Elect Launch Day Blitz!

ELECT by Rachel Van Dyken

Would you die for the one you love?
Nixon Abandonato made his choice. And now he has to pay the price. Tracey is the love of his life, but being with him has made her a target of his family's enemies. The only way to keep Trace alive is convince the world she means nothing to him.

Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family's sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend... But Trace isn't ready to give up on a future with Nix--and if he won't fight for them, she will. 

In the end, a sacrifice must be made. A life for a life. For what better way to cover a multitude of sins than with the blood of a sinner . . . 

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Excerpt:

“Trace, we can’t be seen together right now.”

She jerked her hands away from mine and glared. “Oh no you don’t, Nixon Anthony Abandonato!”

Wasn’t expecting that. I laughed without really thinking, and then she slapped me across the face. It stung like hell. “What was that for?”

“You aren’t leaving me!”

“Did I say I was?” Although my cheek was throbbing I couldn’t  help but keep laughing at her response. And this was why I would never walk away. Who would walk away from such a little pistol?

“Oh.” Trace tugged her lower lip between her teeth and sheepishly looked up at my cheek. “You should probably put some ice on that.” I winced as she touched my cheek.

Covering her hand with mine, I winked. “Yeah, well, I’ve had worse. Promise.”

Her eyes welled with tears, but to her credit she kept them all in. If anything I fell in love with her a little bit more. Her strength was so damn sexy, I couldn’t even put into words what she did to me.

I kissed her softly and sighed against her still chocolate-tasting mouth. “Sweetheart, Chase was . . . well, today he was gifted with a stroke of brilliance. The head of the Nicolosi family talked with us this evening, and he had Phoenix with him.”

I quickly explained to her what had happened, leaving out all the violence, guns, and threats. So basically I censored everything and then dropped the bomb. “You and Chase need to pretend to be together. People will be watching you, they’ll be following you.”

Tracey swallowed and licked her lips. “And you’ll what? Pretend you hate me again?”

“Hell no!” I snapped, grabbing her ass and lifting her until her body was firmly pressed against mine midair. “I’ll just be the friend. Basically, Chase and I are switching parts. He gets to play the boyfriend, I get to play the jackass.”

That earned an eye roll and a laugh from her. I dropped her to the ground and kissed her nose. “If they find out how much you mean to me, they’ll use that against our family and against your grandfather.”

She was silent for a moment. Her hands traced circles around the tattoo peeking out from underneath my white t‑shirt. The writing was in Sicilian, but it said, “Every Saint has a past, every sinner has a future.” I had always wondered which I was. The saint or the sinner?

It was Trace’s favorite tattoo, even though I had several down my left arm and a few on my stomach and back. Her favorite had always been that one, on the left side of my chest. She said it gave her comfort. I guess she was using it for comfort right now.

“Okay,” she whispered, “I’ll do it.”

I was waiting to feel relieved, but all I felt was tense. My muscles literally tightened underneath her touch the minute the word “okay” had fallen from her perfectly pouted lips.

“I’m going to apologize in advance, though.” Tracey sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek.

“Why are you apologizing?”

Her eyes met mine. “Because I’m going to break your heart.”

Review:

I loved loved loved this book. It was amazing and just as good as the first book, Elite. I already had connections with characters and they just grew throughout Elect.

This book, this book. It hurt me so much. It tore my heart out and honestly I felt like I was dying most of the time while I was reading it. But it felt good. And that is what is weird. Or maybe not so much. You honestly felt that the pain was necessary to get to the happiness and it was not a necessarily good feeling. I’m explaining this really weirdly but I will tell you that Elect will hurt you so much.

It was also interesting to see how the Elect came to be. I didn’t really understand the group fully until the creation story came up. And then it made sense.

And the different perspectives we were given. There were several that honestly changed my opinion on characters. I honestly couldn’t believe some of the feels I had for certain characters that changed throughout the book. It was actually shocking to me. I think I might have annoyed my roommate when I kept exclaiming over my changing feelings.

There are honestly no words to describe Elect or the series so I’ll just sum up with saying that if you’re looking for a book different from the others then you should definitely give this series a peek! You won’t regret it!

About the author:

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor. She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers! You can follow her writing journey at www.rachelvandyken.com

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Elite by Rachel Van Dyken

(Image found on Goodreads)

Tracey won the lottery to enter the Eagle Elite University, and she's ecstatic. She's able to fulfill her grandmother's wish for her and she can pay back her grandparents for everything they've done for her. But when she arrives, she finds that things are much different on this campus. There are rules and if you don't follow them...while just watch your back. Find the official description on Goodreads.

Elite was a book that I enjoyed very much, and I'm definitely going to add this author to my list of keep an eye out for new books by. The writing really flowed smoothly and the Traci's voice really came through. It didn't feel like it was a book, it felt like it was either a movie playing out in front of me or that I was a background character in the book watching things happen. 

There were lots of different moments even moments where there was deep thought and speaking on the human condition. It added more depth to the book and I really enjoyed that.

Throughout Elite, you do find yourself thinking. Either sympathizing with different characters or trying to figure out what or who is being nice only to turn around and stab Tracey in the back. It added a little bit of intrigue into the book and I liked the fact that I was suspicious about people's motives. It made for a great read.

The Eagle Elite University is definitely not like any university I've ever heard of. I loved that. It added a bit of need to find out what was all going on. I found a lot of the book questioning what the heck kind of school this was and I swear there were points in which curiosity almost killed me.

The plot was very unique as I don't think people have really thought about taking on this age group and this topic(I'm not going to mention the combo as it would be spoilery, ;)) It was new, and shiny and I don't know but it made Elite stand out in my mind, and I definitely want to read more by Rachel Van Dyken.

You should definitely give Elite a read even if New Adult/Young Adult isn't something you typically read. It was a great book, one I will definitely be reading again.

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