T & G Book Boutique: Stop! by Alison G. Bailey Release Week: Review, Excerpt, and Giveaways

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Stop! by Alison G. Bailey Release Week: Review, Excerpt, and Giveaways

Synopsis

Every life has a different path full of sharp turns, smooth curves, and steep drop offs.

Hollis Murphy has a plan—college, career, boyfriend, love, marriage, family. A predictable, normal life. She’s on track until an outside force causes her to crash and burn. They call it an accident, because that’s the only word they know to explain what happens to her. It helps everyone move on with their lives, except for Hollis. She holds on to the belief that she’s been targeted for a reason.

Risher Stevenson is intelligent, caring, sweet, and the hottest boy Hollis has ever laid eyes on. He fits perfectly into her original plan for a normal life. Everyone loves him.

Benton Daniels is intelligent, caring, sweet, and the bravest boy Hollis has ever met. He doesn’t fit into her life but gives it purpose and makes it extraordinary. Everyone hates him.

One is bullied. One is tormented. All are judged. How will it STOP?

Goodreads Link

Release Date: 6/25/15

Review

5 out of 5 Stars

First off let me start with showing my appreciation and admiration to the author, Alison G. Bailey. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors and I so glad that she interacts with her readers. That is a thing I absolutely adore about her. I fell in love with her book Present Perfect as soon as I read the first paragraphs. With this book she has climbed so much higher in my admiration because this book was so good and it covers a lot of topics that many people find hard to accept. I love that she is so open to many things and I was so happy with STOP! even though it hurt me heart and soul.

Let me start with how this book is not something you would expect. I didn't expect what was coming. I knew I couldn't because you never know with her books but I knew it would be amazing. I love it and the words will stay with me forever. This book starts of difficult but by the end it soon becomes tragic and heartbreaking. It had me crying so much. It still makes me incredibly sad as I am writing this review. It sent me through so much emotions that they all started blending together in the end. Just be prepared to feel anger, despair, rage, loneliness, love, and passion. The words and emotions just leak off the pages. They possessed me.

This is the kind of book that stays with you. Stop! is a book that is unforgettable and makes you feel the emotions along with the characters. This is one of the hardest books I have ever had to review because it is hard to describe my feelings. They are all over the place. My heart burst with all the emotions it bled. It was too much. Not just that, but I also can't share too much because of spoilers. So, I will not talk much about the content of the book because it will ruin the significance of it but I will talk about the characters some.

Hollis is the main character and at the beginning we don't fully understand what happened to her. She had everything and she had a good path towards life but we all know that plans don't really exist. Things can change in an instant and this is what happened to her in an accident. Her whole life changed and it was truly sad but I am glad she was strong enough to go to college and try. That took a lot of courage and I am glad she did it. She was able to grow because of this and the friendships she made helped her and changed her. I am happy for two people in her life. Benton and Risher. I don't know which one impacted me the most but I know that Hollis wouldn't be her without them both.

I will start off with Risher because it is hard for me to talk about Benton without becoming a mess. So Risher is the guy everyone wants and for some great reason he wants Hollis and I couldn't be more excited at the prospect of this. Risher stole my heart since their rump bump encounter. It was one of my favorite scenes because this is where they first met. He was all too kind and amazing with her and I loved him. The sense of humor in this book is amazing and I am glad that these funny scenes were a part of it. I especially loved the one about their dinner! #StillLaughing Oh and I absolutely loved the use of hashtags in this book. They fit right in.

Moving on to Benton. He was so strong and I loved him the most. He had a quick temper and had a lot of problems in his life. I knew since the beginning something was was wrong. I felt it and I knew something was coming but I did not know what. Benton was someone that was bullied and Hollis understood the feeling so they connected right away. He is being tormented and it is just horrible. I will now share the reason why he is being bullied because it is such a big part of the book and I will not give spoilers.

