Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Story of Us by D. Nichole King

THE STORY OF US by d. Nichole King
Release Date: Feb. 9, 2017
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
— SYNOPSIS —
Moments.

Every life is made of thousands of them, each one strung together with the next. Some are yellow and happy, some are blue and sad, and some…

Some wipe out color altogether.

“I love you,” is what I should have told Maverick.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m still fighting.”

Instead I just watched him leave.

Now my husband, my everything is battling for each breath, and all I can do is stare at the machines as the clock ticks off precious minutes.

The doctors said the first twenty-four hours are critical—but every moment is critical.

You never know which will be your last.

This is our story, and I’m not ready for it to end.

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— EXCERPT — 

I’m cold sitting in one of the waiting rooms in the ICU. Maverick is still in surgery, the nurse tells me. They’ll come get me once he’s in his room. It shouldn’t be too much longer. No one else is close by. It’s just me and my thoughts.

It’s strange the things you think of to distract yourself from the real reason you’re sitting here. Me, I focus on the oil painting on the wall. Wonder how many people have stared at it and wanted to tear it down. How many liked it. Has anyone noticed that it leans a little to the left or that there’s an inconsistency in the corners of the wooden frame? Did anyone deliberate why this painting?

I’m sure it’s meant to calm the people who look at it. Doesn’t everyone find a lake dotted with sailboats calming? But the colors are all wrong. They don’t soothe me. They’re bright and bold and demanding. There’s too much crimson, too dark of navy.

I have to turn away from it. There’re magazines on the tables, but they scream at me too. Loud headlines of celebrities with large divorce settlements, jail time, and plastic surgery. The science ones boast of the newest medical advances and archeological finds. What they don’t realize is that in here, life beyond these walls no longer exists. In here, there’re only three things that matter: life, death, and the battle between them.

I shiver again. I should have brought warmer clothes.

Hugging my knees to my chest, I focus on the fake plant in the corner. There are no windows in this area, which is how I know it’s fake. It might be a fern of some sort, I don’t know. The leaves are long and skinny, but again, the color is wrong for this place.

I shift my attention to the hallway. In here, the lights are dim, but out there they’re on full and reflecting off of the cream floor. There’s a nurse at the nurses’ station, sitting behind a computer. She’s different from the one before. A moment later, another walks up to the desk. They keep hushed voices, and I hear nothing. The one at the computer lifts her eyes to me and when she meets my gaze, she offers a sympathetic smile. I don’t smile back.

I lower my head until my cheek rests on my arms, and I close my eyes. My skin is ice against my face. Cold is what it means to be alone, and right now, I’ve never felt more alone. Alone, but not lonely. No, because being lonely is different than being alone. Lonely is a fleeting state that ends. When Finley gets here, I’ll no longer be lonely, yet without Mav, I’ll still be alone.

I think about the happy moments Mav and I shared. Our time in Cancun. The dance under the stars. His smile. His silly pet name for me.

That was us. The whole, take-on-the-world, in-love us.

The us before we broke.

My Review:

3.5 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Heart-Wrenching, Romance--

Ali is spending another night alone, waiting for her husband Maverick to get home from work. But tonight is different, special. When she hears a knock on her door in the middle of the night, she finds a policeman outside her door telling her that Maverick has been in an accident. Ali realizes that her love is something worthwhile and that she must fight for it while she still can.

I have been wanting to read the author's Love Always series for forever, so I was excited to get my hands on this standalone by her. Based on the synopsis, I was honestly expecting to read a complete earth shattering tear-jerker when I started this book. But instead, this was a celebration of the relationship between Ali and Maverick, told in flashbacks of how they cam to be at this moment, with small snippets of real time in the middle. The book takes place in a really short time, but the memories were over the course of their entire relationship.

Maverick was absolutely dreamy, regardless of the problems that developed in the relationship, but he was the most patient and insightful of men. Ali was a more damaged,reserved character, who learned to like herself through her interactions with Maverick. I was interested in how the author used colors to express how Ali was feeling when she had no words. It was a unique new perspective I had never experienced in a book before. As a side note, the wedding decorations were hands down my favorite part of the book, and Finley was the best friend a girl could have asked for.

I thought this was a really sweet story about a shy damaged girl gradually being healed by a charismatic, caring man without her even being aware of it. Instead of overwhelming sadness, I saw the growth of hope and realization of love. This was a sweet, romantic story with some very hot scenes added in, as well as some traumatic realistic moments to keep things in perspective. The story was very well written and reinforced for me how much I really want to read the rest of the books by this author.

I received this title in return for my honest review.

— ABOUT THE AUTHOR —

d. Nichole King was born with a book in her hand. During her school years, she’d hide books inside textbooks, read during recess, changing classes, and while walking home from school. She wrote her first book at the age of 11, and the re-worked version of that book is her debut novel, LOVE ALWAYS, KATE.

Her YA urban fantasy series, THE SPIRIT TRILOGY, along with her NA contemporary series, LOVE ALWAYS, was acquired by Limitless Publishing and includes a total of six books. BREAKING THROUGH, an NA science-fiction romance, is her first self-published novel.

d. Nichole King currently resides in a small town in Iowa with her supportive husband, four amazing kids, a dog, a cat, a fish, and a turtle.

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—— GIVEAWAY ——

Enter to win a SIGNED PAPERBACK of THE STORY OF US by d. Nichole King! OPEN INTERNATIONALLY! 

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