Shanoff Says...: *****BLOG TOUR STOP & GIVEAWAY***** Just Between Us by Hayley Oakes

An attraction that can’t be denied...

Ten years spent trying to forget.

Now

Kyle returns to his home town following years away to discover Sophie, the girl he could never have, nursing a broken heart after being dumped by her fiancé.

Then

A decade before Sophie and Kyle hated each other, she thought he was an arrogant playboy and he thought she was a spoilt princess. However one night a drunken kiss changed everything...

Back then he was the achingly attractive bad boy that, however much she tried, Sophie couldn’t resist. Now as Kyle spends the summer attempting to revive Sophie from her misery, she wonders if the one person she wouldn’t let herself have is the only one who can save her?

Just Between Us – Hayley Oakes

Title: Just Between Us

Author: Hayley Oakes

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

About the Author: Hayley Oakes is a wife to a Manchester United fan and a mother to a three year old daughter both require patience and a sense of humour. She enjoys reading angst ridden romance and writing stories that she would love to read. She loves post apocalyptic movies and anything 80’s. This is her second novel.

Contact Hayley on: Facebook Twitter

Buying Links: Amazon UK Amazon US

Real life versus fiction – which parts of Hayley Oakes are included?

Interview with Hayley

Have you ever had your heart broken? Yes – a few times.

Have you ever had an attraction to a bad boy? Oh God yes – where are the good boys???

Have you ever fallen for someone who was out of bounds? No – however I craved a forbidden romance as a teenager.

Have you ever craved someone you hated? No – I’m too good at hating lol.

Are your parents divorced? Yes but I don’t have any step siblings.

Have you ever had a holiday romance? No – that one passed me by.

Have you ever loved someone so intensely that you couldn’t bear the thought of living without them? Every day <3

Do you have a best friend like Ashley? Yes, I have an extremely close and amazing best friend but she isn’t as selfish as Ashley.

Do you regret letting a long lost love go? No, I have found my bad boy.

Have you found your HEA? Yes ….. thank God.

My Inspiration Behind the Characters

I have always loved angst ridden romance ever since the days of ‘My so called life’ and ‘Party of five’. I love the idea of a romance that is doomed to fail despite how much the characters are drawn to each other. I wanted to create a story where the characters were unable to stay apart but didn’t really like each other. I also don’t like stories where the end is a foregone conclusion and so I like the reader to always guess what will happen next.

My inspiration for Sophie was the teenage angst movies that I have enjoyed my whole life. The torture of feeling like you don’t quite fit in and the hardship of realising that your parents aren’t perfect. You realise that your mum can love again and be giddy. You realise that you can get yourself into trouble and don’t have to ask permission for everything. My own teenage experiences and those of my friends were drawn on heavily.

Sophie gets a bad rep in some reviews for being whiny and selfish but really all she is someone who is too scared to just be herself and accept what she wants. She’s a typical teenager who worries more about what everyone else thinks rather than just following her heart.

My inspiration for Kyle was every bad boy in fiction that I ever read, in my mind he was a lot harsher than I wrote him but it didn’t translate to paper and he became a tortured good guy deep down. I wanted him to be a mixture of Jordan Catalano from ‘My so called life’, Griffin from ‘Party of Five’ and Patrick from ’10 things I hate about you’.
Someone who is adored by people but doesn’t require the adoration, who is effortlessly cool but doesn’t need the acceptance.

Interview with Ashley

Hi Ashley, so you’ve just had your second child and Sophie her first. How is she coping with motherhood?

Yes I have a three month old called Oakley and she has her little princess Iris. She is doing amazing, her and Kyle are just natural parents and despite the sleepless nights she still manages to look amazing, it’s nauseating.

What did you think all those years ago when you found out about Sophie and Kyle?

I was totally surprised because she always seemed to hate him. I mean everyone at school thought he was to die for and Sophie always said that he was an idiot. Even before their parents dated she was never swayed by the popular crowd and I think that’s why I was surprised the most.

When you realised they were seeing each other did you initially think it was a bad idea?

Oh God who was I to judge? I mean I was chasing Vinnie all over the place which was always doomed to fail back then and so her having some drama sort of made me feel like I had someone to compare notes with.

