Hi everyone! Today we'll be going over Damaged by Nina D'Angelo and I also have an excerpt to share with you!
Publication Date- February 28th, 2014
Before Stephanie Carovella had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, she was damaged.
Stephanie Carovella has been running from her past all her life. The survivor of a brutal attack which left her best friend dead, she has carefully built a protective wall around herself, but she knows sooner or later her past is going to catch up with her.
It’s why she doesn’t want to fall in love. It’s why she doesn’t want to let anyone get too close. Dominic Delaney works hard and plays just as hard. He’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em guy who doesn’t believe in forever until Stephanie walks into Outlaws. She is wild, unpredictable and dangerous as hell, yet, he’s drawn to her.
He needs to know the secrets behind her eyes. He can’t walk away.
A sexy, tattooed womanizer, Dominic Delaney’s everything Stephanie wants to avoid. She knows she should stay the hell away from him, but he makes her want to stop running. Sometimes, even the Damaged deserve to fall in love.
I'm giving this guy three triquetras because while I did enjoy the book it took me a while to get into, which was odd since there was no fluffy stuff at the beginning. We jump right into the story at the beginning of the first page and we keep going strong.
First - take a look at the cover! I love the colors. I've noticed that lots of colors on covers are very muted but you can tell this isn't the case here. I also like how both models are staring at you. So many times we get side shots that make us feel distanced. Not here! Just like in the book Dominic makes you stare at him and face him head on.
I have to admit Dominic annoyed me (see excerpt below) it's this moment that he really gets on my nerves - but I understand why he did what he did. Also I'm torn with him. Parts of me like his protectiveness, other times I find it irritating that he's acting very macho - I guess it's a preference and a weird thing with me (I can't get the inner feminist to shush long enough for me to read a book!) Ok, maybe
Stephanie was very interesting. She seems to be a dual character - introverted and quiet but she also can be a little bit of a firecracker. I like to see duality in characters since it makes them more real for me. I can also say the same about Dominic even though the way he hurts Stephanie rankles - figures I side with the female main character HA!
All in all the book was pretty good, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary romance with a bit of mystery thrown in for good measure.
Now here's the excerpt! ***Note: Uses strong language***
“I don’t understand, Dominic. Why are
you acting like this?” Stephanie said, taking a step towards him
and reaching out to touch his arm. She couldn’t understand why he
was treating her this way. He was acting so indifferent, so cold. She
scrambled her brain, wondering what she’d done wrong. She knew
she’d been tense on the trip back to San Francisco, but he’d
seemed okay with it. He’d accepted that she had a lot on her mind,
or at least, she thought he had. When he stepped back to avoid her
touch, she flinched.
“Listen, honey, this thing between us .
. . it was fun,” Dominic began, feeling bile begin to rise in his
throat as he pushed on. “But that’s all it was. Fun, and now it’s
over.”
“It’s over?” she echoed, staring at
him in disbelief. “I don’t understand.”
“What’s there to understand?” he
drawled, raking his eyes over her and turning his lip into a sneer.
“The sex was good, but that’s all it was. Good sex.”
“You said you loved me,” she
whispered, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I lied,” Dominic replied, gripping
the door handle tightly. He flinched when Stephanie’s head jerked
back as if he’d struck her. Forcing himself to continue, he added
brutally, “I wanted to get you into bed. Christ, don’t tell me
you actually believed I loved you?”
When she remained silent, he laughed
harshly. “Why the fuck would I love you? No man in his right mind
could ever love someone as fucked up as you are.”
“Stop it,” she whispered, tears
sliding down her cheeks. “You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, honey, yes I do,” he bit out,
shaking his head in disgust. “You were an itch I wanted to scratch,
that’s all. It was nothing more. And I had you. You practically
wrapped yourself up in a red bow and gave yourself to me on a silver
platter. All I had to do was stroke your ego and pretend to give a
damn, and you were all mine.”
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head
in denial.
“Yes,” Dominic growled.
Stephanie stumbled backwards, unable to
take her eyes off him. She wrapped her arms around herself, starting
to shake. “You don’t mean that,” she whispered again, shaking
her head. “I told you everything. I told you who I was.”
“Yeah, you did,” he said silkily, his
hardened gaze pinning her to the spot. “And you actually thought
after you told me who you were, I would still want to be with you?
That I would actually love you?” He forced himself to drive the
knife in deeper, telling himself this was for the best for both of
them. “Christ, I was hoping when I didn’t answer your messages
you’d get the hint, but no, you had to come here and make a scene.
Get this through your head: I don’t want you. I never did. I just
wanted to fuck you, and now I’m done. You’re delusional to think
that I could ever love someone as damaged as you. Hell, no one
could.”
Wasn't that something? I hope you guys like the book as much as I did and that you enjoyed the excerpt! Talk to you soon!
Nina D’Angelo is the best-selling author of the Stephanie Carovella series. Her first novel, Nowhere to Run was released in February 2013 and reached #86 on the Amazon Top 100. Her second novel, Nowhere to Hide was released in August 2013.
They are both available in Paperback and ebook format.
Damaged is the prequel to the Stephanie Carovella series and the first in the Outlaws series. Nina has already started working on Deadly Secrets, the third in the Stephanie Carovella series and Shattered, the second in the Outlaws series. Both are slated for a 2014 release.
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