Connected/ Torn by Kim Karr Lovefest!!!

CONNECTED

What if a “Once in a Lifetime” could happen twice?

In Dahlia London’s world, happily ever after is a far cry from reality. Her soul has been left completely shattered by tragedy. But a surprising reunion with someone from her past is about to give her a reason to love again…

When rock star River Wilde comes back into Dahlia’s life, their super-charged connection runs deeper than either of them ever expected. The more time they spend together, the more intense their relationship becomes, and Dahlia believes at last she has found her soul mate.

But as old bonds fade and Dahlia’s grief begins to lift, her guilt and confusion remain. River desperately wants to be the one who mends what’s been broken—but with a past that refuses to stay buried, is it possible for their future to begin?

CONNECTED PAPERBACK LINKS:

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Excerpt Chapter 2 from CONNECTED (Connections #1) 
 RIVER POV Written by Kim Karr 
Time is Running Out   
The set ends so I walk over behind Garrett to lean my guitar against the wall. I pull my shirt up to wipe the sweat off my forehead. It’s hotter than shit in here and I need a drink. Garrett laughs, tipping his head back to swallow the beer he somehow already has.  “You going to grab a drink? I’ll take another,” he says as he downs the rest of his beer. “And, dude, wear this. Seriously man, your hair looks like shit,” he says throwing his beanie at me.   I move closer and shove him a little and put the hat on my head. “Shut the fuck up, you should talk.” I hop off the stage and my sister rushes over to me. “River, I need you to take me home as soon as the last set is over. I have someone meeting me back at my apartment.”  I shake my head, knowing it must be a guy. “Yeah yeah, I will Bell, but really can’t you get a boyfriend that has some manners? You know, like actually picks his date up and maybe even takes her out? And at a decent hour?”  She rolls her eyes. “All guys aren’t like you, big brother. Nice beanie,” she teases before disappearing back into the crowd. As I walk through the jam-packed room, some brunette chick I think looks familiar asks me if I want to grab a drink in private. I kindly refuse, telling her I need to refuel before my next set. She’s still talking when I motion toward the bar to signal that I’m moving away. As my eyes flash across the bar, they’re suddenly drawn to a beautiful girl standing against it. And she’s looking directly at me.  I start walking toward her, leaving behind the brunette who is still talking. As I stare at the beautiful girl, I think, “I want her.” Tall, slim, long blonde hair that’s pulled away from her face. But it’s her eyes that get me—the way she’s looking at me. Shit, I’ve talked to about a dozen chicks tonight, but she is the only one who has me interested.  As I stare back at her I’m feeling like she’s not just any girl. Not just a girl to have sex with. I’m actually having a fucking conversation with myself. I can’t figure out what’s going on in my own head. 
I try not to smile, but I know she’s checking me out. Fuck, why’d I put this hat on? I quickly pull it off and comb my fingers through my hair. I can’t take my eyes off her and I feel like I want to knock everyone out of my way to get to her. When I finally reach the bar, I stand right in front of her. For some weird reason I feel the urge to touch her, but instead I shove my hands in my pockets. She’s smiling at me and I smile right back. This girl is hot. Her eyes still haven’t left mine this whole time, so I decide to break the ice by calling her out. “Were you staring at me?” She pouts her lips and rolls her eyes. Shit, that look gets me.  “No, I was just looking for my friend while I waited on my drinks. You just happened to be in my line of vision.”  I stifle my laugh and say, “That look was hot.” I want to say, “You’re hot,” but I don’t—not yet anyway.  I can tell she’s trying not to laugh. If she does, I know I have her. Her phone rings and her smile fades. “Why would you think I was looking at you, anyway?” The person beside her walks away and I secure my place next to her. I toss my hat on the counter and lean against the bar, my eyes never leaving hers. I answer in the most honest way I can. “Because I was staring at you, hoping you were staring back.”  I don’t want to fuck this up so I decide to be the guy Bell always tells me I am—the guy with manners. Then I say what I should have said first. “With all this talk about who was staring at whom I think we forgot the basics, I’m River,” I say as I extend my hand. She reaches hers out. Hey, I get to touch her. But she quickly pulls her hand back before I get to grasp it and accidentally knocks a dude’s beer over. The asshole gives her a dirty look and swears. I know I have to step in because this guy is out of line. I gently guide her out of my way and try to control myself as I say, “Sorry man, just an accident, but let me buy you another.” I hand him a ten, “Buy two.” I hope he takes the money and leaves. Lucky for him he does, because otherwise I might deck him. I turn around to find the girl smiling at me and sliding one of her beers my way. I start to drink it and she says, “Thank you, that guy sure as shit wasn’t happy with me. In fact he kind of acted like an asshole.” I can’t help but laugh mid-sip, almost spitting the beer out of my mouth. Not cool.  Not able to resist any longer, I run my finger over her smooth bare shoulder and lock 

