called you. Funny.”

The answering machine broke the awkwardness with a click.

There were no more messages. I pressed the button again.

“Hey, it’s me. I guess you’re busy. I worked a double shift today. One of the other guys, his wife went into labor…”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Amber Lin married her high school sweetheart, birthed a kid who’s smarter than she is, and spends her nights writing down her dirty thoughts. In other words, life is good.

Come say Hi back on Twitter:   http://www.twitter.com/authoramberlin   

Through Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5827158.Amber_Lin 

Or by email: mailto:amber@authoramberlin.com

You can get Selling Out from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Amber-Lin/e/B008H6L74M 

Or Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/amber-lin

 

Amber will be awarding a $25.00 prize, author's choice, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.  So enter your comments below.  Good Luck!

Review: Selling Out (Lost Girls #2) by Amber Lin

Shelly Laurent is high priced call girl. She’s decided to get out the life and start over. But she can’t get out. Her pimp keeps pulling her back in. At the latest party her pimp has sent her to, she finds “Ella”. Ella doesn’t want to be a working girl. Shelly sets out to help her.

Shelly takes “Ella” the only place she can think to take her Detective Luke Cameron’s. While there she overhears him talking about bringing her in. Come to find out, all the men at the party she was at were killed and she and Ella are the prime suspects.

They run. Shelly does some investigating and finds out things are not as she thought.

I really wanted to like this story. I liked the first one and was looking forward to getting Shelly’s story. But the reality of the story didn’t live up to what I was looking for.

The story was a lot of exposition from Shelly on her life and what she wanted or what she thought she wanted. It was very difficult to get into it.

The ending was awesome. Full of action and Luke and Shelly fighting for each other. I loved Luke! He was awesome. He saw through Shelly’s defenses and just waited her out. He wasn’t what I thought. He was more. He was better. Shelly was very difficult for me to connect with. 

I’m hoping there are more in this series. I like the idea of it and I really want to read more.

Review: Giving it Up by Amber Lin

I had to mull this review over before I could write it. I’m so torn up about what rating to give it. I’ve been waffling between 3 and 4 stars before settling on 3.5 stars, thus I’ll round up to 4 stars.

This is a very dark and twisty story. Everyone in it is dysfunctional beyond belief. Their relationships with each other are so dysfunctional I don’t even think they fit the word dysfunctional and go straight to FUBAR.

Allie suffered from a weird childhood to begin with and then when in HS she suffered a traumatic experience. Those who were to protect and help her just her and used her more. As a result she’s all beyond fucked up. She prowls bars, using for men who will use her. Once night, she gets Colin instead and thus begins their FUBAR relationship.

Shortly after meeting Colin, she looses her job, her daughter’s dad comes back to town and wants to see their daughter, she has someone following her, and the list goes on. She turns to Colin to help. Colin is his own type of FUBAR. His childhood was messed up and now he’s messed up. His brother is in organized crime, his sister is a ballerina and their family relationship is beyond weird!

Then bring in the cops. Most of them are dirty as well, so let’s just add to the FUBAR! Through is all Colin and Allie are finding their way through their relationship. Let’s talk about that one! Their relationship is anything but normal. I don’t think either one of them is capable of a normal relationship but it works for them, of a sort.

Through all of the FUBAR relationships and people, there is an interesting story here. Poor Allie has gone through so much and none of it her fault! It’s just so heartbreaking. No matter what though, Allie does the best for her daughter. That is her one light in all the darkness and Allie refuses to let darkness touch her daughter.

Overall I was captivated by this story. There is an HEA but it’s achieved in a weird way. I recommend this book to anyone who likes dark, twisted stories with dark twisted people because that’s what you’ll get out of this one!

ARC Review: Giving It Up by Amber Lin

Giving It Up is not your typical romance by any means.  It’s hard edged, rough and thought provoking.

Every month Allie hits up a local club searching for a hard looking man that can give her what she needs and not ask for more. Allowing these men to use her is what keeps her in control.

Colin is cold, surly and mean looking. Exactly what Allie needs for the night.  However, after ending up in a hotel he turns out to be the exact opposite in the bedroom. He's gentle and kind. He arouses her. He shakes her control. Colin gives her exactly what she didn't know she needed. And for that she can never see him again. Allie doesn't do relationships. She's just looking for meaningless, rough sex.

Colin isn't through with Allie just yet. He's come to her rescue a few times. Allie eventually lets him into her world, but their relationship is anything but peaceful bliss.

This is a really intriguing story. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  I was soaked up in it all.  You have an unexpected person from Allie's past, good cops, dirty cops, a prostitute, and a small time mob family. This book is a Lifetime movie waiting to happen.

Allie is so emotionally damaged. I kept shouting for her to communicate with Colin, tell him what's going on.  But, I completely understand why she held so much back. Trust is a huge issue for her. My heart bled for this girl. Just when I thought I knew there was all to know about her, there's one more reveal that left me screaming WTF! 

If you don't mind some grit to your romance, then add this to your to-be-read list!