Feel by Karen-Anne Stewart
Genre: New Adult (Paranormal Romance)Date Published: December 15, 2014
Publisher: Self
The one whose emotions I can’t feel is the one who makes me feel the most.
I was a sensitive, at least that’s what I was told by the boy who saved me from the overwhelming emotions that consumed my soul, the boy who saved me from myself when my gift became stronger. Through the years, he was my redemption, my reason to take my next breath…then, he was gone.
Jensen always told me I was strong, but I didn’t believe him until I was forced to be strong on my own, and I kept breathing without him. I’ve taken forty-two million breaths since the moment he sent me away. Now, four years later, he’s standing in front of me, and I can barely breathe.
This isn’t just a story about the abilities I possess; it’s a story about something much stronger…the love of the man who possesses every part of me.
***Disclaimer – Feel is intended for readers 18+ due to strong language, mature scenes, and some violence.
Feel by Karen-Anne Stewart was a paranormal story of second chances. It was packed full of action, humor and romance. Saige is very unhappy with her "gift". It's made her insecure about herself, but she doesn;t let those insecurities stop her from helping people when she can. Jensen is very alpha. He's taken it upon himself to keep Saige safe. Everything about him revolves around her. Actually, they are both pretty obsessed with each other, but I felt like something was missing in their romance. More chemistry was needed maybe? I don't know. I just didn't feel that "something" like I would have expected between these two.
You see some character growth in Saige as the story progresses. The story itself was very entertaining. There was a lot of action and drama. I loved Andy! He was a hoot! I would love to read more about him.
The ARC of Feel by Karen-Anne Stewart was kindly provided to me by Bewitching Book Tours for review. The opinions are my own.
Author of New Adult Romance who doesn't shy away from writing about sensitive issues and hot heroes.
Karen-Anne Stewart has always adored reading and has now fallen in love with writing. Her written works are The Rain Trilogy: Saving Rain, Healing Rain, and After the Rain, Ash to Steele, and her newly released paranormal romance novel, Feel. Her debut novel, Saving Rain: The First Novel in The Rain Trilogy, was a nominee for the Book Junkie’s Choice Awards, and Saving Rain and After the Rain were nominees for the 2014 RONE Awards.
When Karen-Anne isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, and visiting new places. She fuels her addiction of creating new stories by her only other addiction, caffeine, and listening to a myriad of musical genres. Tucked away near the Blue Ridge Mountains, Karen-Anne lives with her husband, daughter, three dogs, and their cat. She plans on writing new adult romance as long as her fingers maintain dexterity.
To learn more about Karen-Anne Stewart and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.
You see some character growth in Saige as the story progresses. The story itself was very entertaining. There was a lot of action and drama. I loved Andy! He was a hoot! I would love to read more about him.
The ARC of Feel by Karen-Anne Stewart was kindly provided to me by Bewitching Book Tours for review. The opinions are my own.
Prologue
The wet trails are warmer than I imagined they would be and tickle as they run down my forehead and knees. The bright red of my blood is beautiful as it makes the voices scaring me disappear. Warm, happy tears fall down my cheeks because the blood makes everything they feel for me go away. For a few seconds, I have calm…the only thing I feel is the pain, my pain.
Ace’s foot kicks dirt in my eyes, bringing everything else rushing back, and I lose my breath from the hard rush and the dust going into my chest.
“You’re such a stupid freak!” he yells, his orange converse shoe kicking more dirt in my mouth and eyes. “Cry baby,” Ace teases, pointing and laughing at my tears.
I want to scream at him that my tears aren’t from his being a big bully. I would never let someone so mean know he hurt me, so I just stop crying instead, not sharing my happy tears with him, with any of them! Several of the kids in my class circle around me as I sit on my knees in the middle of them. My knees hurt as I stand, but it makes me laugh and that feels so good.
Ace pushes me, and I fall against Allison, who jumps back like she’s afraid to touch me.
“I don’t want her freak germs rubbing off on me, Ace,” Allison shrieks.
