Discovering Karina

Am I the only one who just adores that feeling you get all over when you feel like you've discovered a new author to fawn all over?  Ah, I just love it!  Karina Halle is one of those authors for me.  I've seen her name thrown around with the likes of others super authors that I love, and some of her books have even piqued my interest but I just never dived in to see what she was all about...that is, until recently.  Well, actually I take that back.  I did purchase two of her titles a while back but they kept getting pushed to the back of my TBR pile over and over again.  Finally, I just decided I needed to read one of them.  I finally read The Pact and I totally and completely devoured every bit of it.  

When I was finished I had to have more so I quickly downloaded The Offer and Where Sea Meets Sky, along with the first two books in her Dirty Angels Trilogy, Dirty Angels and Dirty Deeds.  THAT is how much I enjoyed her writing; I feel this compulsive (some may say obsessive) need to read all of her books now.  Really, it's quite a compliment to the author.  ;)  

The Pact is a classic story of two best friends, Stephanie and Linden, who make a pinky-promise one night to marry each other when they're 30 if neither is in a serious relationship. We follow the two over the next several years with brief glimpses into their hideous love lives, and careers.  The two remain great friends through it all but there is always this brooding sexual tension between them.  So much so, that I really wanted to yell at the book (and the author) to just "get it over with already" so they could have sex and be done with it.  It was like watching Ross & Rachel putter around all those years without anything happening. 

Then, in a game of Truth or Dare, everything changes. Their friendship will never be the same and it's not just their hearts on the line...they have to consider their other best friend (and Stephanie's ex) too, especially considering he may still have feelings for her.

I had heard so much about this book before reading it so I was expecting a lot.  I'm happy to say that I personally feel like it lived up to the hype--100%.  This book...oh the feels!  Halle did such a fine job in developing this friendship between the two main characters, making them connect in such an intimate way that it felt very real and very life-like.  As a reader, I could feel the pull they had towards each other, yet the caution they kept feeling because they valued each other and the friendship so dearly.  It was powerful, and strong, and so easily to relate to.


As the relationship between Stephanie and Linden progresses, Halle does such a good job describing their feelings and how they've harbored them, hid them, kept them secret for so long.  

I'm so happy I gave in and tried reading something from Karina Halle.  She has enough published that catching up will keep me busy for quite some time, but I'm really excited see/read what else she has out there waiting for me and totally thrilled to have jumped on her bandwagon of fans!