my eyes on hers. “You’re more than welcome.” She just barely shudders and steps back. I’m pretty sure she’s interested in me so I step closer, not wanting to break our connection. “Now, where were we? Do we need to start over?” I ask, looking into her eyes.  “We were introducing ourselves,” she says smiling.  “Okay, so let’s try again. I’m River and you are . . .?”  “I’m not sure you need to know that information right now. I’m kind of thinking you might be a stalker,” she teases. I laugh. I’m all about game playing but I’m not ready to play. I really want to get to know this girl, and I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual, so I avoid dropping the canned line I might have used on another girl and say, “You’re not serious, are you beautiful girl?” 

OUR REVIEW

❤❤❤❤1/2
I loved loved loved this book... What would you do if you felt an amazing connection to someone that wasn't your boyfriend? If you are Dahlia London you run away, at least that's what she did when faced with River Wilde the lead singer of then a little known band The Wilde Ones that her friends drags her to go see. She runs straight back to Ben her longtime boyfriend, her rock her best friend. Tragedy strikes and the life she knows unfolds... When after 2 years she tries to pick up the pieces of her life, her best friend, Amelia, hands her a once in a lifetime job, only problem is 2 words RIVER WILDE! That's her interview, the one man that is her weakness. One weekend in Vegas changed her course forever. God this story sucked me in right from the beginning!! I loved the connection to River and the love she had for Ben. It was a book that I've read over again. Go one click it you won't regret it.

TORN

Rock star River Wilde brought Dahlia London back from the brink of hopelessness with his unwavering love and devotion. But their entangled history is about to test the strength of their relationship…

Dahlia was certain she had found true love and met her ‘Once in a Lifetime’ when she reconnected with River. But Dahlia’s world comes crashing down when someone from her past resurfaces, and all of River’s carefully hidden secrets are exposed.

                                                                                                                

River wants to show Dahlia that life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass—it’s about dancing in the rain. But how many times can one broken heart be mended?  Will River and Dahlia be able to stay together or will they be torn apart?

TORN PAPERBACK PRE-ORDER LINKS:

Amazon >> http://amzn.to/1bhRkXT

Barnes & Noble >> http://bit.ly/McKdvB

Prologue of TORN 

Connections #2 by Kim Karr

© 2013 by Kim Karr 

Published by the Penguin Group 

Release date: October 1, 2013 

Colorblind 

Close your eyes and you can imagine what it was like. Hot, sticky, crowded. Smoke, 

flashing screens, and lighters flickering. Fans screaming, laughing, clapping, and crying. 

Bodies pushing, shoving, trying to catch a glimpse. Everyone wanting to see the stage—

the lights, the equipment, the musician himself. 

He was running back and forth singing, headbanging, and playing his guitar. The 

lyrics were jumbled. His movements out of sync. The sound of the bass thumped through 

the crowd so loud my body vibrated with every wrong note played. I just wanted it to 

end. 

Nick Wilde had opened for the Counting Crows at the Hollywood Bowl. It was his 

second chance— and he blew it. The crowd was exhilarated at the start of his first song 

and he owned the stage but it didn’t last long. By the third song he was improvising, 

pulling notes, and forgetting words. He was lost in his own trance, soaked in alcohol, and 

no one could help him…not Xander, not my mother, and definitely not me. “Mr. Jones” 

started playing before he even finished his fourth song…and he never played onstage 

again. 

Music was his soul. Music was in all of our souls. When we were younger he taught 

us everything he could…how to play, to sing, the right way to command a stage. We 

knew every song by every artist. We traveled to concert after concert. Music was his life 

and it became ours. 

But he wasn’t happy just playing. He had a dream—he wanted to be famous. And 

somewhere along the way his dream became an obsession. I’ll give it to him, he got further than most do. By the age of nineteen he had been signed by a label and cut his 

first album. But after a disappointing run they released him. He spent the next fifteen 

years working the circuit—clubs, churches, weddings, birthday parties, as he waited for 

another big break. And then, just like that, he blew his golden opportunity. 

Everything in our life changed after that. The drinking got worse, Grandpa came 

around more to check on us, and Mom went back to work. Every day left another kink in 

his chain as he lived in his own world. I was sixteen when his plan A became my plan B 

and, just like him, at a young age, I cut my first album. But unlike him I had Xander. He 

wasn’t going to let me fail. The band’s album had a slow start but after a year of touring, 

it started to gain popularity. 

