Rose's Food & Book Blog: Blog Tour Stop: A Graceful Mess by Nacole Stayton

Title: A Graceful Mess

Author: Nacole Stayton

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Erotica

Publication Date: August 27, 2013

Photographer: Toski

Cover Designed By: Perfect Pear Creative

Event organized by: Literati Author Services

Hiding behind the anguish from my past, my coyness seeps off of me like an aroma. I have felt like a stranger in my own skin, trying to claw my way out for far too long, allowing very few people to see past my façade…until my eyes met with his. I felt a sudden rush of energy all the way to my core. It jolted me in ways I never thought possible.

Never in a million years would I have expected to be in the mess I am today. It all leads back to the night Parker Porter turned my world upside down. The night his hazel eyes undressed me, peeling away the layers of the woman I tried so hard to be. He awoke desires that burned deep within me and changed me in one quick glance, leaving me vulnerable and exposed, picking up the shattered pieces of my carefully constructed life…a life I should not be living…a life I was not born into, but placed into by the state of Maine.

Parker opened a door that I am far from closing until I have answers and am able to face the life I was destined to live. I just have to decide if his love is worth the mess.

“They say be careful of the quiet ones.” –Grace

Warning: This book is intended for readers 18+ due to explicit language and sexual encounters.

Grace has a life where she likes to pretend that everything is okay. She's buried her past down deep and wants it to stay buried there. Her roommate and best friend Maci convinces her it's time to go out and celebrate their graduation from college at a local bar. What Grace doesn't realize is that Maci has set her up with a man named Carson who spends more than half his time starring at other women when they are near him or walk by. Feel alone and out of place she watches as her best friend flirts with her date and leaves her to fend off the unwanted advances of a complete stranger.

That's the night she meets Parker Porter. Parker meets up with his friend and brother for a drink after he's had a rough afternoon. Parker moved to Iowa from Alabama to help run a new branch that has just been opened. He's called into work on a Saturday and is not happy. That is until he opens up the file his father hands him indicating the girl in the photo is their next case. He's to follow her and report what she does all day everyday to biological father a man named Mark Jacobs. The moment he opens Grace's file, the fireworks go off and he knows that he'll have trouble staying away from this one because her innocent blue eyes hold so much promise within them.

He didn't expect to find her in the bar that night. He wasn't suppose to start trailing her until Monday. But a chance encounter between them will change everything for ever. Parker awakens a side of Grace she never knew she had. When they are together she's on longer the timid, quiet girl that she once was, now she's a woman who knows what she desires and goes after it.

Parker knows that he and Grace cannot be together at least not at this point in time with him being on the case that requires him to follow her and lie to her about how much he really knows about her. This story is full of lies and the quest to uncover the truth. For the longest time, Grace has been having the same dream of her being a little girl who is scared and alone, what she doesn't realize is that she's adopted and that little girl is herself. At the orphanage she met a kid named Brody and when she runs into him in high school he does the unthinkable and harms her and their unborn child. So what happens when Brody returns? Why is the senator so desperate to hide from Grace that he is her father? And what happens when all the lies and deceit from her family and Parker come to the surface and shatter her heart into a million pieces?

This book was amazing. Right from the start I could tell this was going to be a great book. Just starting with the cover alone, I knew this book would draw me right in. Nacole draws you right into her story that is full of lies, deceit, betrayal, and passion and has you hanging on the edge of your seat until the very last page. I cannot wait to read more of Nacole's work in the future because if her other books turn out the be half as good as this one was, Nacole has gained a new reader, 5 stars!

***ARC provided by author in exchange for ahonest review***

Christian “Nacole” Stayton is twenty-something years young and currently resides in the Bluegrass state. She spends her days working at a local hospital in the billing department and nights writing vigorously on her current novel. She has a passion for helping others and wears her University of Kentucky gear proudly. While her husband loves all things outdoors, Nacole enjoys the finer things in life like getting pedicures while reading on her Kindle Fire. She is passionate about her faith, family and The Bachelor. Her hair color changes with the seasons and she has a weakness for tattoos, iced coffee, and happy endings.