BLOG TOUR + GUEST POST + GIVEAWAY ~Until You by Penelope Douglas~

Title: Until You
Author: Penelope Douglas
Series: Fall Away #1.5
Release Date: December 5, 2013
Tour Organized By: As the Pages Turn

My Rating: 5 Stars!!

***This novel contains graphic sexual content and harsh language. It is only appropriate for adult readers age 18+.

Have you ever been so angry that hitting things felt good? Or so numb that you actually felt high? The past few years have been like that for me. Traveling between fury and indifference with no stops in between.

Some people hate me for it, while others are scared of me. But none of them can hurt me, because I don't care about anything or anyone.

Except Tatum.

I love her so much that I hate her. We used to be friends, but I found out that I couldn't trust her or anyone else.

So I hurt her. I pushed her away.

But I still need her. The sight of her centers me, and I can pool all of my anger into her. Engaging her, challenging her, bullying her...they are my food, my air, and the last part of me that feels anything human.

But she left. She went to France for a year, and came back a different girl.

Now, when I push, she pushes back.

So I riddled Ms. Douglas this:

What has been your reaction to all the positive reviews and negative feedback of Bully?

*and she replied*

Bully was my first book, and I loved writing it. In life, we get in ruts where we feel like we’re living the same day over and over again. When I wrote Bully, I felt like I was working towards a goal again and creating something special.

The positive blew me away. I never expected much to come from Bully. I never promoted it, so I was in awe over the response.

The negative hurt to hear, of course, especially since some of the comments were personally directed at me, and I didn’t understand that behavior. People said I should be censored, and that I didn’t have love in my life and other silly statements when they didn’t even know me. The book world is a lot of drama that I wasn’t expecting.

Now, I have so much confidence about my work. The readers have turned out, and I know that some people will dislike my stories. I can’t please everyone after all. But most like my writing, and I don’t even read the bad reviews anymore. They’re often mean and not constructive, so there’s no reason for me to put myself through that.

I have the best readers, and I love being a part of their lives. It’s crazy that I get messages from people around the world reading my books and from other authors who’ve read my work. I just shake my head like I’m still trying to wake up from the dream. I will happily ride this ride for as long as I can, and I can’t wait to see what adventure I can (hopefully) dream up next!

This book blew me away. I read Bully the day it came out and absolutely fell in love with Tate and Jared. Funny story, this was in my pre-blogging days and I hadn't even heard about Bully, until I ran across it on Amazon. So why did I read it the day it came out when I had a TBR list a thousand miles long? I really cannot tell you why, I read the blurb and something just gripped me and I put all other books on the back burner. That was back in June. When I got the opportunity to review Until You I jumped at it. I couldn't wait to get inside Jared's head. While Bully is an all inclusive book, it is told from Tate's POV, so there are a bunch of feelings and experiences we didn't get to see from Jared. I have found that books told in different POVs are my weaknesses right now... if done well. I don't want to read the same book all over again. And believe me I felt like I was experiencing this story for the first time. It was absolutely fantastic!

"I hurt her, not because I hated her, but because I hated that I wasn't strong enough to not love her."

~Jared

"Tate, we are climbing out of this fucking mess one way or another, because no one ruins us."

~Jared

Because Bully was in Tate's POV we never really got a straight answer as to why Jared treated Tate the way he did. I mean kinda, but we get a MUCH clearer picture in Until You. Jared's POV was completely captivating. The struggles that he's experienced and his conflicting emotions towards Tate mesmerized me from beginning to end. We see a little glimpse of Jared's life during Tate's absence, and best of all we get an extended ending that will have you swooning galore! There wasn't a moment where I tired of Until You, thinking that I was just re-reading Bully. It was a totally fresh spin on the story of Tate and Jared finally finding their love for one another. I think even if, heaven forbid, you didn't like Jared in Bully, Until You will completely change your mind. His story is so much more that what we saw in Bully and I have to thank Penelope Douglas for sharing his side of things. 

"Tate. My Tate. My best friend, and my worst enemy. The girl that turned my world upside down with her overalls and red baseball cap. The only person in every one of my good memories."

~Jared

"Annnnnd... I was fucking hard again."

~Jared

On another positive note, in my opinion, Until You is much steamier and dirtier than Bully. Jared has one filthy mind and it definitely took the heat level up a couple notches. But sex aspects aside, we also see Jared's interaction with his father (who is the devil incarnate IMO), and hear more of what happened that summer. Until You shows the full evolution of Jared and I enjoyed every second of it. And his inner thoughts concerning Tate and other guys.. hilarious! It was nice to see that under his rough exterior Jared could still be a possessive yet funny guy. I was almost relieved to see a different side of him, it showed that his father really hadn't killed his spirit. His inner reactions to Tate are golden though. Probably my favorite part of the book was when she started to stand up for himself, and he was like "Oh! Maybe she can handle my screwed up ass." Obviously, Until You makes it high up there on my faves of 2013. It was pure brilliance. And I can't wait for future books from the Fall Away series! I have  feeling KC, Jax and Madoc are all going to have crazy, wonderful stories as well!

Happy Reading!

*ARC provided by the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review*

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BOOK #1

Title: Bully

Author: Penelope Douglas

Series: Fall Away #1

Release Date: June 17, 2013

My name is Tate.

He doesn't call me that, though. He’ll barely refer to me at all, and he’ll hardly ever speak to me.

But he still won't leave me alone.

We were best friends once. Then he turned on me and made it his mission to ruin my life. I've been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got worse as time wore on. I even went to Europe for a year, just to avoid him.

But I'm done hiding from him now, and there's no way I'll allow him to ruin another year. He might not have changed, but I have.

It's time to fight back.

When one brave young woman stands up to her best friend Jared, now tormenter, the consequences go beyond anything either of them ever would have imagined….

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Meet Penelope:

Penelope Douglas is a writer and teacher in Las Vegas. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she is the oldest of five children. Penelope attended the University of Northern Iowa, earning a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, because her father told her to "just get the degree!" She then earned a Masters of Science in Education at Loyola University in New Orleans, because she hated Public Administration. One night, she got tipsy and told the bouncer at the bar where she worked that his son was hot, and three years later they were married. To the son, not the bouncer. They have spawn, but just one. A daughter named Aydan. Penelope loves sweets, the show Sons of Anarchy, and she shops at Target almost daily.

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