Monday, December 2, 2013

Review: Ignite by Tessa Teevan

(Explosive series, book 1)
After nearly a year and a half of grieving the loss of her husband, twenty-seven year old Alexa Sullivan Tate is headed back to her hometown after a decade of being away. She has no idea her high school crush, Jace McAllister, the guy who stole her heart the same night that he broke it, is more than ready to pick up the pieces. 

Jace has spent the last ten years in the Army defusing bomb after bomb, trying to forget the girl who ignited all his passions. Little does he know that the spark still exists. 

Ten years ago they had smoldering chemistry, but the spark between them now might light a fuse that leads to an explosion even Jace can't stop. Not that he wants to. If only Alexa can get past her guilt and trust her heart again. 

But how do you put it all on the line when you've already lost everything once before?

*Mature Audiences only, 18+. While this is a series, each book will be standalone.

******



Talk. About. A. Prologue. “I fucking hate you sometimes.” Those five little words have haunted Lexi every day since the accident. They are the last words she ever heard come out of her husband’s mouth; they are the five words that he never got to apologize for, and that she never thought she would hear, at least not from him. When a tragic car accident takes Ty’s life and leaves Lexi in the hospital, there’s nothing she can do but replay those five little words over and over again in her head.

You guys…that’s how you start a freaking book! Now, here’s a full disclosure: Tessa is part of the Gutter Girls Book Reviews blog along with me and Erica. She’s a good friend, we talk frequently, and our love of sports is almost unparalleled. (If you follow either of us on Twitter, you would know all of this anyway). I’m bringing it up because I don’t want y’all to discount this review simply because Tessa is my girl. I’m 100 percent honest about my reviews regardless of the author or the relationship I have with them. So please, just keep that in mind. Now, onward!

Ignite is a sweet, sweet story about a second chance romance between Jace and Lexi. They became best friends in high school and the night before Jaces leaves for the Army, he finally confesses to Lexi how he really feels about her, not knowing that she feels exactly the same way about him. With a wild night on the beach and a promise to return to her, he leaves the next day and Lexi is left to deal with her feeling and wait…and wait…for him to come home. After years of no contact from Jace, she moves on and eventually marries Ty. Cut to the tragic accident mentioned above, and Lexi is now a 27 year old widow. When her sister convinces her to accompany her to a 10 year reunion, she finds out that a run-in with Jace is inevitable. She never considered dating after the accident, but when she reconnects with Jace, all those thoughts fly out the window. Because some flames burn so strong that they can never truly be squelched.

Ignite gave me all the feels. This story takes you through the heartache of Lexi losing Ty, to the guilt she feels for moving forward with Jace, and eventually you’ll end up wrapped in a warm blanket of love as Lexi finally allows herself to let go of the past and look towards the future. (Look, I know that last line was cheesy as hell but let it slide this once…please?!) The relationship between Lexi and Jace is one of those that just seems inevitable. There’s no way these two characters couldn’t end up together. They go together like beer and baseball. Which brings me to my next point...

THE SPORTS REFERENCES!!! I’m a sports freak, and baseball is probably my favorite sport, just inching out football and college basketball. I love the baseball metaphors, and the tie-ins to the Cincinnati Reds; although it would have been even better if it involved the Kansas City Royals, but let’s face it, I’m a little biased ;) Tessa found ways to creatively weave baseball into this love story, which in turn give Jace and Lexi's relationship something unique. And in my opinion, she knocked it out of the park. (See what I did there? Yeah…you see what I did there.)



I was incredibly impressed with Tessa’s debut novel, and the fact that it didn’t read like a debut novel. Her writing is descriptive, penetrating, and almost flawless. She makes you feel the emotions that her characters are going through, and to me that’s the sure sign of a great author. Oh, and the fact that she can write smoking hot sex scenes is just the freaking cherry on top! I’ll never look at a baseball dugout the same way again. Excuse me while I daydream for a second….


Actually, this daydream involves my favorite baseball player and it might take a little longer than a second so let me just wrap this up ;)  Ignite wasn’t a walk. It wasn’t a bunt. It wasn’t a somewhat standard double. It wasn’t a pretty impressive triple. Get ready to round those bases, Tessa, because this was a goddamn homerun! 

MY RATING: 5 STARS




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