Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: More Than Words
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://miasheridan.com/
CITY: Cincinnati
STATE: OH
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
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|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2014072068 |
| HEADING: | Sheridan, Mia |
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| 374 | __ |a Authors |2 lcsh |
| 375 | __ |a female |
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| 670 | __ |a Sheridan, Mia. Archer’s voice, 2014: |b title page (Mia Sheridan) about the author (lives in Cincinnati, Ohio) |
PERSONAL
Married; children: four.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
AWARDS:New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mia Sheridan has written numerous adult contemporary romance and erotica novels about people destined to be together. She is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of “The Sign of Love Collection” based on the zodiac. Each book has a zodiac legend or a trait introduced at the beginning of each book. Most of her books are standalone without crossover storylines or characters.
Leo and Ramsay
In 2013, Sheridan published the first book in the series, Leo. Evie and Leo grew up together in foster care, and as they got older they fell in love. As a teenager, Leo is adopted and moves away, promising to come back for Evie when he’s an adult. But he never does. Many years later, after Evie has made a successful life for herself, a stranger says he is checking up on her for Leo, but can she trust him, even as she seems to be falling for him.
Inspired by the Aries astrological sign, Sheridan’s 2016 Ramsay features a story of betrayal, regret, and forgiveness. In their youth, wealthy Lydia De Havilland taunted and hurt Brogan Ramsay, the son of her family’s gardener. As adults, Ramsay re-enters her life vowing revenge for the cruelty that left his heart broken and his family penniless. But now the tables have turned and Lydia’s family is in financial difficulty, her brother an alcoholic, and her family’s company in debt. If Ramsay wasn’t so cold and cruel, she would ask for financial help. Can she make him forgive her? On the Dirty Girl Romance website, a reviewer had mixed opinions: “I absolutely loved the writing style and the premise of the story. I loved the emotion, the feeling, the vividness with which Mia Sheridan wrote the characters.” However, “there were some things about the story and the direction some things took and decisions made that left me conflicted and frustrated.”
Most of All You
In Most of All You: A Love Story, Sheridan delves into the dark side. After her mother died, young Ellie was abused by her father, became a stripper named Crystal, and has a low opinion of men who use her for their own needs. She lets them do what they want so she can eat and pay the bills. Meanwhile, young Gabriel Dalton was kidnapped as a child and left in a basement for years until he escaped. Now he cannot tolerate anyone touching him. When graduate student Chloe asks for an interview with him, he finds her attractive and wants to come out of his shell, so he asks Ellie to touch him to learn how it feels again. Both Gabriel and Ellie must decide whether to harden their hearts or open them to the possibility of love.
Speaking to Emily Walton online at RT Book Reviews, Sheridan explained that the idea for the book came from her own tragic pain losing her unborn daughter and channeling the struggle to get past the pain and live again. She said the book is “a story about romantic love, but it’s also a testament to hope, to healing, even when you’ve experienced the most tragic of events. It’s the story of angels on earth, the ones who help us mend our broken hearts, the ones who can say with authority, ‘You will breathe life again.’”
A Publishers Weekly reviewer described the book’s romance as gimmicky and added that the book “often reads like a sappy, overwrought TV movie, but some readers who like seeing lost souls find each other and emerge stronger may enjoy it.” Reviewer Jenna Harper reported online at All About Romance: “I can highly recommend Most of All You to anyone looking for a love-heals-all story with two genuinely damaged leads. It is well written with engaging characters, and Mia Sheridan is quickly becoming one of my auto-buy authors.”
More Than Words
Love is lost and reunited in More Than Words set in the United States and Paris. As tweens, Jessica Creswell and Callen Hayes kissed and read French stories, but lose touch when Callen seemingly abandons Jessica. Ten years later, Jessica is a waitress in Paris waiting for a translating job when she sees Callen. He is now a famous composer with the reputation of being a bad-boy and lady’s man. He recognizes Jessica at Loire Valley, where Jessie is translating cave writings that tell a love story related to Joan of Arc.
According to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “Cleverly juxtaposing Callen and Jessie’s relationship against the cave writings’ 15th-century story of longing lovers, Sheridan keeps readers enthralled.” A Harlequin Junkie website contributor said the book “is compelling, engaging, and emotional. Mia Sheridan pulled me in from the beginning and I didn’t want to put this down. Ms. Sheridan provided drama, angst, hope, anticipation, and all the feels.”
