Tea Time and Books: Blog Tour & Review: Dani Morales' "Deviation'

Title: Deviation

Author: Dani Morales

Blurb

It takes just one week to realize that you’re broken, but not unfixable. ONE week to realize everything doesn’t come with a price. One week to fall in love with love. One week to fall in love with you.

Family torn apart at thirteen by a drunk driver.

Fifteen foster homes in five years.

Determined to keep everything at bay, Nevaeh Rodgers will do whatever it takes to forget.

Until she meets Angel Barajas at a party. He can’t keep his eyes off of her. Saving her from a guy at the party and an overdose, he can’t just let her walk out his door. Determined to help her whether she wants the help or not, he sets out to find her and not a moment too soon.

It takes ONE day to realize the relationship you’re in isn’t healthy and leave. TWO days to realize you’re as pathetic as the loser you stayed with. THREE days to get a combination of drugs out of your system. FOUR days to wish life would end so you can take matters into your own hands. FIVE days to be saved. It takes a week to realize that everything each and every one of those days has in common, is the vibrant BLUE eyes that are staring at me right now.

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My Review:

Nevaeh, is living what's left of her broken life. Using drugs to cover the pain of living in numerous foster homes with devastating consequences that no young girl should have to face. Nevaeh is caught up in the viscous cycle of getting high & looking for the next hit before the current high wears off & she has to face life again. Finally feed up with her deadbeat boy friend, Nevaeh leaves their shack to meet with friends at a party. Little does she know she's about to meet her guardian Angel.......

Angel Barajas is the perfect man, no really!! Strong, compassionate, determined, dashing & hilarious. He makes it his mission to save Nevaeh, when he sees her at a party being harassed by a jerk. Angel takes Nevaeh back to his house for her to begin the painful process of detoxing, but discovers this little um...... project, will be more than he bargained for! Yes, Nevaeh his strong willed, sassy & beautiful, she finds herself falling in love with Angel. But can she get her self consciousness under control long enough to realize her guardian Angel is also the love her life??

What I Thought:

I had the esteemed honor of reading this book for my sweet friend Dani. I'm very serious when I say, I fell in love with this book!! Nevaeh's life is so gritty & raw to be lifted up into a drug free life was like being scrubbed clean. Nevaeh was terrified because she was so out of her element. Not used to kindness, unless it was attached to sex &/or drugs she was unsure if she could take Angel's actions for what he claimed they were or if he wanted more.

I love that Nevaeh changes her ways for herself & not because Angel wants her to. She discovered her self worth & realizes she's a beautiful, intelligent person deserving of all the good coming her way. It was impressive that Nevaeh and Angel's love was a slow burn and not love at first sight. I absolutely LOVED watching them fall in love and grow together. This is truly a feel good grown up Cinderella story (minus the cheesy talking mice & singing).

Excerpt

When I come to again the first thing I notice is the fragrance of laundry. It smells just like when it comes out of the dryer. I roll over, shocked to come into contact with a warm, hard, body. I shoot up and scoot across the bed, only to end up falling on my ass on the other side. I bite back a groan and see that I’m only wearing my pink bra and panties. Sober. Shit! I’m totally fucking sober right now. I crawl around looking for my pants but find nothing. I glance up at the bed and see a guy lying there asleep. I stand up and tiptoe towards the door that I’m hoping is the bathroom. I open it, but instead of a bathroom, there’s a hallway.

Part of the wall looks like the shape of a door, so I start pressing on it. When it finally opens, I see my clothes on the floor of the bathroom by the tub. Shutting the door behind me, I grab my pants and look for the pills but they’re gone. My backpack is missing too and I’m starting to freak out. I stand up and grab the counter when suddenly the door opens. I can’t even bring myself to look at whoever came in. All my focus is on trying to slow my breathing before I have a panic attack.

“Just take a deep breath in; now slowly release it, deep breath in and out.” A deep voice says as the door clicks shut behind him. He places his hands on my hips and a shudder races through my body. I look up into the mirror and see a face that looks familiar but I can’t place it. I focus on his blue eyes which are the same shade mine used to be when I was younger. The same blue that reminds me of the innocence and happiness I had in my life before it was taken from me.

“Who are you and where am I?” My voice is shaky from the warmth of his skin on mine.

“Do you remember anything from last night?” He looks concerned.

I try to remember. I remember walking home in the morning, I remember Timo walking in with that bitch, I even remember meeting up with Ice. I shudder. This guy flexes his hands on my hips, and when I look up in the mirror I see him watching me. Click. “You were at the party. I remember staring at you and then I was coming to talk to you when Timo showed up. He was about to punch me-“I stop. He meets my eyes in the mirror, “You stood in front of me and knocked Timo out, right?”

He nods his head yes. I try to understand what’s going on and remember what happened after that but I come up with nothing. “Okay, so why am I here and who are you?”

He sighs, “Well, my name is Angel and you are in my house because you blacked out.”

I blacked out? I guess I took the wrong pill last night. “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why I’m still here. Yeah, okay, I blacked out and now I remember my vision getting blurry but that doesn’t explain why I’m still here-not that I’m ungrateful, but I’m not sure I should be thrilled either.”

He laughs at me. “Well, after I knocked out Timo, your friend said you could stay with her but she was worried Timo would find you. So I decided to bring you to my place.”

Alright. Well that makes perfect sense, I think. I feel myself nodding, “Okay, so…. why am I also half naked?”

About my girl Dani:

Dani Morales is a native Texan currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada with her three boys and her mother. She adopted the boys in December of 2011 and loves spending every minute playing with them. On her spare time you can find a book in her hand or sitting in front of the computer typing out stories that run rampant in her mind. Her debut novel Entrelacen was released April 2013.

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