Title: Life After Taylah
Author: Bella Jewel
Release Date: May 26, 2014
Blurb
My mother's name is Taylah, and once, a very long time ago, she was my best friend - she was everything I wanted to be.
Until the night she disappeared.
Ten years on and my life, my families lives and the world around us has never been the same again.
How can it be when you are left not knowing?
No leads. No connections. Nothing. Just pure emptiness.
My dancing is the only way I can separate myself from the pain that lies in my home, in my father's eyes and in my brother's spirit. They need me and I'll fight with everything I am to be there for them, but who will be there for me?
Then I meet Nate.
Champion Motocross racer and everything my father doesn't want for me. He's forbidden, he's beautiful, and he's carrying a bundle of his own secrets.
When I step into his world, there is no turning back.
He will consume me.
He will teach me how to breathe again.
He will put a tiny piece of my broken heart, back together.
Review:
★★★★ 4 Stars!
"Your past only defines you if you let it."
When I read the blurb of Life After Taylah and saw the mention of a "forbidden" love element, I immediately had to add it to my TBR. Then when I saw it was written by Bella Jewel, who has written some of my favorite biker stories, I became even more curious to find out what she would to with a motocross racer as a hero. ;)
Avery is a 22 year old girl studying ballet and teaching dance classes practically every day of the week. Unable to forget about her mother who mysteriously went missing ten years ago, she sought out a way to drown out thought of her mother, Taylah. That's how dancing became her everything. Her entire life evolves around it. And with a controlling father, a fiancé who's only with her so he can carry out her father's business once he retires and a drug addict as a brother, there's not much happiness in her life. So she stays numb, unattached, and still hoping to one day find out what happened to her mother.
"How do you find happiness when you’re so consumed with darkness? I don’t know a way out. I’m trapped."
But then she meets Nate. He's everything forbidden, everything she should stay far away from. Still, she's drawn to him and once they get to know each other and build up an intense friendship, neither of them is willing to let the other one go.
"I’m sure I met you for a reason.”
"To give you advice?”"No. To give me a friend. I really need a friend, Dancer.”
Nate is a 30 year old Champion Motocross racer who's the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. For the past three years he's been unhappily married and when he meets Avery, she makes him feel again for the first time in years. With her he can talk, have fun and feel the attraction he once felt for his wife. Because of his daughter he's trying to save his marriage and stand by his wife, but his rapidly evolving feelings for Avery make doing so harder and harder each day.
"I risk it for you because you're giving me a chance to see again, to feel again, to just be again."
To be honest, Nate pissed me off sometimes. I mean, I understand about him wanting to fix his marriage and fight for his daughter, but how could he have been so blind to all the lies his wife was feeding him for so long? Even I could see they weren't destined to stay together and I honestly don't think a judge would have ever granted custody to a alcohol, negligent mother instead of a hard-working, doting like himself... What I am glad about though is that (view spoiler)
Avery, on the other hand, was a strong heroine and very mature for her age. Most of the time she was the one making the smart decisions and I felt really bad for her with all the misery that had been part of her life for so long.
All in all, Life After Taylah was an intense, angst-filled, sexy, fast-paced standalone romance that I really enjoyed reading. Some elements of the storyline were a bit predictable or clichéd but the unexpected plot twists more than made up for them. If you're looking for a passion-filled forbidden romance, I would recommend giving this one a try!
"Love creeps up on you at the most inopportune moment, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Love cannot be reasoned with and it can’t be as simple as right or wrong."
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About the Author
Bella Jewel is an Aussie girl through and through. She spent her life in Western Australia, growing up in many different areas of the state. She now currently lives in Perth with her husband, children and mass amounts of pets. She's crazy, fun, outgoing and friendly. Writing is her passion, she started at the young age of 18 but finally got the courage up to publish, and her first novel Hell's Knights was released in August 2013.
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