Archer's Voice
In Sheridan’s Archer’s Voice, inspired by Sagittarius, Bree Prescott leaves her traumatic childhood behind and starts a new life in the small town of Pelion, Maine. She hears about then meets the hermit-like and mute Archer Hale, who was abused by his uncle as a child and a gunshot left him unable to speak. A curiosity to everyone in town, Archer is more than that to Bree, who learns how to communicate with him. Told from Bree’s point of view, the story touches on silence, passion, and a need to heal.
Writing on the Dear Author website, a reviewer commented: “What drags the grade of the book down for me was the transformation of Archer from a bearded loner to the character he becomes at the end. It was too fantastical for me and not in keeping with the rest of the story. The ending drama was overstated as well.” Despite some flaws in the book such as cardboard villains, a bit too much love-as-all-healing-power, and a too abrupt and neat ending, “I can heartily recommend it to anyone looking for a fantastic read about a truly damaged hero and the power of love to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles,” noted Jenna Harper online at All About Romance.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, September 11, 2017, review of Most of All You, p. 50; April 9, 2018, review of More Than Words, p. 60.
ONLINE
All About Romance, https://allaboutromance.com/ (May 24, 2018), Jenna Harper, review of Most of All You; (June 19, 2014), Jenna Harper, review of Archer’s Voice.
Dear Author, https://dearauthor.com/ (September 1, 2018), review of Archer’s Voice.
Dirty Girl Romance, https://dirtygirlromance.com/ (June 20, 2016), review of Ramsay.
Harlequin Junkie, http://harlequinjunkie.com/ (June 11, 2018), review of More Than Words.
RT Book Reviews, https://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (August 21, 2017), Emily Walton, author interview.
Mia Sheridan
New York Times Best- Selling Author
Mia Sheridan is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. Her passion is weaving true love stories about people destined to be together. Mia lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband. They have four children here on earth and one in heaven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need to read your books in order?
A: No. All my books are standalones with no crossover storylines or characters. The only exceptions are Finding Eden which is the second part, and conclusion, to Becoming Calder (together, the two books make one complete standalone story), and Leo's Chance which is the hero's POV of Leo and just an extra.
Q: Why do you call it "The Sign of Love Collection?"
A: My Sign of Love novels each represent a sign of the zodiac in some way (through a legend or a trait described at the front of each book). So far I've done Leo and Leo's Chance (Leo), Stinger (Scorpio), Archer's Voice (Sagittarius), Becoming Calder and Finding Eden (Aquarius), Kyland (Taurus), Grayson's Vow (Libra), Midnight Lily (Virgo), Ramsay (Aries), Preston's Honor (Gemini), and Dane's Storm (Cancer), releasing as an Audible Original in March, and as an ebook/paperback in August.
More Than Words
Publishers Weekly.
265.15 (Apr. 9, 2018): p60+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
More Than Words
Mia Sheridan. Forever, $14.99 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-5387-2739-3
Sheridan explores the power of first love in a tale of childhood friends parted and reunited. After meeting in an abandoned boxcar in California, 11-year-old Jessie Creswell and 12-year-old Callen Hayes become friends. She reads him books from her French school and introduces him to music, and they share a first kiss. Then Callen fails to show at their next planned meeting, and Jessie is crushed. Ten years later, in the present day, Jessie is working part-time in Paris as a waitress while looking for a translating job. Callen, a famous composer with a hard-partying bad- boy reputation, comes to the bar where Jessie works. Though he hits on her and they enjoy a far more sizzling second kiss, Jessie is disappointed that he doesn't recognize her. At a chance meeting in the Loire Valley, where Jessie is translating some recently discovered cave writings that tell a love story connected to Joan of Arc, Callen recognizes her from the bar and realizes that she is the Jessie from his childhood. Jessie and Callen's touching whirlwind romance is balm for Callen's wounded soul, though Jessie remains wary of being just another conquest. Cleverly juxtaposing Callen and Jessie's relationship against the cave writings' 15th-century story of longing lovers, Sheridan keeps readers enthralled. Agent: Kimberly Brower, Browery Literary and Management. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"More Than Words." Publishers Weekly, 9 Apr. 2018, p. 60+. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A535099971/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=e6d02240. Accessed 7 Aug. 2018.
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http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Gale Document Number: GALE|A535099971
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http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Most of All You
Publishers Weekly.
