Release Blitz & Reviews:::: Take a Chance (and the rest of the Willow Creek Sereis) by Micalea Smeltzer
Title: Take a Chance
Series: Willow Creek #4
Author: Micalea Smeltzer
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Blurb
I had life all figured out.
Married with a baby on the way I stupidly believed that things were perfect.
But then the good guy I fell in love with turned out to not be as good as I thought.
I was left alone to pick up the pieces of my life and provide for my daughter.
And then I met him.
Hayes.
The bad boy that just might not be so bad.
Three years after her husband walked out on her Arden James is struggling to make ends meet as a single mom. Despite it all, she knows she’s better off with her ex out of the picture, and so is her daughter.
Josh Hayes—player, jokester, and very naughty boy—is the guitar player for the band Willow Creek. He’s used to living the fast life, but suddenly it doesn’t appeal to him anymore, and he has his sights set on the fiery Arden.
Despite their undeniable chemistry, Arden isn’t sure she wants to invite a man into her life that has never been in a committed relationship before. But Hayes is determined to prove to her that there’s more to him than meets the eye. He just needs Arden to take a chance.
4 out of 5 stars
I am so sad that this series is what seems like over now. I have loved every one of the Willow Creek boys and Hayes was no exception. I did not always like Arden as much as some of the other Willow Creek girls, but she did finally grow on me and I found myself only wanting the very best for the couple.
I also loved that the other band members were present here and there in the story...just enough to give us a glimpse of what they were still up to and how their lives were going. Each time I read one of the novels, I get more and more excited and have a new favorite band member...this time was no different.
Hayes is the player of the group. The bad boy if you will. The magazines haven't painted him in a positive light in the past and he has to prove himself more than the other guys ever did.
Arden is a single mom who was in a bad relationship in the past though it takes awhile to really learn how bad it was. That is probably my biggest complaint in this book. Arden was almost a whiny heroine at times. She wasn't willing to give Hayes her heart because it had been broken before and sometimes I felt so bad for him because he was trying so hard to prove himself and she still wouldn't let him all the way in.
One of my favorite parts in the story when we were really getting to know Hayes and his dad told the story about Hayes tricking a neighbor kid to eat rat poop by convincing him it was really raisins. My husband fed his little brother a whole bowl full of rabbit poop with milk and told him it was coco puffs....silly boys! ((Maybe this is why I bonded so much more with him because I felt the connection between him and my hubby.))
I loved that Hayes was funny, cocky, protective and just such a swell guy. He was an amazing guy with Mia (Arden's daughter), but when he was being his usual goofy self, that's when I really oved him the most:
I smiled. "So...are you going to feed me on this date or let me starve?"
"Baby, I'm a feast for your eyes, isn't that enough?" He jested.
But then again, he could put the swoon on and totally have me melting before him:
"...you're all I want and what I feel for you is never going to go away. And maybe it's too soon to say I love you, but I know I do. I love you. I love you so damn much that it scares me more than anything else ever has."
And yet, when he was being all alpha and protective, he was equally enticing:
"Stop trying to take on the world alone," he whispered, "a battle fought alone is a battle lost."
I love Micalea's writing style and these boys will forever hold a very special place in my heart. I hope many, many people will enjoy the Willow Creek boys and share their love with others as well!!!
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4 out of 5 stars
Maddox and Emma are such an amazingly cute couple. I just want to reach thru the book and hug them and tell them how happy they make me.
Emma is in the summer before her senior year of high school. She’s the quiet girl in the corner reading a book and totally cool with being alone.
Maddox is the drummer in the next big band. He’s cool, confident and full of life.
When they meet, Maddox doesn’t tell Emma who he is and their relationship is full of adventures and life and really brings Emma out of her normal and into the world in a big way. She is so inexperienced that every time they do something, it’s her first time...even eating in certain restaurants and enjoying certain music.
