When Sara McMillan finds a stack of journals in a storage unit, she’s shocked and enthralled by the erotic life the writer led. Unable to stop reading, she vicariously lives out dark fantasies through Rebecca, the writer—until the terrifying final entry.
Certain something sinister has happened, Sara sets out to discover the facts, immersing herself in Rebecca’s life. Soon she’s working at the art gallery Rebecca worked at and meeting Rebecca’s friends. Finding herself drawn to two dangerously sexy men, the manager of the gallery and a famed artist, Sara realizes she’s going down the same path Rebecca took. But with the promise of her dark needs being met by a man with confident good looks and a desire for control, she’s not sure anything else matters. Just the burn for more.
~My Review ~
~ 5 OF 5 If I Were You ~
***THIS IS AN ADULT BOOK, 18 YEARS OR OLDER. CONTAINS MATERIAL NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG ADULTS***
OH MY FLIPPING GOD!!!!!!!!!! THIS BOOK IS SO MUCH MORE THAN FIFTY SHADES AND BASIC INSTINCT. Man where to begin with this review. I have read a lot of erotica and adult books lately but I have to say That Lisa has added some things to her story that stands out among the rest. I did not feel like I reading about Fifty and I sure as hell did not thing basic instincts because this story really has so many dimensions to it I could not get my head wrapped around it. First the characters are so different from any I have read about. I know a lot of people have said no one can fall in love that fast, well to them I say they may not but other people do and it is reality.
I have done some research into the BDSM world and I have talked to people who are in it and I can see the pull towards it and I can see how people fall in love so fast because it is like a drug and the adrenaline rush you get from it is like no other. To them it is like para gliding or bungee jumping the adrenaline brings you places you have never been before and before you realize it you are hooked and can't remember how it has happened. So now that I have bored you with a little back ground I will get to the real deal and this the story.
Sara is a school teacher that is on summer vacation. She is looking forward to spending some quality time reading and enjoying her summer of tutoring students. One night her neighbor is over watching TV and enjoying Sara's company when her boyfriend calls her to go over to his house. The neighbor leaves and forgets her journal and Sara being curious reads it and is shocked to read what is in it. The next day the neighbor comes back to make sure she has not lost the journal and Sara is embarrassed because she read the journal. That is when her neighbor tells her it is not hers but it belongs to the woman who left her stuff in storage and is selling it. The neighbor is so excited about the paintings and the other journals and Sara tells her she can't sell someones private things.Her neighbor tells her she will make a lot of money by selling this things and has no intention on keeping them.
Sara is so shocked by this but what can she do. Then the neighbor comes and tells her the next morning she is eloping with her boyfriend and she is on her way to Paris and Sara can have the storage unit and sell it or whatever but it is her's to keep. Sara is excited because she really enjoyed the journals. They were dark and dirty and there is something in those journals that call to Sara. She decides from that moment on she will find this Rebecca and return her things to her. Sara's first stop is trying to find out information on Rebecca and when she starts to dig in the storage unit she finds a brochure for the gallery she worked at. Sara is excited because she loves art and majored in it in college. Sara goes home and looks up information about the gallery and decides she will go to a unveiling of a famous painter that she loves for a charity. While there she meets this guy who she is so taken with. Their is something about this guy and he is so knowledgeable about art that they talk and before you know it they are talking about different artists.
As Sara is looking for the Art gallery owner he finds her and they talk about Rebecca which he says she is on an extended vacation but Sara is not buying it. Then the oddest thing happens and Sara ends up selling a painting to a couple looking to buy a piece for their main party room. The owner of gallery is impressed by Sara and asks her if she would like to work for him and she agrees. See Sara has a secret that she is keeping and that is she has always wanted to work in the art industry but it does not pay the bills. So she has stayed away from it and became a teacher instead. She is not happy being a teacher because her passion is in the art world where Mark the gallery owner has offered her a great summer. After agreeing to work for him and start that Monday Mark asks her if Chris Merit who is one of her favorite artists she studied in school proud of her for selling his painting. She has no idea what Mark is talking about and he realizes that Chris never told her who he was. The guy she was talking to the whole time was Chris Merit and she never knew it.
