Courtney Cole

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

REVIEW: Saving Beck by Courtney Cole

OUR REVIEW:

Saving Beck
 is not an easy read--it shows us a family in crisis as it grieves through the aftermath of one tragedy while confronting the tragedy of addiction. Courtney Cole shows us the ugliness, horror, and utter sadness that comes along with a family member being (or becoming) an addict and she doesn't try to pretty it up at all. Within the span of a few hundred pages and the course of a 24 hour period in the hospital, we discover how this particular family ended up in this place to begin with. It's hard, y'all. I kept feeling so helpless and frustrated as I read. I wanted to help this family--to put pause on it going further--to plunge them all in therapy, to take the secrets out of the dark and put them in the light, to somehow, someway put them all on a different path. But the truth of the matter is, is that this happens all too often, and having a family member in and out of rehab and another one come from a line of people with addictive personalities, I know that wishful thinking is just that and it takes a lot of variables to get addicts and families back on track. It's hard and it sometimes feels impossible--something this novel does a good job of acknowledging.

With our country in the throes of what I feel is a drug problem of epic and epidemic proportions, I think that this novel is something that is so important in the reading community. As anyone who follows Cole's career knows, she's speaking from experience and truth and it's those things that make this novel feel so real and so deeply sad and raw and honest. We need more of this, I think. We need the hard truths, the voices of experience--because this is just one of many stories of addiction and we need to see them all--and we need the absolute joy of hope that this novel ends with. 

Don't be afraid of Saving Beck. Read it. Absorb it. Talk about it. 

BUY IT here.

SYNOPSIS:

Reminiscent of the beloved novels by Mary Kubica and Jodi Picoult comes a chilling portrayal of a son’s addiction and its harrowing effects on both him and his mother from New York Times bestselling author Courtney Cole.

There comes a time when offering your life for your child’s doesn’t work, when you realize that it’ll never be enough. 

The cold needle in his warm vein was a welcome comfort to my son at first. But then it became the monster that kept us apart. 

Heroin lied, and my son believed. It took him to a world where the last year didn’t happen, to a place where his father was still alive. What Beck didn’t understand was that it couldn’t bring his father back from the dead. It couldn’t take away his pain, not permanently. 

You think it can’t happen to you, that your kids, your family, will never be in this situation. 
I thought that too. But you’re wrong. 

Step into our world, and see for yourself. 
Watch my golden boy become a slave to this raging epidemic. Watch me try and save him. 

Drug addiction comes with a price. 
Trust me, you’re not equipped to pay it. 

Don’t miss this heartwrenching, evocative, yet hopeful novel—it will leave you forever changed.


Tuesday, August 30, 2016

NEW: Necessary Roughness by Courtney Cole

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Necessary Roughness Love is a game best played hard and rough 

Nicky…

Nicky Chase was the star Running Back for the New Orleans Sinners. 

Until he blew out his knee.

Playing ball is out. In thirty seconds, Nicky went from being on top to hitting rock bottom. 

Sophia… 

Sophia De Bartoli is the best physical therapist in New Orleans.  Her Italian roots have given her a fiery temper, but her Catholic faith has kept her innocent.     

But then she was hired to make house-calls for Nicky Chase. THE Nicky Chase.   

He’s known far and wide for his sexy abs, panty-melting grin, and his skill both on and off the football field.   But Nicky refuses to leave his house, so no one gets to see him anymore.  No one except Sophia. 

And she gets to see all of him.

That smoldering gaze and that rock-hard tattooed body haunt her every night, but it's the vulnerable, broken man she sees inside that haunts her every day.   Resisting him might be more than this Catholic girl can handle. 
   
Nicky’s a New Orleans Sinner, after all.  And he seems bound and determined to make her one, too.  

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NECESSARY ROUGHNESS- ROUGH TEASER

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Courtney Cole is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author who lives near Lake Michigan. She's best known for writing the Beautifully Broken series (IF YOU STAY, IF YOU LEAVE, BEFORE WE FALL), although she has Young Adult and Women's Contemporary titles out, as well. 