264.37 (Sept. 11, 2017): p50+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Most of All You
Mia Sheridan. Forever, $14.99 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-5387-2734-8
In this gimmicky romance, bestseller Sheridan (Archer's Voice) unites two individuals who have experienced so much tragedy that their combined anguish may exhaust the reader. Ellie lost her beloved mother at an early age and was foisted on a father who had never known she existed and preferred it that way. Escaping at 18 from his insufficient protection, she is now a beautiful but wary young woman known as Crystal. While working as a stripper (Sheridan emphasizes that she had no choice but to pursue this career path), she has developed the necessary shell to survive. Then preternaturally handsome Gabriel appears in the strip club and makes an unusual request: he wants to hire Crystal to help him tolerate being touched so he can have a relationship with a woman. Gabriel's backstory is as horrific as hers: he was kidnapped as a child, locked in a basement, and tortured for years until he managed to kill his assailant to escape. Somehow, he has achieved a fairly normal adult life. Crystal is initially unwilling to participate in his experiment, afraid of being made to experience feelings herself, but circumstances force her to rely on Gabriel, and they fall in love quickly. Gabriel is brave and wants to move forward with his life; Crystal struggles with doubt and does not believe she deserves anything good. This novel often reads like a sappy, overwrought TV movie, but some readers who like seeing lost souls find each other and emerge stronger may enjoy it. Agent: Kimberly Brower, Brower Literary. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Most of All You." Publishers Weekly, 11 Sept. 2017, p. 50+. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A505634915/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=b1c87e3f. Accessed 7 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A505634915
3 of 3 8/7/18, 12:04 AM
Mia Sheridan on Tragedy and Moving Forward
Mon, 08/21/2017 - 5:59pm — Emily Walton
Monthly Edition:
(#404) October 2017
Our reviewer fell in love with Mia Sheridan’s Most of All You and gave this special book RT’s highest rating — a 5 Star Gold! The romance is described as “tentative and sweet and filled with the vulnerability that comes from bearing your heart and soul.” But this is so much more than just your standard boy-meets-girl romance, and both the hero and heroine have personal tragedies to overcome. Our reviewer says that “their healing processes, both apart and together, are inspiring, uplifting and raw in their intensity."
Clearly this is a must-read book, and you’ll find yourself drawn in to the story of Eloise “Crystal” Cates and Gabriel Dalton, and how together they learn to love again.
Author Mia Sheridan penned this incredible story, and we touched base with her to ask about her own story and how tragedy inspired her to write beautiful and honest stories.
Five years ago, my life as I knew it, ended as I stared at a silent ultrasound, my thirty-seven-week pregnant belly swollen and still under my hands, the prayers I'd been uttering dying on my lips. In a fog of unspeakable grief, I delivered our daughter, Darcy Rose, my uterus rupturing in the traumatic process. It couldn't be saved. For two days, I held my little girl's precious, perfectly formed body before having to say goodbye and hand her to a nurse who walked out of the room with the baby I loved with all my heart and soul.
I didn't know pain like that existed.
We returned home to an empty cradle and a life I no longer recognized. A world I couldn't understand. I was reeling with anguish. I felt battered and broken beyond repair. I will never survive this, I thought. No one could. No one should be expected to.
Why did this happen to me? I wondered as I sat rocking in the glider in the nursery I couldn't bear to pack away, all her tiny pink things still hanging in the closet, never to be worn. Each item I'd lovingly chosen as she'd moved and kicked within me. What terrible thing did I do to deserve this? Why? Why? Only somehow, sitting in the silence where a newborn's cry should be heard, I felt like I was asking the wrong questions. I just had no idea what the right ones might be, or if they'd make any difference. I felt dead inside.
But I wanted to live again — not just for me, but for my other children, for my husband, and for Darcy Rose. I wanted to make her proud of me. I wanted to be her voice on earth. I was desperate to give her short life meaning. And so eventually, through the long, painful months, the questions in my heart drifted away from why toward, what. What can I do with this pain? How can I make it matter?
I started writing a blog for family and friends about our experience and it helped. "Write a book," people said. "Write a book about Darcy."
"No," I answered. "I'm not ready for that." But…in a way, I did. In a way, I still do. Though it's not her story, per se, every book I write has a piece of her in it. Every story I create contains the memory of my deep longing to heal, the hope that there is life even after the most devastating of circumstances, my own belief that love is the reason we're all here and that love is always — always — worth any sacrifice.
Most of All You is my latest novel and it's a story about romantic love, but it's also a testament to hope, to healing, even when you've experienced the most tragic of events. It's the story of angels on earth, the ones who help us mend our broken hearts, the ones who can say with authority, "You will breathe life again." And you believe them because they've been there, too. It is the journey two people must take to figure out how their own pain can benefit the world — if only a small corner.
And in that miraculous way, suffering — even unthinkable pain — can be transformed into something beautiful.
We would like to thank Mia for sharing her story. You can pre-order your copy of Most of All You from one of these retailers: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Indiebound
*This post contains affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and purchase an item from the vendor, we receive a percentage of the profit (even if you don't buy the item we've linked to). Thank you for supporting RT Book Reviews!
