Title: The Sounds of Secrets
Author: Whitney Barbetti
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: December 6, 2017
Blurb I’ve been in lovewith him forever.But to him, I’ve always been off-limits. Until the night that changed everything.Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was the secrets we shared. Maybe he finally
opened his eyes and saw me.
By the time the sun rose, I’d lost him again, my heart shattering on his
parting words: “It was a mistake.” So I ran. Ran until I was thousands of miles
away, in a country I didn’t know, surrounded by people who only made me miss
him more.
I never expected him to follow me … or to pry more secrets from my soul. In
exchange, he gave me more of his secrets too.
The more he let me into his heart, the more I loved him, but I’m afraid that
some secrets may be too big to overcome.
Purchase Links
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
Free in Kindle Unlimited
Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/barbetti/playlist/2cvMMndbQI0T146VzlKFED
Excerpt
I was going to throw up from the nerves.
No, I told myself. No throwing up. Not when you’re expecting Sam to come into your room any second.
But the feeling was so strong. I popped a mint from my bedside table in my mouth, rolled it around my tongue a few times, but the urge was still there.
Oh, shit.Was this a mistake? Was inviting Sam into my room a big fat problem? I was leaving for America tomorrow. The printed itinerary, neatly stacked on my chest of drawers laughed at me. What was I going to do? I couldn’t let Sam come up here. My hands fisted in my hair as I berated myself for telling him to come. What was I
thinking? I wasn’t some sexual nymph, skilled in the way Sam surely was. I wasn’t a virgin, but I hadn’t actually messed around with a bunch of guys. I didn’t know what to do. I walked to the door, pressed my palm flat to it. I’d lock it. Then he couldn’t come in.
He’d walk away, and we’d forget this ever happened. Look how well that happened the last time you kissed him, my memory taunted me. Three years later, and you’re still wondering ‘what if.’ There was no reasonable escape from this situation. And, if there was, there was no
escape that would make me not obsess over the ‘what if.’ It’d be okay, I told myself. Of course it would. Sex was nothing, right? But I didn’t even believe my own thoughts. My nerves battled with my own desire. I couldn’t process a single thing. I ran my fingers over my eyebrows or, what was left of them that wasn’t colored in, at
least. I’d pulled so many out in the days leading up to the trip, needing some
control over this impending trip. I trailed my fingers to the sides of my face, tugging on my earlobes to ground me, and then, in tandem, I pulled out a hair with each hand. The immediate relief was
nearly as intoxicating as the alcohol I’d consume in how it numbed my fears. It would be okay. I took in a cleansing breath, looking around my room for anything potentially embarrassing.
The blinds were open, so I closed them, leaving my room in soft, muted grays aside from the yellow lamp that lit up my dressing table. My hand was on the back of the lamp to turn it off when my door creaked open. Sam stood in the threshold, nearly taking up the entire space. I switched the light off. It was only
a few loud heartbeats before he said, “Turn it back on.” I hesitated. I couldn’t see him, but I heard the creak on the floor by the door. “Turn it on, Lotte.” Swallowing hard, I did. The room was illuminated again in soft light, casting shadows into the angles of Sam’s face—making him look exactly as he was: dangerous.
Author Bio
I am a wife to one and a mom to two humans and one cat. I have a deep and abiding love for nachos – especially the kind with the liquid cheese, like from Taco Bell (sorry). I run on less than four hours of sleep thanks to copious amounts of Diet Coke. (Note: this paragraph is not sponsored by anyone except my hungry stomach.) As a Navy brat, I grew up all over the country, from California and up the east coast from Florida to New England and Colorado. I currently live in Idaho, where we have lots of potatoes and windmills. I write character-driven contemporary romance novels, heavy on the emotional connection. I LOVE love. I love writing about broken characters who find their soul mates. Author Links WEBSITE FACEBOOK
Giveaway
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** ARC kindly provided by the author for an honest review. **
Whitney Barbetti delivered a poignant and heartbreaking story about two tortured souls who had hidden for all these years their way to cope with pain or loss. I wasn’t expecting that kind of story for Samson and Lotte. It was an emotional ride, raw and scorching.
I do like stories about characters that were more than meet the eye, where the psychological aspect and personality were developed, showing us how the scars ran deep, without no pretense, brutal and honest.
The characters are tortured and fighting over their addictions and compulsions. I did like to see something that wasn’t perfect, when you see the characters’ flaws, pretending and trying to survive in front of everyone but finding in the darkness the only who can see through it and make them breath again.
As much as they were destructive for themselves, I was afraid to see a destructive relationship, to see them sink together but it wasn’t the case. They were each other’s light and never judging each other. Being strong to fight over the darkness that slightly suffocated them.
Overall, it was beautifully written. They made my heart race. It was obviously heavy emotionally but I adored to read the moments in between, when Sam and Lotte didn’t have to hide, to show their true colors.
Of course the road to happiness was far from easy but they were fighters and even if it was hard at times to see how they were hurting inside, I had so much hope for them, because they faced their demons, to get better for themselves first before finally having a brighter future together. What an incredible journey!
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