Review Tour and Giveaway: Whatever It Takes by

Book Blurb:

Four years ago, I thought my life was pretty normal for a teenager. Three years ago, my world was shattered, and now I’m just trying to hold the pieces together. But regret and anger aren’t so easy to ignore.

I just need to catch my breath … for it all to go away …

I thought I might finally be ready to move on from that horrible night, but then he decided to come back.

He can’t come back … he’ll ruin me completely.

One horror-filled night changes the course of Samantha’s seemingly normal life. She’s ruined everything. Despite her determination to keep the family ranch up and running, her guilt makes it impossible to completely move on or forget.

Sam takes comfort in her quirky, endearing friends as she tries to balance between the girl she was and the woman she wants to become. Just when she thinks she’s finally making amends with her past, someone she never thought she’d see again returns, and Sam’s life is once again turned upside down. Both her head and her heart want different things, so she’s lost when, once again, she’s forced to make a decision that will inevitably change her life.

Publication date: January 22nd 2016

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult

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My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: New Adult--

Sam has been isolated since the night her life fell apart 4 years ago. She works hard to keep her father's ranch running, avoids her emotionally unavailable stepmom, puts up a happy front with her two best friends, but on the inside is an emotional wreck who uses pain as an outlet. When Reilly comes home to sell his father's wreck of a home, he and Sam have so much history that has never been resolved. The question is if their feelings are strong enough to overcome the demons.

Wow, this was an emotional read. We have a character who is so emotionally damaged that just the distant idea of being happy makes her skittish. I for some reason expected a light-hearted read, with some fun and romance, but that was not this book at all. Instead it was a touching, gut wrenching book filled with heartbreak but also with hope and a glimmer of future potential. When I saw that this was the first in a series I was really stressed that this would be some sort of terrible gut-wrenching emotional cliff hanger, but I was happy to be wrong. The book wraps up with an ending that I love with a hint of the conflict that the second book will be about. I really enjoy this type of story, where each book is an independent story with it's own characters but they tie together.

I can honestly say that I was not a super huge fan of Sam when the book first started. She started off making some terrible decisions that colored her in a negative light in my eyes when I was getting the back story. But I did like that she grew as a character throughout the book, realizing that the emotions she felt were ok and that she could experience happiness with out the guilt or doom that previously came. I still feel like she made a terrible choice in her actions towards Reilly in the past, something that would have changed her whole life if she had not done her actions, but oh well. Reilly on the other hand I had a soft spot for. He was fairly straightforward and I loved how he laid out his feelings and intentions to Sam first, without needing anything in return. He was kind of dreamy, regardless of everything.

This is my first book by this author, but it wont be my last. I can't wait to read the second book with Mac's story with the steamy new guy and I already have her other series, The Ending, on my wishlist because it sounds right up my alley.

I received this title from the author in return for my honest review

Author Bio:

Lindsey Pogue has always been a little creative. As a child she established a bug hospital on her elementary school soccer field, wrote her first YA manuscript in high school, and as an adult, expresses herself through writing. Her novels are inspired by her observations of the world around her—whether she’s traveling, people watching, or hiking. When not plotting her next storyline or dreaming up new, brooding characters, Lindsey’s wrapped in blankets watching her favorite action flicks or going on road trips with her own leading man.

You can find her on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter and her website

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