REVIEW: More Than Words by Mia Sheridan
Posted June 11th, 2018 by Sara @HarlequinJunkie in Blog, Contemporary Romance, HJ Top Pick!, New Adult, Review, Rock Star Romance / 6 comments
HJ_TopPick
More Than Words by Mia Sheridan: Jessica is mostly living out her dream of living and working in Paris. Her childhood escapes into stories and adventures turned into a love of history and translating historic works. Finding jobs to pays the bills isn’t a problem, but she’s still searching for the kind of work that will really challenge her and test her skills.
Callen has turned a difficult childhood into a very successful career as a composer. He has fame, fortune, and an enviable lifestyle of endless parties. He’s very charming, sexy, and is never without a woman on his arm or in his bed. He’s struggling with a severe case of writer’s block and drowning out his fears with alcohol and women isn’t helping anymore.
Callen and Jessica were best friends as kids. They both found each other as an escape from a home life filled with problems and pain. They brought each other comfort and went on a variety of adventures, led by Jessie, until one day when Callen disappeared without a word. It’s over a decade later when they finally meet again.
“Hi, Callen.”
He shook his head very slowly. “Jessie Creswell? You’re…my God. You’re…Paris…You’re Jessie and you’re here. How?”
“Yes…I…” What did he ask? How am I here? “Uh…well, I-I’m here for a job. I’m working here.” I shook my head. “Not for the chateau, but at the chateau…and I’m staying here, temporarily.”
Both are surprised to run into each other again. Callen is more than ready to resume their friendship and more, but Jessie has no desire to be left behind yet again. It doesn’t help that Callen has quite the reputation for his many one-night stands. They agree to spend what time they can together and it’s exactly what Callen needed. They get closer every day and she is the one of the few people he actually trusts. With Jessie, he is sweet, generous, romantic, and a better person. Jessie sees him for the man he could be, if he could get out of his own way.
“I don’t know.”
“Just you and me, Jessie. Like old times.”
“We’re not kids anymore, though, Callen. Things aren’t as…simple.”
“We can make them simple. Because this has to be temporary. We live on different sides of the world.”
More Than Words is compelling, engaging, and emotional. Mia Sheridan pulled me in from the beginning and I didn’t want to put this down. Ms. Sheridan provided drama, angst, hope, anticipation, and all the feels. Fans of Christina Lauren, Nicole Jacquelyn, and Colleen Hoover will love More Than Words.
Book Info:
Publication: June 12th 2018 | Forever |
No one lays open the heart and soul quite like New York Times bestselling author Mia Sheridan.
The moment she met Callen Hayes, eleven-year-old Jessica Creswell knew he was a broken prince. Her prince. They became each other’s refuge, a safe and magical place far from their troubled lives. Until the day Callen kissed her–Jessica’s first real, dreamy kiss—and then disappeared from her life without a word.
Years later, everyone knows who Callen Hayes is. Famous composer. Infamous bad boy. What no one knows is that Callen’s music is now locked deep inside, trapped behind his own inner demons. It’s only when he withdraws to France to drink his way through the darkness that Callen stumbles into the one person who makes the music return. Jessica. His Jessie. And she still tastes of fresh, sweet innocence . . . even as she sets his blood on fire.
But they don’t belong in each other’s worlds anymore. There are too many mistakes. Too many secrets. Too many lies. All they have is that instinctive longing, that need—and something that looks dangerously like love.
add-goodreads
More Than Words by Mia Sheridan (Review by Caitlin Winkler)
Rating: 4.8/5*
“More Than Words” advertises itself as ‘a love story’ and it is absolutely correct! This was a beautifully written story about two characters that I felt were instantly likable and found myself rooting for throughout. Aside from just the plot of the story, there were so many literary elements that I love in a story-such as being told from the point of view of different narrators, Callen and Jessica, as well as having a story within a story, Adelaide and Joan of Arc “Jehanne”. In all honesty, I was completely captivated throughout.
Jessica and Callen are the two main characters of our novel, told from both perspectives, and they both carry with them memories of a past that has weighed heavily on their present. Jessica is a translator living in France and Callen a musician in LA. What brings these two together? Fate- a recurrent theme throughout. Interwoven in this story is the documents Jessica is translating about Adeline, friend and companion of Joan of Arc, and her own love story hundreds of years after it occurred.
“Love fiercely and without regret” is another theme throughout this book, first said by Joan of Arc but mirrored through Jessica in the present and Adelaide in the past. This quote left me wanting to make the most out of every second. I found this to be a beautiful, lovely read full of both darkness and light, but most of all full of a belief in fate. I would highly recommend this book!