Even though they are from the same town and would have been in the same high school at one point, they didn’t meet until the fair this year. When Emma questions that, Maddox’s reply was perfect!
“Because,” his voice lowered and he leaned towards me so that there was little space between us, “we weren’t meant to meet then. This is our now.”
Some of the “extras” in the book sent my heart in a tailspin as well and I can’t wait to keep reading the series to see how it all works out for the entire band.
When I finished the book, I had tears rolling down my face. Happy tears from the story line and having been able to enjoy Maddox and Emma’s relationship. Sad tears knowing the story was over and I wouldn’t get to spend my evenings with them anymore. Maddox and Emma are some of my favorite fictional characters and I hope that many, many more people will have the chance to enjoy them as well.
4 out of 5 stars
Mathias and Remy have a very odd relationship - and it’s only complicated as the 7 years they spent apart ends with Mathias finding Remy at the bar she works at.
This story had me captivated. I knew that Remy and Mathias had a history after reading the first novel in the series, Last to Know. I didn’t know how deep it went or the reasoning behind their break up. I remember thinking at the end of Last to Know how much I wished for Mathias to find happiness and give his big heart to someone who could protect it. I knew he had a good heart, but he kept it buried deep.
Remy was out for revenge with Mathias. She hated him for the things he’d said to her when her family had to move because of her dad’s job. She wanted him to feel the heartbreak that she had so many years before. BUT love is a strange thing and it doesn’t always give us what we think it will.
This novel was much more sexy than the first. The characters in this novel constantly had me wanting the best for everyone. The emotions were so far and wide that I found myself feeling something with every page.
There are two quotes in the novel that I just can’t get out of my head. The first is Remy reflecting on her life with and without Mathias in it and contemplating everything that has happened with her heart:
The thing about the heart is, once it’s given itself completely to someone it’s theirs forever, no matter the circumstances.
I just love her thinking and completely agree with her. There just isn’t any going back once it’s been given away!
And then there’s this time when Mathias was just plain swoon-worthy! I can’t help but get goosebumps when I read this quote:
“It’s a rare kind of love, and one that should be celebrated and embraced, so that’s what I did, because trying to pretend it didn’t exist was fucking impossible.”
I am really enjoying Ms. Smeltzer’s writing style and can’t wait to see what happens with the band next!
4 ½ our of 5 stars
I love all of the Willow Creek guys, but Ezra really got to me. His heart was so big and so open that I just couldn’t help but fall in love with him, too.
I think these guys might have some of the best book boyfriend quotes I’ve read. At 9%, Ezra had me swooning with this simple quote when he was trying to comfort Sadie:
“tears aren’t a sign of weakness, but of strength of the heart. They show you care and caring is never a bad thing.”
In every novel by Ms. Smeltzer I have a brief wish that we could read from the guys points of view, but this time I really, really want to know what Ezra was thinking more than I cared what Sadie was thinking. Sadie was so feisty and fun loving in the first book as Emma’s best friend, but in this book she felt more like a downer and didn’t have the same level of character that I expected from her. At times, she really just felt like a whiney little girl who didn’t get what she wanted and wouldn’t fight for it. She kept saying how Ezra wasn’t being honest with her about his feelings, but she was never honest with him either. She just created more drama than I thought was necessary.
However, at the same time, I loved this book because we really got to hang out and spend time with our other favorite Willow Creek couples. Knowing that Maddox and Emma were getting married was so much fun and to watch Sadie and Emma’s relationship get renewed was also good for the story. Knowing how protective Mathias is of Remy and his baby was comical and still exactly what I would have expected. I can’t wait to read Hayes’ story and find out just how great he can be, too.
I have really enjoyed this series and the characters along the way. I only hope that Sadie can keep coming out of her funk and we’ll get a glimpse of the old Sadie again in the next book.
Author Bio
Micalea Smeltzer is a bestselling Young and New Adult author from Winchester, Virginia. She’s always working on her next book, and when she has spare time she loves to read and spend time with her family.
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