Title: Skin Deep
Author: Pamela Sparkman
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 20, 2015
Cover Designer: Sarah Hansen with Okay Creations
Cover
Synopsis
She hates me.
I’m in love with her.
Her life is a masquerade.
Mine is cloaked in secrets.
She thinks I can’t see her.
But she’s the only thing I can see.
he thinks we have nothing in common.
We have everything in common.
And I’m done being patient.
I'm determined.
She's stubborn.
You think you know us.
You don't.
The things you know about us are only Skin Deep.
*Warning - This book contains instances of self harm in the form of an eating disorder and may be a trigger to some readers.*
Teasers
Excerpt
Beth had been good at pretending to be this happy carefree girl – bubbly and energetic. Looking at her now, I saw a girl who was anything but carefree. She obviously had demons that haunted her, and I knew from experience that fighting certain demons can be almost impossible.
I listened through the door, making sure Lily had gone. “This isn’t over. Me keeping your secret from Lily is not a sign I’m letting this go. It’s a sign that I’m going to be a thorn in your side until you let me help you.”
Beth prickled at my comment and unfurled herself from the protective ball she had curled into. “I don’t need your help!”
“Yes, you do.” I took another step towards her. Beth took a step back. “And the way I see it, you don’t have much of a choice.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you want Lily to know what you’ve been doing?”
Beth’s eyes pooled with unshed tears. She looked hurt by my words. “Please don’t tell Lily,” she pleaded in a whisper.
“I’ll tell her everything unless you let me help you.” The look of fear and disbelief on Beth’s face made me feel like a total jackass.
Her expression changed again. She glowered at me like she wanted to set me on fire. “I hate you so much right now.”
Her words, she meant them. And hearing her tell me she hated me… it hurt, because somewhere along the way I had fallen in love with her.
“I know you do. But I’d rather you hate me for the right reasons, than like me for the wrong ones. I guess we’ll both have to figure out how to fucking live with that.”
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About The Author
I grew up in Alabama and have always been an avid reader. I had a stack of those Little Golden Books and I can remember reading Three Little Kittens over and over and over again. It was my favorite.
Fast forward and the older I got the more in love with books I became. So, I'm admitting that I am a huge nerd. The only reading I don't like are those math word problems. And I'm okay with that because no one has ever asked me in real life... "If I give you two bananas and take away six apples, how long will it take the southbound train to collide with the northbound train if Johnny left his house at midnight?" It just doesn't happen.
So, yeah, books are my thing.
Oh and music. All kinds. Love.It.
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I've been looking forward to reading this book for quite a while now. After reading Stolen Breaths, I've been a faithful follower of this author. This is a truly under appreciated series-it doesn't follow the trend of what the current romance community's topic may be. There's no step brother affairs, no taboo or dark twists. There are no caveman alphas or manufactured drama for entertainment value. Pamela writes simple, straightforward, feel good romance.
It's a series about a family of friends. Including once again, Cooper's lovable grandmother Miss Sophie. She always manages to steal the spotlight and have her moments of glory with her matchmaking and affectionate teasing. This book clearly depicts that it's not merely blood that determines your family in life. It's the ones who are there with you through everything. Not only through the joys in life, but the heartache and tragedies. It's those people who stand by you when you need them the most, even if you feel like you don't want them to push you in the direction you need to go.
The Stolen Breaths books perfectly depict the warmth and support of a true family and a blossoming love between two friends during one's darkest time. The difficult topic of eating disorders was handled in a sensitive as well as an informative way.
Our heroine, Beth is a woman who's calm and carefree on the outside, but on the inside?
Loneliness. Pain. Anger. Weakness. Hopelessness. Fear.
She's one big mess of anxiety but lives minute by minute never letting down her happy mask. The mask that conceals her true self from those who love her.
The face that I showed to the world told a thousand lies, but they were necessary because the girl behind the mask barely existed.
The mask that hides her dirty little secret controls her and controls her life.
Bulimia.
She's been using purging as a crutch. A way to release all of her unwanted feelings of poor body image caused by some carelessly tossed words from someone she trusted as a teen. Words that dug deep inside and burrowed into recesses in her mind years later. She also struggles with bitterness and sadness over losing her parents as a young child in a house fire and being separated from her sister immediately after. All these years, she's felt alone and lost and no one knows the wounds she conceals. Until Hayden stumbles upon her and her dirty secret. She covers her shame in hatred and poor Hayden is left wondering how to save not only his friend, but the girl he secretly loves.
Hayden was the type of hero you can easily swoon over. He's far from your average macho alpha but he's not quite a completely laid back, sweet Beta hero. To me, he's right there in the middle-a gamma hero. Don't get me wrong, he's super sweet and gentle a lot of the time, but then he's also the rock that Beth needs. Pushing her, holding a mirror up and forcing her to see what she tries to pretend away.
With Hayden's stubborn support, Beth slowly starts to realize there may be hope. Something she never let herself believe before. He's consistently there for her. Showing her through actions, not meaningless words that he will do anything to guide her out of the shadows she's been living in. I loved him! And I loved how their love story didn't have any contrived drama or unnecessary things like mis/non-communication conflicts. It was a pure love story about two people struggling to overcome a serious life issue. The only thing I wish I could have seen more of was how their love took root. It's told and explained to us after the fact rather than allowing us to witness it grow. In a way, we see it on Beth's part, but it's more of a realization of subconscious feelings that she had to discover and accept.
Even knowing there were surprises in store, I still didn't anticipate the events in the last section of the book. I was crying happy and sad tears from one minute from the next. I love how the author brought everything all together in the end. It left me with mixed feelings a little bit. Sad yet accepting all at the same time. It opened the door for the following connected book to come next year which leaves me feeling very anxious to see what will be revealed.
If you're thinking of reading this, you need to be aware that this is completely, 100% clean. I know this is a deal breaker for some readers. There are some moments of passion, but they are not explicit or graphic. Normally, I like to have a decent amount of steam mixed in with my books, but there are some cases where I don't even miss it and these books are examples of that. If you're in the mood for a sweet love story with beauty and meaning behind it, Skin Deep will fit the bill. However, I highly recommend that you read the previous books beforehand, as you'll have a better understanding of the entire group's history.
Back to Yesterday, Ms. Sophie's story will be released sometime next year. I can't wait!
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