Sara will soon learn that their are lots of lies and secrets shrouded in the disappearance of Rebecca. As she reads the journals and delves deeper into the life Rebecca had she will find out Rebecca was a tortured soul and did things in the name of love. She allowed her heart to rule instead of her mind and her instincts. She should have followed her instincts because some things are better left alone. Will Sara follow the same path as Rebecca or will she carve her own path? Will she be forced to face her own demons? Will Sara's past come back to haunt her? Will she be caught up in a love triangle? Or will she chose Mark or Chris? As Sara will soon find out everyone has a past and the past can be a dangerous thing. Will she succumb to lust? Will she giver herself to a broken damaged man? This is such a must read for this summer I am going to re-read it a thousand times! I love the story line and the ending is OMG! I have no words for the ending except I NEED BOOK TWO RIGHT NOW!!!!!! PRONTO!!!!!!!!
~Interview With Lisa Renee Jones ~
Today we would like to give special thanks and a warm welcoming to Lisa Renee Jones for stopping by and sharing the great news of If I Were You being bought by Simon and Schuster. Man Lisa you must be so excited to have been picked up by Simon and Schuster. I have to say the new cover I absolutely love the red cover!
Lisa how does it feel to go from an indie self pub author to a published author of Simon and Schuster?
I was actually already published with Berkley, HQN, Kensington, Simon and Schuster, and NAL prior to striking out with indie on the side. But I love Simon and Schuster and everyone there. My editor is fabulous and every single person there is so dedicated to my series and to perfection that I couldn't ask for more.
Does being self published differ from being an Indie self pub author?
No that is one in the same.
I love your new cover, when did you decide to change it?
Simon and Schuster made the change when they took over the series.
Who is the cover designer?
The in house artist at Simon and Schuster and I was thrilled that she read the book before designing the cover. That is the kind of dedication I've gotten from the fabulous team over there.
Can you tell us what inspired you to write this series?
My fiancée and I had started buying and selling storage units, and he’d found a journal he began to read. He was immediately enthralled and couldn’t stop reading. The author had drama and even a murder next door. It was then that he began to urge me to write a story about a journal found in a storage unit that was both sexy and mysterious. He loves thrillers and so do I. At first I wasn’t excited but I began jotting down notes and over time the story took root. I think it became more powerful because I took so much time learning the characters.
When will we find out what happened to Rebecca?
Being Me, book 2 will give you a firm conclusion to Rebecca’s story.
I love Mark and Chris. They are such strong characters but there is something lurking beneath the surface can you give us a little background on them?
I’m afraid to do this because there are so many things you will discover in book 2 that answer a lot of questions and I don’t want to ruin the experience. :)
When will book two be out?
Being Me, book 2 will release on June 13th. It is available now for pre-order.
Thank you so much Lisa for stopping by and sharing in your success! Many more will be coming your way because this series is taking off and has a life all it’s own!
~ Exciting News From Lisa Renee Jones ~
I have some really exciting news to share. I recently signed with Pocket to write a five part serial attached to THE INSIDE OUT TRILOGY beginning 1-28 and a contest to celebrate.
A little teaser for the stories!
The secret life of Rebecca and the men who have seduced her.
These are the journals Sara never sees, but you the reader, will.
The journals read like stories and begin the first time Rebecca visits the gallery in the INSIDE OUT TRILOGY. You will meet Mark, Chris, Ava, Amanda, Ricco, and all the series characters as she does AND there are tons of clues to what happens in BEING ME in the first 4 serials. They are woven within the story ready for your discovery, as is Rebecca’s dark, erotic journey.
I had so much fun writing the first two serials (still writing the last 3) and they are packed with clues to all your questions about BEING ME! I can’t wait to see if you catch all the clues!
They are all live at Goodreads now and story 1 should go up for pre-order soon! YAY! You want to add these to your shelf to win cash! See the contest below for details :)
Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 1: The Seduction -- 1/28
Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 2: The Contract -- 2/18
Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 3: My Master – April
Rebecca’s Lost Journals, Volume 4: His Submissive – May
Volume 5: The Master Undone – August
You can find them all listed on this page at Goodreads:
Now for the contes!
When Rebecca’s Lost Journals Vol: 1 is placed on 500 shelves at Goodreads I will have a drawing for $100. After that I will draw for $50 for every additional 100 shelves that Rebecca’s Lost Journals Vol: 1 is placed on at Goodreads.
If your name is chosen it will be put back into the Rafflecopter so that you will have the chance to win multiple times.
Below is the link for the contest.
IF I WERE YOU
The steamy first installment in the Inside Out erotic romance trilogy by Lisa Renee Jones, in the bestselling tradition of Fifty Shades of Grey.
