Book Review: Leave The Lights On by Karen Stivali

Posted November 2, 2013 by Karen in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Title: Leave The Lights On

leavethelightsonAuthor: Karen Stivali

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Date of Publication: November 5, 2013

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Rating: 5 Out Of 5 Stars

§Book Description§

When love throws you a curve, swing for the fences.

Parker Wood’s dreams of becoming a professional baseball player are shattered when he’s injured in a devastating car crash. After two years in hospitals and physical rehab facilities, he’s ready to move back to his childhood home and take over the family landscaping company. The house and business are his, now that his father has passed.

Sophie Vaughn has suffered through a hellishly public divorce from a husband who couldn’t manage to stay faithful for two months of marriage. Determined not to let her personal drama impact her successful wedding and party planning business, she buys her parents’ old house, hoping the comfort of familiar surroundings will help her heal.

When Parker and Sophie discover they’re neighbors once again, it’s as if time has stood still. Their friendship is quickly rekindled, along with the decade-long crush neither of them ever admitted having. Then the heat between them exposes a long-held secret that threatens to tear them apart…unless they can detach from their painful pasts and move forward—together.

Warning: Contains sultry summer nights, steamy pool-side encounters, and you’ll never look at a jar of peanut butter the same way again.

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Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Samhain

§Robbie’s Review§

Do you ever need to read a book that makes you feel like you’re wearing your favorite sweater and sipping hot chocolate in front of a warm fire even if you’re not?  Have you ever read a book whose story came to you at just the time?  Author Karen Stivali has written that book and it’s appropriately named Leave The Lights On.  Parker Wood and Sophie Vaughn are both in recovery mode when their lives reconnect after years of going their separate ways.  Guarding their hearts even though they still feel their youthful attraction, both are very tentative about their budding relationship.

Sitting by the pool with Sophie felt more normal— more enjoyable— than anything he’d done in the past two years.  He’d never imagined it could feel so good to just sit and talk to someone.

Fresh from the throes of vampire angst, gang murders and international intrigue, I found this book to be just the balm my weary soul needed.  With just enough conflict to keep it interesting, Leave the Lights On is a tender, sweet and erotic love story between two people who have loved each other their whole lives and find their way back to each other after they’ve both been dealt life changing blows.  This is not exactly a new theme, but Karen Stivali’s take on it is so healing I felt the same healing within myself that Parker and Sophie found with each other.

The fact that she felt safe with Parker meant more to her than she could possible tell him.  She only hoped that too much hadn’t happened between them.  So many doubts.  So much turmoil.,  What if he decided it wasn’t worth all this drama?

Do you have room for one more man on your list of book boy friends?  If not, you need to drop someone to make room for Parker Wood.

“You just really seemed to know what you were doing.  I’ve never had anyone..no one’s ever…” ∞Sophie

“I just paid attention….You gave me all the clues.  I just put them together.” ∞Parker

“You put them together really well.” ∞Sophie

I highly recommend this lovingly written love story.  Leave the lights on, curl up with your personal copy of the book and prepare to fall in love.  By the way… be sure to read the warning at the end of the book description so you won’t be surprised if you develop an overwhelming craving for peanut butter!  5 stars and a 56 ounce jar of peanut butter to Karen Stivali for Leave The Lights On!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book directly from the author.  I was not paid to read or review this book.  All opinions are my own, and I was never influenced by anything or anyone.

§About The Author§

stivali

Karen Stivali is a prolific writer, compulsive baker and chocoholic with a penchant for books, movies and fictional British men. When she’s not writing, she can be found cooking extravagant meals and serving them to family and friends, who never seem to mind the excessive quantities she tends to prepare. She attributes her ability to multitask to the fact that she rarely sleeps, which gives her more hours every day. Prior to deciding to write full time Karen worked as a hand drawn animator, a clinical therapist, and held various food-related jobs ranging from waitress to specialty cake maker. Planning elaborate parties and fundraisers takes up what’s left of her time and sanity.Karen has always been fascinated by the way people relate to one another so she favors books and movies that feature richly detailed characters and their relationships. In her own writing she likes to explore the dynamics between characters and has a tendency to craft romantic tales filled with sarcasm and sexy details. Although she writes in three genres (erotic romance, contemporary romance and women’s fiction) all of her stories are love stories with happily ever after endings.Karen has published several erotic romance novels with Ellora’s Cave including two award winning stories: Always You (published September 2011, First Place Winner of the RWA Passionate Plume Award – 2012)and Marry Me (published June 2012, First Place Winner in the NEC-RWA Bean Pot Reader’s Choice Award – 2013).

Her works of women’s fiction, Meant To Be, and its sequel, Holding On, (published by Turquoise Morning Press in August and November 2012, respectively) both made the Best of 2012 list at Literati Literature Lovers.

To learn more about Karen you can visit her Website karenstivali.com where she blogs original recipes, sassy commentary on The Bachelor, and tidbits about her journey in the writing world.

Karen can also be found attempting witty banter on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/karenstivali

Connect with the Author:  Facebook | Twitter | Website | Goodreads

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