Over the years had you assumed that Sophie had moved on?

I suppose so, she never really mentioned him after that summer. I used to stroke her head and wipe her tears, speak to her late into the night *laughs* those days were sad but we also became so close back then. Our shared heartache those first few months at uni made us closer than ever. She’s always been so strong, and when she met Simon I just thought thank God she’s found someone. I was so happy for her.

When did you realise that Sophie and Simon were not right together?

I think I knew before she did because I never thought she seemed particularly excited by anything he did for her. She never seemed to be blown away by him. I tried to speak to her about it but she always brushed it off saying everyone’s relationships were different. When he ended things I was so sad for her because she was humiliated having to cancel the wedding but I thought he had done the right thing.

At first you tried to stop Sophie from rekindling things with Kyle, how do you feel now?

Well it was heartbreaking to see her so devastated after they stopped seeing each other all those years ago and I suppose I always thought that Kyle was the bad guy who had used her all summer and then dumped her and left her high and dry. Then I saw her face after I had Stanley and when she talked about him I knew that she felt so much more for him than she ever had for anyone else. I couldn’t be happier for her now.

What do you hope for Sophie and Kyle in the future

Sophie is the best friend that anyone could ever wish for, she’s loyal, supportive and non-judgemental and the only thing I have ever wanted for her is complete and utter happiness. I definitely think she has found that with Kyle. I want our children to grow up together and for us to grow old together as grannies with style.

The British Psyche that causes love to be even more torturous...

Brits are polite and say sorry a lot,

They keep their feelings bottled up and tied in a knot,

They find it hard to say exactly how they feel,

Keeping emotions hidden well, even as they heal.

Brits often tend to worry what other people think,

Not usually finding it easy to throw caution to the wind.

They need a cup of tea to calm any storm.

They need validation and like to conform.

When it comes to love, Brits find it hard to express,

Exactly how they feel which can leave them in a mess.

It’s hard to win at love if you aren’t prepared to say.

Just how much you feel and I love you every day.

Despite their guarded nature they love strong and deep.

You get loyalty and trust, qualities to keep.

The words are not forthcoming but actions certainly are,

Which speak louder than words and are preferred by far.

MY REVIEW

Just Between Us by Hayley Oakes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

~~*~~*~~*~~* Spoilerish ~~*~~*~~*~~*

I received this book from the Author for an honest review.

Okay...I am going to kick this review off by giving you the reason for the four stars instead of five. It all had to do with Sophie being a waffling twit. I liked her character don't get me wrong, but her misery was so self inflicted and the bad part is she never even realized it until she pushed too far.

Alright now that I just spit that right out let me get to the really good stuff. Now I normally do not care for book that flashback as sometimes it can just get confusing, but the Author did a really fantastic job with making sure you knew Then from Now. This book touched on a somewhat of a taboo subject of a step brother and sister having a relationship. It started in their teen years and they were both too young and immature to realize the enormity of their feelings and actions.

When the book opens it starts with Sophie being a mess because she is at her childhood home on what should be her wedding day. She had been engaged to her safe and normal fiancee and they should have been starting the safe and normal life only he called off the wedding one month before. Now she was back living with her mother and step father moping and feeling sorry for herself....

Enter Kyle, step brother. He is charming and sweet. He focuses his attention on Sophie and tries to pull her out of her funk. He brings her back to London with him so that she can escape her life a little and find herself again. His intentions are completely innocent even though he is still in love with Sophie. I love that we get just a few little parts in Kyle's POV. It helped to connect with his character even more, both Then and Now. During his younger years we get to see him as a moody asshat, but when him and Sophie really start to get to know each other you can't help but fall in love with Kyle.

So I guess you have figured out that when these two start to spend so much time together as adults that the sparks start to fly and there is nothing to hold them back. They are safe to be a couple in London because nobody they know is around. Everything is great until an emergency calls them back to their hometown and then Sophie starts to be the twit that she is and things blow up.

I won't tell you how it ends but I will say that I am very happy with the ending. I enjoyed this book because it was just a little bit different from the norm. I loved Mags. She is a great mother and really understanding. Ashley is pretty awesome friend to Sophie too. Mick even had some likable qualities.

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