When Sara McMillan finds a stack of journals in a storage unit, she’s shocked and enthralled by the erotic life the writer led. Unable to stop reading, she vicariously lives out dark fantasies through Rebecca, the writer—until the terrifying final entry.
Certain something sinister has happened, Sara sets out to discover the facts, immersing herself in Rebecca’s life. Soon she’s working at the art gallery Rebecca worked at and meeting Rebecca’s friends. Finding herself drawn to two dangerously sexy men, the manager of the gallery and a famed artist, Sara realizes she’s going down the same path Rebecca took. But with the promise of her dark needs being met by a man with confident good looks and a desire for control, she’s not sure anything else matters. Just the burn for more.
Excerpt:
Rounding the corner, I enter the hallway, and Chris is suddenly there in the narrow passage with me, pressing me against the wall, his powerful thighs framing mine.
My hand goes instinctively to his t-shirt-clad chest. I am immediately aware of the intimacy of the touch, of my body’s reaction to the man who has betrayed me. “Don’t shove me against another wall and try to intimidate me, Chris.”
“I’m not trying to intimidate you. I was protecting you, Sara.” His hands move to my waist, scorching me, and my reaction to the sizzling touch is instant. I cover his hands with mine, trying to control what he does next, but it doesn’t help. Now, my hands are on his hands and his hands are on my body.
“Call it what you want,” I ground out, “but you had no right to do what you did.”
“He had to know he couldn’t manipulate your dream. Money, and my many resources at your disposal, does that.”
His words knock my anger and my breath away, and confusion consumes me. His actions and his words conflict at every turn. “Why would you help me? You said I don’t belong in this world.”
“Because I won’t watch him gobble you up and destroy you.”
I remember his words, and understand now that he wanted me out of this gallery, not this profession. “Because he’s a dark, messed up, arrogant asshole who will play with my mind and use me until there is nothing else left of me I recognize.”
“That’s right.”
“And yet you say you’re worse.”
He stiffens and cuts his gaze, seeming to struggle before fixing me in a turbulent stare. “I am, Sara, which is why you should run as far away from me as you can. And I should step back and let you.”
“Then why aren’t you?” I whisper.
His eyes hold mine, and what I see there, the depth of his desire, overwhelms me. He flattens his palm on my belly and I tremble beneath the touch, and he has to feel it too. “Because,” his voice low, seductive, his hand traveling up the center of my body, “I can’t stop thinking about you, and everything I want to do to you, everywhere I want to touch you.”
His hand presses to the swell between my breasts, and my nipples ache with a wish he would touch them. His boldness ignites something sultry and dark inside me, a side of me that defies the good-girl school teacher who is appalled I haven’t stopped this. I want him. I want him here and now, and any way I can have him.
And when his gaze lowers to my mouth and lingers, I know he is thinking about kissing me and I have never wanted to be kissed so badly in my life.
“Do you taste as good as I think you do?” he asks, but he doesn’t wait for my reply.
Suddenly, his fingers have tunneled into my hair and he’s dragging my mouth to his. I am all soft submission, yielding to the moment, to the man. I melt into him, welcome the hardness of his body pressed to mine. And when his tongue presses past my lips, a long, wicked caress, I taste his hunger, his need. There is possessiveness to his kiss, to his hand on my back, molding me closer. I am lost in the ache that has become my need for this man, this stranger I cannot resist. He says he’s protecting me; he says he’s dangerous. I am conflicted, and sure I should be angry with him, but I am completely incapable and unable of processing why.
About this author
Booklist says: Jones' suspense truly sizzles with an energy similar to FBI tales with a paranormal twist by Julie Garwood or Suzanne Brockmann. Alpha, military, and paranormal romance readers will want Jones' entire series. (About the Zodius Series -- Storm that is Sterling)
In 2003, award winning author Lisa Renee Jones sold her Austin, Texas based multi-state staffing agency and has since published over thirty novels and novellas across several genres. Her staffing agency LRJ Staffing was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by Dallas Women Magazine. In 1998 LRJ was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.
Her debuts with Blaze and Nocturne hit Bookscan's Top 100 list and her Blaze Hotzone trilogy made a showing on the list in 2011 also. With a new Blaze trilogy, a short story for Spice, the third book in her Zodius series published with Sourcebooks, as well as an rapidly growing indie following, 2012 will bring many new stories to her readers.
Lisa is active on Facebook and Twitter, and you can find her at www.lisareneejones.com
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