Sign up for her newsletter and get announcements of new releases, exclusive fan contests, and fabulous giveaways right in your inbox! Sign up right here: http://smarturl.it/CourtneyColeEmail

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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

REVIEW: Lux by Courtney Cole

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The dramatic series finale to Courtney Cole's bestselling Nocte trilogy!


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My name is Calla Price and I’m broken.

My pieces are all around me, floating on the wind, even as I desperately try to grasp them.

Who is dead? Alive? Insane?

What is the truth?

I don’t know.

I do know this: The darkness is strangling me. With every breath, I choke on another lie.

My mind has protected me, but that shield will soon be lowered.

All will be revealed.
Every answer to every question.

It’s all been leading to this.

Don’t be afraid.
Be terrified.


Series reading order: Nocte (#1), Verum (#2), Initium (#2.5), Lux (#3).

Get NOCTE: Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Audible (Add on Goodreads)
Get VERUM: Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Audible (Add on Goodreads)
Get INITIUM: Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo (Add on Goodreads)
Get LUX: Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo (Add on Goodreads)

OUR REVIEW:

 Shel: After waiting for Lux and wondering how in the world Courtney Cole was going to finish off this trilogy, I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy and so I jumped right in. Let me prepare you...you might want to refresh your memory of where the last one left off and then you might want to prepare your self for some of this: Court: I did that too. I had to try to remember where we left off, but one thing I felt when I started reading was that things are so...blurry...that thin line between reality and dream, that it wasn't too bad once we got in there. Things were never as they seemed in one or two, so I didn't expect them to be that way in the beginning! 





Shel: Seriously. I had the weirdest sense of deja vu --haven't I read this before? Why does all of this feel so familiar? WHAT THE HELL, DUDE. WHAT. THE. HELL. So, fair warning, you're most likely going to feel the same. The good news is that you get answers....eventually. Sort of. GAHHH. Court: I felt so conflicted by everything I read. Who is sane? Who isn't? I sure didn't feel sane. But then...Calla's thoughts and dreams were so vivid, and the writing so epic...I still can't even fathom how Courtney wrote these puzzle pieces and fit them together. The cohesion of all of the storylines are so impressive.


Shel: I'm still processing how I feel about this novel and series. On the one hand, the way that Courtney Cole puts you in the head of Calla and truly makes you feel as out of sorts as she feels is pretty clever. On the other hand....I'm feeling unsettled with how it ends and how I felt during the duration of this third book. Court: I feel you babe. I feel...settled, and complete. I feel completed by the ending, and even though I've grown to love these characters, I am happy where they are right now. 

Shel: I know that the readers who've read the first two books will be eager to get this one read and I suppose my last piece of advice is be prepared to have your mind fucked. Court: In the absolutely best way possible! 

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Courtney Cole is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist who would rather write than eat chocolate. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Business, but no amount of working in the corporate world could quell her urge to write.

Courtney was born and raised in Kansas, home of incredibly friendly people and the most horrendous weather on the planet. Because summer days were so hot, she grew up reading stacks of books... and when she didn't like the ending, she wrote her own.

Courtney has relocated to Florida where she writes beneath palm trees. To learn more about her, please visit her website.  To sign up for her newsletter and receive exclusive sneak peeks and super-fan perks, click here.






Thursday, September 24, 2015

SURPRISE RELEASE: Initium by Courtney Cole

INITIUM Nocte Prequel by Courtney Cole

The end is coming. LUX is almost here. But everything has a beginning. A beginning before the night. Before Finn. Before Calla. Everything starts somewhere.

This is where the darkness is born. ANOTHER STORY.

INITIUM (Nocte #2.5), a Nocte Trilogy between-the-books novella, is now available...and only $0.99 for TODAY ONLY! Includes an exclusive FOUR CHAPTER sneak peek of Lux (Nocte #3)! 
I never knew what the consequences would be. I say that like it’s a defense, an excuse. It’s not. It’s simply the truth. I never knew what he would become to me. Through everything, he’s become everything. My rock, my air, my love. My everything. And then…. Things changed. Because it was wrong. Because sometimes, our sons must pay for the sins of their fathers. Or their mothers. I’m afraid that I’m lost, that I’m damned. After you read this, you’ll probably agree. Really, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I save him. Because he shouldn’t pay for my sin. Judge me if you like. But keep reading. This is our beginning. This is where the darkness truly starts.
Get INITIUM on Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo
Add it on Goodreads
Get NOCTE, the first book in the trilogy Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Audible Audiobook
Get VERUM, the second book in the trilogy Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Audible Audiobook
LUX, the final book in the trilogy, is coming October 28, 2015.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Review: VERUM by Courtney Cole

The truth shall set you free.