I will not share the rest of this book or it's content because it needs to be read by the reader. The message needs to be read directly and I refuse to spoil it or ruin the powerful message it contains. I didn't even have words to describe it and it took me a while to find the right words. I know I didn't share much but I really can't. When you read the book you will understand. Just be prepared because the emotions are so strong. I read through this book in a few hours. I couldn't put it down. It was intriguing and eventful but the deep sadness kept me from putting the book down. It had so many emotions. The only critical thing that I found was that this book needed more Risher. I absolutely loved him. But even without that I am still extremely happy with this book. I am so glad that I had the chance to read it. Thank you Alison for always writing these amazing books that tear my heart apart but slowly repair it. I mean slowly because it takes me a few days or weeks to process everything that is thrown at me! It is a truly powerful thing.

Excerpt

“Name?” she said, impatiently.

I was so flustered that for a second I’d forgotten who I was. “Hollis Murphy.”

She scribbled something on a spreadsheet and handed me a packet with my name and the number two hundred ten typed out on the front sticker, which I assumed was my room number.

In a flat bored voice, she said, “Everything you need to know is in the packet. Should you have any additional questions or needs after reading the information, please ask your RA. Have a productive semester. Next!”

Clutching the envelope to my chest, my gaze shifted back down, and I walked quickly out of the office.

As I turned the corner, a loud deep woot! jerked my attention down the hall. I took one step before crashing full force into something solid and warm. Stumbling back, I dropped the envelope. Once my balance returned, my eyes focused on a gray T-shirt with cut off sleeves, stretched across broad shoulders. When I glanced down in search of my envelope, I couldn’t help but spot the narrow hips and round ass covered in black basketball shorts. As I squatted to pick up the envelope, a tanned forearm came into view. My gaze roamed up to find the arm was covered in bulging muscles.

“Oh god, I’m so . . . sor…ry,” I stammered, my cheeks heating with embarrassment.

“Here ya go,” a deep voice said.

Reaching for the envelope, my gaze inadvertently shot up to the warmest green eyes ever created. His dark brown hair was cut short on the sides, longer on top, and tousled. The perfect amount of scuff peppered his strong jawline, with deep dimples framing a sexy lopsided smile. The air was immediately sucked from my lungs. He wasn’t just hot, he was boy band hot.

A deep chuckle drifted down before I realized he had stood up and was extending his hand to me.

Oh boy! I get to touch him.

I slipped my hand into his and felt an immediate jolt of electricity. The muscles in his arm twitched. He felt it too.

“Thank you,” I said, as he helped me up.

“I’m Risher Stevenson.”

He was actually introducing himself to me.

It had become a habit not to look directly at anyone, especially a stranger. I automatically angled my head down and to the left, to hide the messed-up side of my face. But those green eyes locked me in place.

“Hollis Murphy.”

“Nice to meet you Hollis Murphy.”

“Sorry again about running into you. I need to do a better job at watching where I’m going.”

The tip of his tongue slipped between his lips before they formed into a slight smirk. Just as he was about to speak, his name came barreling down the hallway.

“Rish! Get your ass down here. We’ve got a ton of boxes to haul in.” A blond-haired guy was standing at the end of the hall.

“I gotta go finish helping my friends move in.”

I nodded.

Risher took three steps before turning back toward me. “Don’t do too good of a job.”

My eyebrows squished together in confusion.

“At watching where you’re going. I hate to think I won’t get rump bumped again.”

He winked before jogging away.

I Sasquatched those shoulders, those hips, and that ass all the way down the hall.

Playlist

http://open.spotify.com/user/1244737523/playlist/00lodAPM0R4drzlF2bDJQB

Author Bio and Links

Alison was born and raised in Charleston, SC. She attended Winthrop University and graduated with a major in Theater. While at school Alison began writing one-act plays, which she later produced. Her debut novel, Present Perfect, landed on Amazon's Best Seller List and appeared on many "Best Reads of 2013" Book Blogs. The novel won Best Book at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention Awards. Her second novel, Past Imperfect, was published in February of 2014 and appeared on several best books of 2014 lists as well. Presently Perfect, the third and final book in The “Perfect” series was released in Dec 2014 to rave reviews. In March 2015 all the love, swoon, heat, and angst were combined into the Perfect Series Box Set.