Connected by Kim Karr

"What if a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ could happen twice?

Suffering from a past full of tragedy, Dahlia London's soul has been left completely shattered. Happily ever after is a far cry from reality in her world. But, when she is reconnected with her past, the bonds that form are irrefutable.

When River Wilde, lead singer of The Wilde Ones, comes back into Dahlia’s life, the intensity that fires their relationship combined with underlying feelings that have never died lead her to believe she has met her soulmate.

Struggling with confusion as old connections fade and new ones begin, Dahlia's grief begins to lift--but guilt remains. River wants to be the one to mend all that is torn within her.

But with a past that is never really gone, can their future survive?"

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Connected by Kim Karr is our June New Adult book group pick and what a great, sexy pick it was. We have everything in this book...love, loss, rediscovering, strong female character and a hot book boyfriend. Honestly, this is my second reading of Connected and it was such a different read the second time around. I knew what was going to happen, especially at the end and it gave me a very different read. I still loved the book but it really gave me some insight to Dahlia.

 
The story is told first from Dahlia's POV. We see her as a young girl girl, college student, and finished graduate student. We get many flash backs into her past at the beginning of the book. I would hate to say who and how to even give up a little bit of the mystery and change in it. I will say that you can truly feel the pain Dahlia is in after her loss. I wanted to cry right along with her and felt the blacks days as she did. As she found herself in the book and was able to step out more, I felt like the sun was starting to shine on the book and her as a character.

 

Then there is River, who's POV happens at the 70-75% mark of the book. I found this change to be fitting and I, personally, needed it. I needed to hear his insecurities and questions and the way he thought about the world and his love. But this switch also added to my frustration (the first read through) on what he knew and why he wasn't saying anything.  The second read through I got it more and understood why he did the things he did. Of course this was after finishing Torn the second book in the series.

At the beginning of the book we also get a prologue and what a prologue it is! In the epilogue it totally blows your mind where and who it came from...but no telling here. None! I would hate to spoil the ending that hand me going, "Oh no you didn't!" into the next day. I remember the first time I read it, when I went into work I insisted the book buyer place it on her list to buy because of the ending. It blew me away and I love it when something happens that I wasn't expecting.

Now, for the sexy talk. I'm always asked where would I rank this. It was sexy but in a good way. You could tell the love the two characters had for each other. Not the whips and chains type thing but true lust/love for each other. For a moment towards the end of the book, I was blushing because I knew my boss read the book to be apart of the author discussion we had scheduled for the group. It's like talking about sex with your mom, not something you want to willingly do. To me it was the same as having my boss read the sexy bits. LOL! I told her that and we both had a good laugh. So, it's a sexy book but well done in knowing the characters care and love each other.

I own my copy but our local library now has two copies on their shelves. Make sure to check your library to see if you can get a hold of this great read. Be warned, you might have to place a hold since it's a popular one with few libraries owning it.

Happy reading!