Close to Me, a New Adult romance by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Monica Murphy, is LIVE!

Blurb

Asher Davis. My first crush.

My first kiss.

The boy who ripped my heart out of my chest again and again. Over and over. I let him have it every single time.

Willingly.

We are that toxic high school couple you hear about, the one you witness in the hallway as they avoid each other. You laugh at them in class when they’re forced to work together, their gazes full of hatred. We are the couple you gossip about when they win homecoming prince and princess their sophomore year…

The back and forth is what kills me the most. I’m not his princess, I’m the girl he toys with when he’s bored. And he’s definitely not my prince, no matter how badly I want him to be.

Finally it’s our senior year and we’re months away from never having to see each other again when disaster strikes—and brings us closer together. All it takes is one touch, and I’m burning for Ash. Hotter than I ever have.

But will that burn turn into a devastating fire? Or can we actually make it work this time?

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Review

Feels 4
Steam 2
Storyline 4
Overall Rating 4
Kindle eArc provided by Author
Reviewed by Stephanie

Autumn is none too thrilled when her famous ex NFL star Dad and her Mom to decide to pack the family up and move them to the middle of nowhere the summer after eighth grade to have a quieter life out of the spotlight. Yeah great, so now she’s starting freshman year as the new girl and she is pissed at her parents and at the world. Her first day of school doesn’t go off without a few hitches and that includes a not so awesome encounter with the mysterious and very blunt, but very hot, Asher Davis.

“I saw it. I hurt him. And that made me hurt too.”

Asher Davis is unlike any boy Autumn had met before and she tries to stay as far away from him as she can. But we all know sometimes things don’t go as planned and the sparks were flying between these two right from the start. It was like the damn fireworks finale on the fourth of July. Asher and Autumn have had very different upbringings and you could say Asher was from the wrong side of the tracks. He didn’t have the love and support from his family like Autumn did from hers. As much as they tried to stay away from each other there were stolen kisses and whispered words that made it impossible for them to deny there were feelings there. When Autumn’s Dad starts to coach the football team and being a cheerleader made not seeing each other almost impossible. Oh, did I mention Autumn has a boyfriend and Asher doesn’t exactly do the whole girlfriend thing? So say hello to a shitload of teenage angst and drama.

“Yet here I am. Drawn to the darkness when I should be seeking the light.”

This story follows Asher and Autumn through all four years of high school and there’s so much push and pull between these two as they try to figure out where they fit in each other’s worlds and hearts…if they fit at all. Normally it may be too much crammed in one book or get old with that timeline. But it really worked in this story and there was just so much these two had to go through to get to where they ended up.

“You don’t have a heart, remember? Yeah because you stole it.”

I have two words for you with this book or rather one name. Asher Davis. I absolutely loved his character so much. He was everything! Yes, he was a bad boy who could be an asshole but he was hurt…almost completely broken down and that’s just how he guarded his heart. What he goes through in this book is heartbreaking. I am so glad he finally allows himself to open up to Autumn and allow her and her parents to help him heal. I mean how awesome were Autumn’s parents,Drew and Fable? Pretty freakin’ awesome! I had no clue going in that this was a spin off of one of the author’s other series “One Week Girlfriend”. I have read and loved several other books by her but not that one yet. Now I definitely will be. I loved Asher and Autumn’s story and can’t wait for the next book in the series.

“Friends don’t make each other feel like this.
Feel like what?
Like you could be my everything.”

Excerpt

“Do friends give each other hugs? The friends I have do. Sometimes.”

“There is no way I’m hugging you.” I roll my eyes.

“A truce hug then? Come on.” He lets go of the door handle and faces me fully, stretching his arms out in invitation. “I’ll leave you alone after this, okay? I promise.”

I’m not sure if he’s the type who keeps his promises. I’m guessing no.

This could be the last time I hug him. This entire encounter has been weird. Confusing. We’re a mess. We would never work, and us going ’round and ’round in circles tonight just proves that.

So what’s the harm in getting one last hug from Ash? It’s just a hug. A brief moment of bodily contact and then I’ll send him away. He won’t bug me again. He’ll get over his so-called feelings for me. He’ll give his heart to someone else or even better, he’ll discover he actually has one, and he’ll forget all about me. He’ll give it to someone else, and he’ll finally leave me alone forever.

Why does that thought make me feel so empty inside?

Deciding it’s do or die time, I walk right into his hug, my arms sliding around his waist, my head resting on his chest. I can feel the steady thump-thump of his heartbeat and I close my eyes when his arms come around me. Slowly. Enfolding me into his body so that we’re snug tight.

He holds me with a desperation, almost as if he’s afraid to let me go, and when I lift my head, tilting it back so I can stare into his eyes, I find he’s already watching me.

“Friends don’t make each other feel like this,” he says, his voice a gravelly whisper.

The hairs on the back of my neck rise. “Feel like what?”

“Like you could be my everything.”

My shoulders sag. “Ash—”

“Stop talking.” He presses two fingers to my lips, silencing me. When he’s seemingly assured I won’t speak, he lightens the pressure, gently caressing my lips. Back and forth. Making me tingle.

Making me want him to do more than touch my mouth.

I want him to kiss me.

“You have the sexiest lips,” he murmurs, and the blush returns, setting my face on fire. No one has referred to me as sexy before. “What we’re doing is fucking crazy. You know this right, Callahan?”

I ignore his question. “How could I be your everything when you told me you don’t know how to feel?”

“The only time I seem to feel is when…” He presses his fingers into the corner of my mouth, so gentle, I could almost think he never actually touched me. “I’m with you.”

Meet Monica

Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is both self-published and published by Random House/Bantam and HarperCollins/Avon. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance.

She is a wife and a mother of three who lives in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.