☆☆ BLOG TOUR - SHAMELESS by NINA LEMAY + REVIEW by THE ROCK CHICK FAIRY + GIVEAWAYS!!! ☆☆

~New Adult Contemporary Romance -- recommended for mature readers~

Girls like me don’t get happy endings.

I know what I am. At worst a cliché, at best a cautionary tale. I put an international border between me and my past, only to wind up working in a low-end titty bar. Even my excuse is as lame as it gets: I’m paying for college, getting my art degree from Montreal’s most prestigious school. Although some days it becomes confusing: am I just a student who moonlights as a stripper, or a stripper who masquerades as a student?

But the inevitable happens and my two lives collide. And now there’s one other person who knows both the quiet, antisocial Hannah and the sensual, shameless Alicia. One person who keeps my secret.

He’s beautiful, he’s sophisticated. He comes from the other side of life, the one where I’m not wanted or accepted. But he calls me la petite Américaine, and his hot, hot hands on my skin promise me things I long ago gave up on.

The problem? He teaches my Classic Photography class.

This is a standalone novel, no series, no cliffhanger.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

     

This is a book that will make you feel ashamed of assuming a lot of things about people.

Shameless is one book that I'll never forget, I'm so sure of that.

First off, it tackles two things:

1. forbidden relationships

2. stripping

That's a double KO if you ask me. The author is so brave as to put these two into one book. Another thing that is amazing about this is that this book doesn't hold back. It goes down until the very last dirty detail. I like this book because it's feisty, revealing and shameless (for the lack of other term)...very much so. Even though it does down to the harsh parts of reality, this book creates a smooth transition. It's classy and tasteful. The author definitely used art in here. The descriptions of things here like photographs, paintings and other literary works are so intricate, I feel like I can totally see what they're seeing. 

THE CHARACTERS AND THE STORY

Hannah is... in trouble. Yes, I believe that for the entirety of the book, she's teetering on the edge of trouble. Her job is one and the other is the hot photography professor that she's hopelessly attracted to. I like her because she stands up for what she wants. Never backs down. Really, never. Stubborn 'til the end. It has advantages and disadvantages, but whatever... I like it when it comes to her. She wants to live her life without depending on somebody. She doesn't even want to have a loan for her studies. I think she just had a series of unlucky things. I cried for her near the end because really, a strong girl still needs a rest.You can imagine all her frustrations, fears, insecurities etc all bottled up. I just wanted to give her a break from everything that has been happening. 

Emmanuel attracts trouble. Yes, this is what I believe in. With his line of job, you'd think that he has led a straight path. Unfortunately, his back story only says one thing... he's attracted to girls with damsel problems. Well, not exactly your convenient damsels, but the darker damsels. I'm trying not to give out spoilers and I'm finding it hard. hmpf. Anyway, his character is actually pretty easy to figure out. He's the knight-wanna-be. I think from the moment he met Hannah, he wanted to save her. I think that unconsciously, he has formed a plan for him and Hannah. I also think that he really does like Hannah. He's willing to do everything for her. It's very nice and also kind of weird, because again... he's the professor, granted they didn't actually meet that way. 

The love part to me is not exactly the focus of the story, so Emmanuel's character was not so strongly described in the entirety of the book (not as strongly as Hannah). Emmanuel is just the typical good guy who becomes attracted to a girl whom he shouldn't have feelings for. 

The start of their relationship is pretty messy as you may already have assumed. They argued lots. The middle is swoon worthy and quite good and um.. they still argued a lot. haha! The end part is very PROMISING. It's kind of open ended and I was waiting for more. I wish there's a novella for this so that I can see what happens to them after a year or two. :) 

WHAT I LEAST LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK

Their back stories. They hid it from each other so fiercely and when they finally say it... it's anticlimactic. That's how it felt like to me instead. 

WHAT ONE CAN PICK UP FROM THIS BOOK:

Don't judge. Social standards suck. We always ask why people don't just get on with their own lives, but it still keeps one happening because this is what social standards tell us.

They are still human beings. When you say one bad thing to a person whom you think has an odd job, or a job wherein you think they already are thick faced, remember that they still have hearts, they can still feel and no matter how they act, they can still be hurt by words. It's true that if you don't have anything good to say, just shut up. 

Our jobs don't define us. Enough said.

Love really is mysterious. The most unlikely people fall in love with each other everyday, it's not just in books.

Never use your position to belittle, bully or blackmail people. That's just wrong and truly punishable. 

Careful with the social media. I think I don't have to elaborate on this anymore.

Don't look down on yourself. It's good to love yourself because that's the first step in gaining the love of everybody else.

All in all.. I definitely recommend this to those people who'd like to try out a different kind of love story. A more realistic one and one that will surely make you re-learn things that you probably already know. :) 

5 fairy wings!!!

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Nina Lemay is a YA writer by day and author of sinfully twisted New Adult…well, also by day. She loves all things dark and edgy and never tires of tormenting her characters. While Nina is a fan of all things scary, Gothic, and fantastic, she doesn’t shy away from a gritty contemporary romance when the muse strikes. She lives in Montreal, a city that never fails to inspire, with her partner and her dog.

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