Ace laughs, but his laugh isn’t like mine; it’s cold and mean, like his hands, as he pushes me back to the ground. The sounds of them laughing hurts my ears as they kick more dirt in my face. The dust makes me cough and choke. My eyes hurt as they turn blurry and tears fill them again, but I rub them away before everyone can see as they continue to call me names and push me back and forth on the dirty playground.
“Leave her alone!” I hear a boy yell, and the mean laughing stops.
My eyes burn and feel scratched as I look up into his green eyes. He looks mad, but, for some reason, I’m not scared of him like I am of the others. The boy punches Ace in the mouth and blood runs down his lip. I don’t think his blood is pretty at all.
Ace falls to the ground next to me and starts to cry. I feel sorry for him before I feel his emotions stabbing me again, hurting everything inside. His eyes meet mine and I feel how he hates me, how he’s scared of me. I look away, praying for the calm I felt a few minutes ago, but it doesn’t come.
My teacher is yelling at the boy who hit Ace, telling him she’s going to call his father. She doesn’t look at me. She never looks at me.
The boy jerks his arm away from my teacher and kneels in the dirt in front of me. His eyes are so bright as he takes my hands, “Are you okay?”
I feel shy as I nod at the boy who looks a little older than me. I keep waiting for him to jerk his hands away from me like everyone else, but he never does. The calm comes back, making more tears fall from my eyes.
“Don’t cry. He won’t hurt you again. I won’t let him,” he promises as I wonder why I can’t feel anything from him when I want so badly to for the first time in my life. He wipes my tears with his thumbs, then pulls me up, never letting go of my hand, “I won’t let any of them hurt you.”
He brushes his blond hair out of his eye and smiles.
I like how he smiles. It makes me feel like I do when the sun shines on my face. “Thank you,” I say quietly, feeling nothing but just what’s inside of me, and I smile back at him for that. My smile disappears when the teacher pulls him away. I don’t want him to go and my lips start to shake as she pulls him further towards the school.
He rolls his eyes at her before smiling at me again. His smile gets bigger and he jerks his hand from hers before running back and taking mine. “C’mon,” he laughs, pulling me behind him.
My teacher is yelling so loud, and I can feel how mad she is at us as we run away. I know what I’m doing is bad, really, really bad, but I don’t care. The calm is still in my tummy, and I feel happy. I hardly ever feel happy, and I don’t want this feeling to end.
My feet are tired and it’s hard to breathe when we finally stop. The boy still has my hand and he uses it to pull me onto the tall grass, next to him. His eyes are as green as the soft grass surrounding me. I can hear how loudly he’s breathing, but I still can’t feel anything from him.
It’s what I don’t feel that makes me confused.
“You okay?” he asks, “you’re not scared are you?”
“No,” I say, slowly shaking my head.
He smiles at me again. “I’m Jensen. What’s your name?”
“Saige,” I whisper, suddenly not sure what I should feel when I can’t tell what he thinks of me.
He sits up and looks down at me laying in the grass. He’s still holding my hand and gently squeezes it, “Don’t worry, Saige, I won’t leave you alone with them. I’ll never leave you alone.”
The wet trails are warmer than I imagined they would be and tickle as they run down my forehead and knees. The bright red of my blood is beautiful as it makes the voices scaring me disappear. Warm, happy tears fall down my cheeks because the blood makes everything they feel for me go away. For a few seconds, I have calm…the only thing I feel is the pain, my pain.
Ace’s foot kicks dirt in my eyes, bringing everything else rushing back, and I lose my breath from the hard rush and the dust going into my chest.
“You’re such a stupid freak!” he yells, his orange converse shoe kicking more dirt in my mouth and eyes. “Cry baby,” Ace teases, pointing and laughing at my tears.
I want to scream at him that my tears aren’t from his being a big bully. I would never let someone so mean know he hurt me, so I just stop crying instead, not sharing my happy tears with him, with any of them! Several of the kids in my class circle around me as I sit on my knees in the middle of them. My knees hurt as I stand, but it makes me laugh and that feels so good.
Ace pushes me, and I fall against Allison, who jumps back like she’s afraid to touch me.
