It began with a drunken kiss, a furtive but passionate grope atop a pile of discarded winter coats. Downstairs, the party raged on, but all Jess hears is the pounding of her heart as Finn Evans – the guy she had fantasized about for God-knows-how long – ran his hands along her body. It isn’t until Finn staggers from the dark room that Jess realizes she has not only lost her virginity, but her underwear as well. Things only get worse when she sees Finn again and realizes he doesn’t even know it was her in the bedroom that night! She heads to the Jersey Shore with her best friend, hoping a summer of fun will heal her broken heart. 

Finn awakes with a colossal hangover and a pair of girl’s underwear jammed in his pocket. It’s not the first time he’s had sex at a party, but it is the first time he doesn’t know the girl’s identity. Thinking he’ll never see her again he heads to the Jersey Shore for a summer of sun, sand and sex. 

While down at the shore, Jess and Finn find themselves thrown together time and time again, eventually forging an unlikely friendship. By the time Finn realizes he’s fallen for her, Jess is with someone else. Will Finn be able to convince Jess that he is the one for her, or will his bad boy reputation haunt him forever?

Someone suggested we take our little party up to the beach, so we grabbed a few blankets from the bedrooms and the rest of the beer from the fridge.  Things started looking up the minute we got settled on the sand. There was something about being on the beach at night that I loved. The eerie darkness, the feeling of the cool sand on my bare feet, and the way the ocean breeze tussled my hair – it was the best.
 
I was just lounging back on my elbows, nursing my beer as I talked to Jill and Nick when I noticed that Finn was sitting at the other end of my blanket. The last time I’d seen him he was talking and laughing with Pete and Tommy, but he stayed behind when they headed off to troll the boardwalk. 
 
 “This is the life, ain’t it?” he said, with an adorable crooked smile I could make out even in the darkness. He held up his bottle of beer.  “I got a drink in my hand, I got my toes in the sand. Jeez, now all I need is a beautiful girl on my arm.” Laughing, he brought his hand to his forehead like a salute and turned his head back and forth as if looking for something. “Nope, don’t see any here.”
 
Before I had time to be offended by the comment, he pounced on me.  “Oh, well…I guess Jess’ll have to do.” He lay there laughing, but I didn’t find it funny at all. Even then, with his familiar weight on top of me, I realized that nothing would ever happen between me and Finn again.  Somehow, in the blink of an eye, I had crossed over into the friend zone.

Coming this evening!

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Anne Holster resides in Northern New Jersey with her husband and two children. When she’s not writing she enjoys spending time with her family, playing tennis and reading angsty romance novels. She is currently working on her third novel.

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Welcome to the #RRBC Book Trailer Party. For the entire month of November we will be discovering some amazing books by watching the trailers of RRBC authors. Each day there is a prize draw of all the names of the people who watch and comment on that day’s book trailers. You need to watch in full and comment on the actual YouTube trailer to be entered into the prize draw.

How do YouTube visitors enter to win prizes?

Each time a Block Party Participant or visitor leaves a comment on a YouTube trailer stop, his/her name will be entered into the daily drawing for that author's prizes as well as being entered for the grand prizes at the end of the tour.

Comments will be collected at each trailer stop by 12 midnight, CST, (at the close of each day) and winners will be announced the very next day!  Winners of the GRAND PRIZES will be announced at on December 15, 2016.  

I'm offering 3 prizes today, which are:  1 e-book of Held by Him. A day of twitter support for authors/bloggers. A feature on my blog.

To enter watch the YouTube trailer for Held by Him at  https://youtu.be/6eZecXWK-Vw  Like the video and leave a comment.

CALIN

I'm a master at controlling my feelings. I've had years of practice. My only release comes from cutting.
And pain. I like pain.
I don't get involved in kidnapping...usually. Now, thanks to my father, I have a redhead locked in a room and cuffed to the bed.
Not just any redhead, this one has a smart mouth, and she's a fighter. She fights me, and I love it.
She gets under my skin. She makes me feel.
She's my firecracker.
But, if her brother doesn't pay back the money he stole from us, I have to kill her.

MISTY

Drinking a cocktail that was laced with Rohypnol is the stupidest thing I've ever done.
But with an alcoholic for a father, and a drug addicted mother, I suppose intelligence was never going to be my strong suit.
Now, thanks to my idiot brother, I'm being held captive by a man who gets off on taunting and humiliating me.
A sadist.
I should be scared.
But he's making me feel things I've never felt before. He's doing things no one has done for me before.
I should be focusing on staying alive. Instead, I’m falling for a killer.

I read this book a few days ago and have taken a little time to decide how I would rate/review it. There were two aspects of the book I felt I needed to weigh. One was the author's decision to make this not just a novella, but a "part 1" novella with a significant cliffhanger ending. Sometimes that approach frustrates me; I'm not a huge fan of cliffhangers nor the added expense of purchasing multiple novellas as opposed to a single book. One of those issues was mitigated in this case; it was a Kindle Unlimited purchase for me, so cost wasn't in question. So all that was left was the cliffhanger to challenge the other consideration in determining my rating - the story itself. Well there was no contest; the story easily won out. I went into reading this wondering if the "aggressor" would have enough redeeming qualities to endear him to me. I laughed to myself after reading the first page or two - wondering if I would be able to feel for the "victim", either, who was coming across as "a little rough around the edges". As the story unfolded, I found myself fascinated by the beautiful mess their relationship made, complete with some heartbreaking back stories and a slew of resulting flaws, including sensitivities, vulnerabilities, insecurities and coping mechanisms (and probably a dash of Stockholm syndrome, for good measure). Both characters were believable and much easier to sympathize with than I initially anticipated. They were both so "broken" that I wondered how either of them could have any chance at all at a healthy relationship with anyone, much less each other. It became clear that sometimes all people really need is for someone to see them for who and what they really are (and accept them, anyway)...and that - broken or not - we "work" with those who bring out the best in us. I'm fully invested in these characters now, and very much look forward to enjoying the next installment of their exciting tale!

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZZQLXE

Amazon UK:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LZZQLXE

Amazon Australia:  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01LZZQLXE