FMR Book Grind: RELEASE BLITZ, REVIEW, & GIVEAWAY ~ Kiss The Sky by Krista & Becca Ritchie

Title: Kiss the Sky

Authors: Krista & Becca Ritchie

Genre: New Adult Standalone Romance

Release Date: January 24, 2014

Hosted by: Love Between the Sheets Promotions

Synopsis
Virgin. Sex addict. Daredevil. Alcoholic. Smartass … Jackass. Her five friends are about to be filmed. Reality TV, be prepared.
Rose Calloway thought she had everything under control. At twenty-three, she’s a Princeton graduate, an Academic Bowl champion, a fashion designer and the daughter of a Fortune 500 mogul. But with a sex addict as a sister and roommate, nothing comes easy. After accepting help from a producer, Rose agrees to have her life filmed for a reality television show. The Hollywood exec is her last chance to revive her struggling fashion line, and boundaries begin to blur as she’s forced to make nice with a man who always has his way. Twenty-four-year-old Connor Cobalt is a guy who bulldozes weak men. He’s confident, smart-as-hell and lives with his equally ambitious girlfriend, Rose Calloway. Connor has to find a way to protect Rose without ruining the show. Or else the producer will get what Connor has always wanted—Rose’s virginity.

This New Adult Standalone Romance can be described as Friends meets The Real World. Expect fist fights, drugs, sex of varying degrees, crude humor and competitive alpha males. Definitely for mature ~~readers~~ audiences only.

4 STARS! I highly recommend reading the Addicted series books first before starting this one.

“People hope to touch the sky. I dream of kissing it.” - Connor

"Our eyes connect on a different level. The world becomes small.

No Scott.

No shower.

No rush of water or nakedness.
Just me. Just him. Just us." - Rose

This book was on my top 10 highly anticipated reads of 2014, and it’s not entirely because of how much I adored Lil and Lo. I was genuinely invested in Connor and Rose, even though they were side characters. Overall, I think the authors did a fantastic job of portraying them, their individuality and their relationship in a unique and refreshing way (depiction through being on live camera for TV show). I have never read a book quite like KISS THE SKY, where there is no room for fluff and everything, from the staggering addictions Lil and Lo have to Rose and Connor’s witty banter to the stuck up asshole producer Scott, is remarkably distinctive and addicting to read.

These stories have come to mean something real to me, and they’re not books where you just finish and can let go of easily.

Though this book is dedicated to Rose and Connor, it really encompasses the entire gang: Lily, Lo, Daisy, and Ryke. Normally that is a huge turnoff because I like books that focus more on just that one couple, but because of the unique circumstances these characters were put in, and the fact that the 6 of them together are a true family unit, I became totally supportive of the way this book plot was structured.

So why not 5 stars?

This is the part where I ask myself what's wrong with me:

See, halfway through I got a little annoyed. Then I got frustrated. I had no clue why! I just attributed it to the characters grating on my nerves from all the problems that occurred but then I realized that wasn’t the reason. The reason boils down to this: these characters are nothing like what I knew about them when I read the Addicted series. Here are the questions I constantly asked myself when I was reading the second half:

1. Has Lily always been this shy and easily embarrassed?

2. Has Daisy always been this naïve and stupid silly?

3. Has Rose always been this horny?

4. Has Connor always been a knight in shining armor?

Ryke and Lo were pretty much the same. But yeah, when certain scenes came around the corner, I caught myself rolling my eyes at the number of times something would happen to trigger one of those questions. It may be that I need to revisit the Addicted series books, but I truly felt baffled by the discrepancy in the character portrayal in KISS THE SKY and the previous books.

Another contention is the sex scenes. Boy, those were HOT! Flaming hot so no complaint there, but I was taken aback when the authors introduced Connor as (view spoiler) Don’t get me wrong, I loved this twist and quite frankly, I do like a little erotica/BDSM sprinkled in my reads, but wow that was out of nowhere. Who woulda guessed ol’ Connor eh?

Now the one other thing I had a problem was with the ending. It’s really one of the sweetest endings and I loved that everyone got what they deserved (well almost everyone), but I think things were wrapped up a little too nicely, especially with (view spoiler) As much as I wanted that to happen, that was…out of the blue. And of course I’m a vigilante so reading how (view spoiler) Realistically there’s probably not much they could’ve done but I hate that justice wasn’t served.

Other than that, this was another hit for me! Witty banter, a good number of humorous scenes and a ton of great one-liners! I love smart people and both Rose and Connor are just that. It’s nice to have characters that actually have brains!!!

"6 people + 6 months + 3 cameramen + 1 reality show = infinite drama. I've done the math." - Rose

Oh and one more thing. Connor,

ARC kindly provided by authors in exchange for an honest review. Please note that all quotes are from an advanced copy and may be subject to change in the final edition. Thanks ladies!!

~Review by Feifei

Purchase Links

AMAZON US LINK

AMAZON UK LINK

About the Authors

Krista Ritchie has a clone...or someone who looks exactly like her. If she's not writing books with her twin sister, she's pouring over entertainment news and ingesting copious amounts of pop culture. She likes tennis, that thing called the TV, and beating Becca (her clone) on Sega Genesis. She created YA Book Exchange to combat her book buying addiction and started Nawanda Files, a YA Book Blog that features books into movies news, to share her love for all things bookish. Oh, and she does something called science. Whatever that is. Krista & Becca Ritchie write New Adult books that make you cringe, gasp, and go ooh-la-la. (If you do that sort of thing.) They are currently working on the spin-offs and final books in the Addicted series.