RELEASE BLITZ
Title: From Where You Are
Series: Sometimes Goodbye is a Second Chance Duet #2
Author: Annie Emerson
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 10, 2021

BLURB

Three years ago my life was turned upside down. I felt like I was left barely breathing.
But four months ago, everything changed.

Radley Cooper walked into my life
and taught me how to breathe again.
She had scars of her own, bruises that I was determined would fade away if I just loved her enough.

But all it took was a moment.
Secrets unraveled, our bits of broken that we thought we could survive, wedged their way in between us and refused to stay hidden.

We were stronger than any secret.
Radley was my fate, permanently imprinted on my soul. There wasn’t a length she could run that I wasn’t willing to travel to bring her back to me. There was no way I’d do anything less than fight for her.

Trigger Warning: Please be warned, this duet includes scenes of sexual assault and sensitive subject matter.

My Review

Welcome to my stop on the release tour for Annie Emerson’s, From Where You Are. This is not a standalone, therefore, you must start with Thirteen Hours To You, the first book in the series. This review is about From Where You Are, but I need to recap a bit of the first book for everything to make sense. Radley lived with her Dad in a town where everyone knew everyone and Radley had been bullied at school her entire life. After she suffers a horrible attack, they decide that she’ll move to Georgia to live with her grandmother for senior year. Before moving, she meets Kai who is immediately drawn to Radley, although she refuses to believe he would actually like her. Imagine her surprise when she starts school in Georgia only to find Kai a student there also. As she starts making friends and finally enjoying high school, a romance eventually forms between them, only to completely blow up at the end of book one.

So, there’s a lot to unpack in this book (and the series as a whole). Themes include sexual assault, bullying, death, grief, depression, and suicide. If you think that sounds heavy, it is, but completely worth it all in the end. The author did an amazing job with Radley’s characterization, allowing the reader to see her go from a bullied and sad young lady, to vulnerable and starting over, to confident and happy – sometimes multiple times. But what is really amazing about her character is how hard she works to find inner peace and become the person that she wants to be. Kai also goes through several different phases varying between sadness, regret, happiness, and love. But let me say that the big conflict in this novel is a huge one. It’s surprising, emotional, and truly made me think that they would never find their HEA.

This is my first time experiencing Annie Emerson’s writing but I can now say that I am a huge fan of hers. To take such heavy subject matter but also add in such incredibly happy moments had to have been a huge challenge. I applaud her sensitivity towards the difficult topics and love that the resolution was truly worked for and not just handed over. I definitely recommend From Where You Are, just remember to start with Thirteen Hours to You to understand everything. This was a great read!

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57729666-from-where-you-are

PURCHASE LINKS – $2.99 for a limited time!

US: https://amzn.to/3sJQlyU
UK: https://amzn.to/3dKjciw
CA: https://amzn.to/32GqrS5
AU: https://amzn.to/3ayvt7M

Free in Kindle Unlimited

TRAILER
*click here to see the trailer for the book!
Starring cover model Vadim Ivanov (@ivadim13)

EXCERPTS

He took my mouth hard, his groan moved through my body with a rumble as he pushed harder and deeper into my mouth. He was manic as his heated lips descended to my neck. Tongues and teeth grazed my skin, a hand fisted my hair, directing every desperate move he made. ⠀
⠀
He was the conductor, I was the music, we were the perfect song. The sounds we made were unfiltered, uninhibited. We were lost to one another and I fell a little further as I let the freefall consume me. ⠀
⠀
“This is how it should always be. This is how we were meant to be,” he said, as he ran his thumb across my swollen lips.

I wiped the broken pieces from my face and took in a shattered breath. “Just drive.” ⠀
⠀
My head fell forward into my hands, shutting out the world as my heartbeat crashed and roared. ⠀
⠀
Set me free.
Let me Go.
Don’t follow me.
Never leave.
Love me. ⠀
But please, don’t ever hate me.

“How did I live before you? How did I fucking feel before you?” he growled. ⠀
⠀
My eyes stung with shocked ecstasy, locked on him wide and expectant. His nose flared, his name in flight as it left my tongue on repeat, and I fell apart around him. He whispered sweet nothings and secrets only he and I would ever know and I quaked around him, each twitch and spasm drawn from me as he wound me back down. ⠀
⠀
“Promise me you’ll never leave, Violet.” His voice was small, lost, like there would ever come a day where that was even possible. ⠀

“I promise I’ll never leave you, Meekai. I wouldn’t know how.” ⠀
⠀
He closed his eyes and nodded to himself, his thoughts his own. Maybe they’d be mine one day, but for now, I knew they had to stay as his.

He opened his eyes, his lips a deep shade of pink, imprinted with the aftershocks of love, tinged with absolute loyalty as each corner drew up into an easy smile… He crawled up alongside me and pulled me into his arms, chest to chest, heartbeat against heartbeat.

“… Violet, all I see when I look at you is light. You blind me with all those pieces that you think are battered, broken and useless. You’re not useless or unwanted, Radley. I know you use your words as weapons, and I know you try to push me away because you’re afraid I’ll eventually give up on you. I can see past it all, Violet. Hurt recognizes hurt.” ⠀
⠀
“You’re hurt?” she asked with beautiful curiosity. ⠀
⠀
“Yeah, Violet, I’m hurt. But aren’t we all?”
I want all your hurt. “Tell me a truth, Radley. Tell me something that’s all yours.” ⠀
⠀
I knew it was pushing it, but I could see a part of her that wanted to let something go, she just didn’t know how. ⠀
⠀
“So much was stolen from me, Meekai. I could never tell you to your face what that was, but just let me get away with that being enough. Can you do that?”
⠀
I reached out for her hand and drew lazy slow circles across the top of her soft skin. I smiled with nothing less than an I’d say yes to anything that helped make you feel safe.
⠀
“Yeah, Violet, I can do that. I want you to know something, though.” ⠀
⠀
She raised a brow that asked me what that could possibly be. What did I want her to know? ⠀
⠀
“You’re enough, Boo Radley Cooper. You’re enough.”

ALSO AVAILABLE

#1 Thirteen Hours to You – 99c for a limited time!

US: https://amzn.to/3cMjIMe
UK: https://amzn.to/2OlqjnD
CA: https://amzn.to/2PR87ma
AU: https://amzn.to/3rSwnBA

Free in Kindle Unlimited

AUTHOR BIO

Annie Emerson is an Australian author who started writing poetry at the age of fourteen. Poetry turned into lyrics, lyrics turned into music, and music crossed over into novels. The words became too big to contain, and she finally gave into her biggest dream to become a professional writer.

Thirteen Hours To You is Annie’s debut novel and book one in the ‘Sometimes Goodbye is a Second Chance Duet.’

Annie writes with a poetic lilt, and loves to create characters that are relatable, perfectly imperfect, and a little bit lost. She only believes in writing happily ever afters, because real life doesn’t write enough of its own. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be less than a whole lot bumpy as the characters she writes find their way.

AUTHOR LINKS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annieemersonauthor
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/249276393543993
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emotionallyunhingedromantic
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21325741.Annie_Emerson
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/annie-emerson