I remember the first time the Wilde Ones graced a real stage. We were restless. We 

had been sitting around for hours waiting. When we were finally up we strutted 

confidently across the stage like we had in rehearsal, but, really, we were nervous as hell. 

The lights were much brighter and the audience so much bigger than we were used to. 

When the guys started to play, soft, barely audible words flew out of my mouth so fast I 

forgot to breathe. The band was drowning me out and I knew it. Looking around, I 

adjusted the microphone height and took in the crowd. They were cheering me on with 

such enthusiasm that my voice finally soared over them. It was the same voice I’d grown 

up with, the one my dad had fostered. It was raw and present and soulful, and, in that 

moment, my music came alive. The crowd went crazy and just like that my life changed 

again. 

Xander struck while the iron was hot. He arranged to go on tour. That was the 

beginning of the end for me. We started out small. Smaller venues, shitty hotels, crappy 

food, and a lot of drinking. We opened for band after band and the relationships I 

made…they kept me going, that and being up on that stage doing what I loved…it kept 

me going, wanting to make my dad proud…yeah, that, too. 

But touring was a constant infringement on my personal space. I hated the cramped 

quarters, lack of privacy, constant strict schedule, never being in the same city for more 

than two nights, people following you everywhere, people always wanting something 

from you. Even the girls throwing themselves at you got old. It was the longest year of 

my life, but I did it for him because somewhere along the way his dream morphed into mine. What I came to realize was that his dream wasn’t mine—my dad thought being on 

tour meant you had made it. His dream was about being famous. Mine is about the music. 

As the venues got bigger so did the crowds, the fanfare, and I could see how you 

could get lost in it, caught up in it—but I was determined not to end up like my father. He 

was addicted to the fame. I’m addicted to the creative process. I hope that difference 

between us is enough. The tour ended and we wrote, we played around LA, and as time 

passed life was good. But I had managed to put off cutting another album long enough. 

This time I was doing it for the band and for my brother and for me—because I love the 

music. Cutting the album—that’s the fun part. It’s the promoting I dreaded, at least until 

the day I saw her through the glass. The girl who inspired our song “Once in a Lifetime,” 

the girl Xander always referred to as my muse, the girl who stole my heart one night and 

then crushed it at the very same time. 

She was as beautiful as I remembered and with one glance she took my breath away. 

She walked my way, pulling a suitcase behind her, and my heart skipped a beat. I knew 

immediately she was the one sent to interview me and suddenly any negativity I had 

about doing press was gone. I couldn’t help but watch her. I wanted her unlike anyone I 

had ever wanted before. I had to stifle a laugh when her briefcase fell off the top of her 

suitcase and she glanced around to see who saw. I wanted to yell, “Only me and don’t 

worry because everything about you is sexy as fuck.” 

I rushed to grab the door for her, but she pushed it forward and fell into me—not that 

I minded in the least. I’d catch her over and over. There wasn’t a thing about her that I 

didn’t remember from the first time we met and even the awkwardness of the moment 

brought me to full attention. When her body pressed against mine, I knew in that 

instant…this time I wasn’t letting her get away so easily. I’d go on a thousand tours to 

have her in my life—there was just something about her, a light in her eyes that made 

everything wrong feel right. And just like my dad, I got a second chance—it was her. But 

unlike him, I wasn’t going to blow it. 

When she extended her hand and said, “Hello, I’m Dahlia London from Sound 

Music. I’m so sorry I’m late,” I knew she had to be mine. 

♥♥♥♥♥
A MUST READ SERIES!

Wow!! Ok y'all I started this story at 11:00pm and didn't put it down until 4:00 am. Yep I am running on three hours sleep. So what can I say. I absolutely LOVE River Wilde. This book start off exactly where it ended in book one Connected. If you haven't read that its a MUST READ! Ok in this book Kim provides us with everything happiness, sadness and of course hot steamy sex scenes. What more could you ask for. River really shows of his alpha male role in this book. He loves Dahlia and you truly feel the depths of his love. I love the ending and it has me on pins and needles for book three Mended the story of Xander and Ivy.
Ok y'all you NEED to go and buy this book and read it. It is one of my top favorite series. ~Tracie


" I want to believe your love is only for me. That your lips are mine. That your kisses are meant for me. That your body belongs to me."

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GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY. I am giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card, 5 Signed Book Plates and 10 Paperbacks of CONNECTED (to be mailed directly from Penguin)