Blog Tour & Giveaway: Following Me by K.A. Linde

Devon didn’t have a game plan when she decided to leave St. Louis on a Chicago-bound train for the summer. Just a reason. 

One she couldn’t share with anyone. Not Hadley, her best friend from college, who lets her stay in the guest bedroom; no questions asked. Or Brennan, the bartender at the local restaurant they frequent, who she actively tries to avoid. Or Garrett, Hadley’s boyfriend, who befriends her when she has no one else to turn to.

"I just didn’t know what you were running from..."

Desperate to hide at all costs, Devon plunges into her new life in the city. Everyone around her starts to reveal sides of themselves Devon never expected. And just when she starts to get comfortable, her world flips upside down…

"...But I think all along you were running toward me."

4 lives.

All connected.

All with secrets that just keep following them.

When I first started writing Following Me, I had a Lana Del Rey song, Dark Paradise, stuck in my head! It embodied everything I thought about the book and I listened to it all the time when I was writing. I wanted something visual that made me think of Dark Paradise, and I found this image with lyrics from the song:

I started a secret Pinterest board that day. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was writing the book yet, so I never made it public. Every single time I found a picture that made me think about the book while I was writing, I added it to the pin board. Sometimes, I would go on the board and look through all of the photos before or during the time that I was writing. It would help me with the look and feel of the characters, setting, and emotions in the book.

And I’ve agreed to make this board public for the first time here on My Secret Romance Book Blog:

Secret FOLLOWING ME Pinterest board


So feel free to take a look and see what inspired me while writing. Get to know the main characters, Devon, Hadley, Garrett, and Brennan, and see parts of Chicago that are included in the book.


Review:

K.A. Linde once again blew me away with this book! ...And why am I not surprised? She's one hell of a kick-ass author and a favorite of mine to this day- The woman is a God at writing some super angsty reads that features some incredibly drool-worthy heroes and this book is major proof of that.

I'm not going to go into much detail by elaborating on this story- The synopsis doesn't give much away and I think there's a good reason behind that. The story revolves around the heroine Devon, who made a spur of the moment decision to leave for the summer- She had her own personal reasons for doing so... She just didn't know if ultimately it was the right decision or not. Unfortunately, I wasn't a big fan of Devon- I didn't dislike her... I just didn't really like her either. At times she came off as a bit too cold and stand-offish for my taste, but then again she had her reasons behind that cool facade and in time I was able to learn and truly understand the reasoning behind her distance. That didn't mean I always cared for it... But I got it. Desperation can certainly lead to secrets and she was holding a big one that could ultimately destroy her...

Devon eventually learned to take each and every day one step at a time when it came to her new life in the city- But what she wasn't expecting was complications with her best friend Hadley... Or confiding in Hadley's boyfriend about her past... And most certainly not falling in love...

...And speaking of love, that brings me to Brennan. *sigh*

My God, I loved that man. He had this mysterious confidence about him that I just couldn't get enough of... And apparently, either could Devon. Like her, he seemed to have his own secrets that he kept hidden in the depths of his soul. It was obvious he didn't open up easily to anyone either which is why it was so easy for him to see through the tough shell that Devon tried so hard to hide from everyone else. 

The thing I love so much about Kyla's writing is her ability to make everything seem so real. From the story-line to the character development, it's all just so believable and realistic which is one hell of a hard thing to come by in romance novels these days. This story was filled with just the right amount of angst and drama to keep you on the edge of your seat, and while I didn't quite love this book as much as her Avoiding Series, I still expected nothing short of awesome from her when it came to this story... And suffice it to say that I wasn't disappointed. 

K.A. Linde is giving away one ecopy of FOLLOWING ME at each stop. Please leave a comment for her and your email address so a winner can be chosen. Thanks!!

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