My name is Calla Price and I’m drowning.
My new world is a dark, dark ocean and I’m being pulled under by secrets.
Can I trust anyone? I don’t know anymore.

The lies are spirals. They twist and turn, binding me with their thorns and serpentine tongues. And just when I think I have it figured out, everything is pulled out from under me.

I’m entangled in the darkness.
But the truth will set me free.

It’s just ahead of me, so close I can touch it. But even though it shines and glimmers, it has glistening fangs and I know it will shred me.

Are you scared?

I am.

Kindle Edition
Published February 2nd 2015 by Lakehouse Press, Inc.
Source: Purchased  Add to Goodreads | Purchase on Amazon

Shel: I need to start this review with an apology to Courtney Cole; I tweeted her about Verum all day Saturday because I lost my shit as I was reading it. I couldn't hold it together; I was feeling tortured and angsty and had so many questions... Court: Awww. I was seeing that...and it made me curious. And excited! Epically excited to find out all of the answers. And this mid-series installment did not disappoint me one bit. 

"...It must be paid for. With tears. With blood. With everything we have. 
And it is not until the end, the very end, that we will know if it was worth it."

Shel: If you've seen teasers for Verum, you've seen references to falling down the rabbit hole. This couldn't be truer. I felt like I wasn't just falling with an end destination; I was flailing in free fall for about 80% of the novel. I was grasping at every italicized word, every flashback, every detail--trying, TRYING to figure out what the everloving fuck was going on. Court: And I was grasping at every italicized word, every flashback, and every detail because the attention to detail from Courtney Cole is seriously inspiring, and beautiful. BEAUTIFUL words on these pages...and I am so in awe. Everything flows together in a way that made our hearts race, and love each character and every flawed word that they might utter. 

"What a strange thought. But then again, I'm a strange girl." 

Shel: So why torture myself? I was curious. I wanted to know what the secrets were and what her flashbacks were all about. I needed to know what Dare was withholding and how she ended up in England. I needed to know more about the people she was meeting and why they were being so weird. With every new bit of knowledge gained, I felt that I still had so much more to know. Court: I felt there was a minor jump that could've been very confusing between book one and two, and was prepared to wax on and on about it...and now...at the end...I get it. It makes sense...and just whoa. Don't ever think there isn't a reason for the words that we are given. There is clearly a plan! Even if we don't quite know what it is... Whew. The gothic feel that was also brought forward was pretty epic too.

"Calla will save me. Or I will die. I will die. I will die. Serva me, serva bo te. Save me and I'll save you." 

Shel: To Courtney Cole's credit, she had me so immersed in Calla's head that I felt everything she did..the concern, the curiosity, the fear, the yearning, the ..everything. I couldn't quit reading. If you liked Nocte, you must read Verum. Court: I think this series is and should be a high priority on your to read list. Just sayin'...Calla's every emotion is so deep and vivid. I felt everything she felt too. Whew. 

"There's a fork in the road and even though I see it, I can't avoid it. One road goes left, one goes right, and neither of them ends well..." 
Shel: Thanks again to Courtney Cole and my friends for putting up with my obnoxious texts and tweets about this novel. I'll try to get it under control for Lux. Court: Love it. Love it. Love it! I can't get enough of this series.

"Nocte liber sum. By night I am free."


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Courtney Cole is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. 

She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. 

Courtney was born and raised in rural Kansas, but has since migrated south. She now lives in Florida and writes beneath palm trees. 

Learn more about Courtney and her books atwww.courtneycolewrites.com 
Find her on Facebook at:https://www.facebook.com/#!/courtneyc...


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