Revelry

"For the first time in my life, I was owed nothing, and I owed nothing. Lonely or not, I was free."Kandi Steiner has fast become one of my favorite authors. I fell in love with her when I read Weightless and continued that love affair when I picked up A Love Letter to Whiskey. And now she's done it once again with Revelry. Kandi has such a distinct way of telling a story. It sinks its claws inside you and pulls you in completely. I felt like Wren and Anderson's story was intoxicating and I loved the feels in Revelry. Where Weightless and Whiskey were utter angst-fests, Revelry set itself apart with a bittersweet kind of angst. The kind that doesn't necessarily kill you, but makes you ache and yearn and burn for the characters in the best way. This novel shows you that life doesn't always go as planned, and that's OK. It's part of the journey. Life's messy and a messy life is a good life! This truly is a story of self discovery, of forgiveness, and second chances. And I just loved it."A part of me knew I was playing with fire, but I told myself I could handle the burn."Revelry is a story I think a lot of people will relate to on some level. Wren is fresh off of a divorce. She's in a rough place. Life looks different than she thought it would. She's dealing with guilt, with a heavy dose of despair and loneliness that comes from a failed marriage and crushed dreams of what could have been. She's grieving, lost, floundering, and she hopes the summer in a cabin in Seattle is where she'll find some peace. Some healing. And maybe even some inspiration. Wren's a fashion designer who owns a popular boutique and she needs inspiration for her next line of clothing. She also desperately needs to lose herself in her sketches. Her art is her life line.Anderson Black isn't living, in fact he's carrying around so much pain from his past he's decided he doesn't deserve to really live, he just needs to get by. Anderson is cold and angry, broody and unwelcoming when we first meet him. I wasn't sure how to take his character at the start but once he spotted Wren... boy, oh boy, I felt it!!!! :: shivers ::"One moment, one look, and the haze I'd walked in for years blew out in a breath.Because every day was the same.And then I saw her."Both of these characters are wounded. Their baggage is significant. They're in no place emotionally for any kind of a relationship. But there's a draw that they can't fight and it's delicious! I literally couldn't put this book down. Each page had me hooked. I loved the sweetness of the banter, but also the heaviness that accompanied the storyline at times. This book is ALL heart. All soul. And I saw that in this pages, in the chemistry that Anderson and Wren had. It sizzled. The need they had to lose themselves in each other was addicting and heart pounding!"Touching Wren was like taking ecstasy, every sense enhanced. My skin was almost too sensitive to her touch, my ears too aware of her breaths, my tongue too tender for the taste of her. If she really was a drug, addiction wasn't just a possibility —it was a certainty."--"I've got you," he said, voice low, arms tight around me. And he did. He had me. In more ways than he knew.I know I said this before, but I feel the need to say it again. This story is brimming with pure heart. It's so well written. Kandi's an eloquent, beautiful writer who's words always make me think and feel. I love reading her stories because they're honest. They're real. There's something magical about them that sets them apart from the rest. I find her writing breathtaking and with each book she puts out, it gets better and better and better.Revelry was heartbreaking, but more so sweet and inspiring! Anderson and Wren spend the summer finding themselves and the journey is beautiful. I truly love second chance romances and I think this portrayed life after heartbreak perfectly! I LOVED IT. I really did. I, 5 fantastic stars, LOVED IT!

I can't say enough about Kandi Steiner and her writing. It is so emotional and smart! I picked up this book after reading A Love Letter to Whiskey. Both of these books made me feel all kinds of emotions. She writes about real characters that aren't perfect and struggle with the events in their life. This story in particular is about learning to love yourself for who you are and not to worry about what everyone else thinks about you. It's something we've all struggled with in our lives at some point or another. It really hit me right in the heart. Sometimes you have to let things go even if you don't want to. We get one life to do the things that make us happy. Wren is essentially starting over and travels to a quiet little town to get some inspiration. During that time, she was able to inspire others to do the same. This book is written so beautifully and I was so happy with the ending of this story. And everyone NEEDS a Momma Von in their life! In fact, I want to be just like her. :)

Once again Kandi Steiner delivers a book that will take your soul and breathe life into it. She did it with A Iove letter to whiskey, and with this book I can't even tell you how full my heart is. I just read a book that is now a part of me, I will never forget this beautiful love story or how it made me feel. Full of great characters and that irresistible slow burn that we all crave, with just the right amount of angst, this is a story you need in your life asap!Wren Ballard is a 27 year old boutique owner/clothing designer trying to get back on her feet and gain some independence after the failure of her 10 year marriage. She's trying to embrace her freedom and do a little soul searching in order to resume her regularly programmed life, and she has a major addiction with 90's music which automatically made her my literary soulmate.Summertime is the perfect time for a fling In my opinion and set just outside of Seattle in a cozy cabin town, this book truly transports you to that fantasyland desperately needed to fully escape. And of course, per usual, Kandi's words are breathtakingly beautiful without being overly descriptive or dragging on, in fact it's just the opposite. The descriptions are so vivid and natural, I felt like I was smelling the smells in the mountain air and hearing all of the wonderful sounds of the cabin and the boots on the hiking trail, and the purrs of the vagabond cat, it was just perfect. Like movie picture, perfect. I wanted to live every moment with these characters because of the lyrical quality of the words. This story is a precious little gem that I want to wrap up and keep safe in my jewelry box of favorite books.Anderson... Oh this man. Anderson Black is a local handyman in town and he's struggling to get by from day to day because of the weight he bears of an unreasonable guilt he carries with him. He's broody, short winded and ruggedly handsome and I loved watching his transformation from a wounded soul into a dream come true. Watching a man live with so much pain and guilt and then witnessing him come full circle at the heels of a woman who owns his heart is one of the most romantic things ever. Kandi captures this so perfectly, I can't even explain or comprehend how she does it, but it takes your breath away and makes you pause and really think about the beauty of love and what it overcomes to shine so brightly in the end. Her writing is simply, magical.Watching these two characters rise and fall through the courtship of their relationship was everything I'd hoped it would be. All the unknowns and doubts and vulnerability peaks made this book seem so real to me, I can't gush enough about how well this was done. In the end, I went through every emotion on my book-emotions-requisite-list-- and that's saying a lot! I laughed, I cried, I oohhh'd & ahhh'd, I gasped and goosebumped. It was great, like really REALLY great. I can only hope this story moves other readers in the way it moved me because it is currently at the top of my list.