“I don’t want her freak germs rubbing off on me, Ace,” Allison shrieks.
Ace laughs, but his laugh isn’t like mine; it’s cold and mean, like his hands, as he pushes me back to the ground. The sounds of them laughing hurts my ears as they kick more dirt in my face. The dust makes me cough and choke. My eyes hurt as they turn blurry and tears fill them again, but I rub them away before everyone can see as they continue to call me names and push me back and forth on the dirty playground.
“Leave her alone!” I hear a boy yell, and the mean laughing stops.
My eyes burn and feel scratched as I look up into his green eyes. He looks mad, but, for some reason, I’m not scared of him like I am of the others. The boy punches Ace in the mouth and blood runs down his lip. I don’t think his blood is pretty at all.
Ace falls to the ground next to me and starts to cry. I feel sorry for him before I feel his emotions stabbing me again, hurting everything inside. His eyes meet mine and I feel how he hates me, how he’s scared of me. I look away, praying for the calm I felt a few minutes ago, but it doesn’t come.
My teacher is yelling at the boy who hit Ace, telling him she’s going to call his father. She doesn’t look at me. She never looks at me.
The boy jerks his arm away from my teacher and kneels in the dirt in front of me. His eyes are so bright as he takes my hands, “Are you okay?”
I feel shy as I nod at the boy who looks a little older than me. I keep waiting for him to jerk his hands away from me like everyone else, but he never does. The calm comes back, making more tears fall from my eyes.
“Don’t cry. He won’t hurt you again. I won’t let him,” he promises as I wonder why I can’t feel anything from him when I want so badly to for the first time in my life. He wipes my tears with his thumbs, then pulls me up, never letting go of my hand, “I won’t let any of them hurt you.”
He brushes his blond hair out of his eye and smiles.
I like how he smiles. It makes me feel like I do when the sun shines on my face. “Thank you,” I say quietly, feeling nothing but just what’s inside of me, and I smile back at him for that. My smile disappears when the teacher pulls him away. I don’t want him to go and my lips start to shake as she pulls him further towards the school.
He rolls his eyes at her before smiling at me again. His smile gets bigger and he jerks his hand from hers before running back and taking mine. “C’mon,” he laughs, pulling me behind him.
My teacher is yelling so loud, and I can feel how mad she is at us as we run away. I know what I’m doing is bad, really, really bad, but I don’t care. The calm is still in my tummy, and I feel happy. I hardly ever feel happy, and I don’t want this feeling to end.
My feet are tired and it’s hard to breathe when we finally stop. The boy still has my hand and he uses it to pull me onto the tall grass, next to him. His eyes are as green as the soft grass surrounding me. I can hear how loudly he’s breathing, but I still can’t feel anything from him.
It’s what I don’t feel that makes me confused.
“You okay?” he asks, “you’re not scared are you?”
“No,” I say, slowly shaking my head.
He smiles at me again. “I’m Jensen. What’s your name?”
“Saige,” I whisper, suddenly not sure what I should feel when I can’t tell what he thinks of me.
He sits up and looks down at me laying in the grass. He’s still holding my hand and gently squeezes it, “Don’t worry, Saige, I won’t leave you alone with them. I’ll never leave you alone.”
Karen-Anne Stewart has always adored reading and has now fallen in love with writing. Her written works are The Rain Trilogy: Saving Rain, Healing Rain, and After the Rain, Ash to Steele, and her newly released paranormal romance novel, Feel. Her debut novel, Saving Rain: The First Novel in The Rain Trilogy, was a nominee for the Book Junkie’s Choice Awards, and Saving Rain and After the Rain were nominees for the 2014 RONE Awards.
When Karen-Anne isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, and visiting new places. She fuels her addiction of creating new stories by her only other addiction, caffeine, and listening to a myriad of musical genres. Tucked away near the Blue Ridge Mountains, Karen-Anne lives with her husband, daughter, three dogs, and their cat. She plans on writing new adult romance as long as her fingers maintain dexterity.
To learn more about Karen-Anne Stewart and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.
Thank you for taking the time to read and review Feel. I hope you have a wonderful 2015 :)
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