Check it out here
Review: Most of All You by Mia Sheridan
October 17, 2017 By Mandi 4 Comments
Most of All You by Mia Sheridan
Released: October 17, 2017
Contemporary Romance
Forever
Reviewed by Mandi
This book pretty much gutted me – and I’m not one to use that term a lot. The author deceives you into thinking she is giving you a very broken hero, and a heroine who is going to help him find himself. Instead, you start to learn how absolutely vulnerable the heroine is, and this book is more her journey of rising out of the black pit of despair, and enjoying the sunsets and rainbows…and absolute true love.
Our heroine’s name is Ellie, but her stripper stage name is Crystal, if you happen to see that name in any of the quotes I include. She doesn’t tell Gabriel her real name until later in the book. When Ellie was young, her mother died and Ellie was left with her father, who didn’t even know she existed. Abused until she graduates high school, Ellie flees her father’s home and with no money, and turns to stripping. This slowly dries up her soul. She grits her teeth and lets the men do whatever they want to her, so she can pay rent and buy food, but she has become a robot of sorts. She has completely lost herself, and has buttoned up her past abuse and grief extremely tight.
Gabriel was kidnapped at the age of 9 and held for six years in a basement before killing his captor and escaping. We don’t get a lot of details about what he endured those six years, but you can assume abuse as well. His story is even more heartbreaking that his beloved parents died in a car accident, one year before he escaped. (my heart). Now as an adult, he can’t handle anyone touching him. He is an extremely talented sculptor, and makes pieces from the quarry his brother and himself own and run. Gabriel still lives in his hometown, and still gets stared at every time he goes out in public – and whispered about as being “that kid” who got kidnapped. He has become a bit of a recluse, living at home with his brother. When a grad student named Chloe contacts him and asks for an interview for her thesis paper that involves that long-term effect on kids who have been kidnapped, Gabriel decides to grant a rare interview. He also sees a picture of Chloe, and finds her attractive. He decides it’s time to learn to touch someone, so maybe he has a chance to flirt with Chloe when she comes out for the interview.
He heads to the local strip club, where he sees Ellie on stage and makes a bold proposition – he will pay her to innocently touch him. Like – just on the hand.
“The thing is, because of my history, which it sounds like you know a little bit about, I, uh, find it difficult to tolerate…closeness.” Two pink spots appeared on his cheekbones. Was he blushing? God, I didn’t even know men could blush. As if my opinion of him mattered somehow. Something small and warm moved through me, something I had little idea how to identify.
She is desperate for cash as her car has broken down and agrees. It doesn’t go well.
“I can teach you what I do when someone gets close to me. I remove myself completely, and it makes it bearable.” She bit her lip, her brow furrowing as if considering something. “I think I can teach you how to do that.”
My body stilled as I stared at her. Her words caused my heart to ache. Oh God. “That’s not what I want, though. I know how to remove myself. I know how to do that. I want to stay present. That’s what I need you to help me with. Staying.”
But when Ellie is horribly assaulted, and needs round the clock care, Gabriel is there with his home open to her. These two very broken people are forced into close proximity, and an endearing, rip-out-your-heart, love story unfolds.
There is so much that goes into this story. The way Ellie has been treated by men her entire life has shaped who she is today. It’s not good. They’ve used her and abused her and her spirit is broken. She has so much pain welled up inside – it’s completely heartbreaking. And throughout the book, she is still treated like shit. Not by Gabriel, but others. There is even a father figure to Gabriel who I really liked- and at one point Ellie asks him why he is being so nice to her, and his response is – because he trusts Gabriel. Nothing to do with Ellie. I just wanted to punch every man in the face.
How much can one person get beaten down (both figuratively and literally) and keep going? She doesn’t always treat Gabriel nicely – but her words are her only defense. Ellie is smart too – she knows Gabriel wants to fix her – and it’s that transition of her absolutely refusing anything from him, to falling in love with him and giving him everything, that is so well done in this story.
“Just coffee, that’s all I want.” Just to see you smile.
“That’s not all you want. You want to save me from my intolerable life of pain and misery.” She put a hand on her chest in overdone drama. “I’m not a project, and I don’t want your help.”
“I’m not here to fix you, Crystal. I just want—”
“What do you want?”
I let out a sigh, running my hand through my hair. “Just to talk. I like you.” God, could that sound any more lame? I wanted to grimace at my own feeble attempt to sway her.
She stared at me for a moment, something flickering behind her eyes that I wasn’t sure how to read. Whatever it was, she was fighting it. That cynical smirk curved her lips, but there was something shaky about it. “Don’t they all?” She stood straight, letting out a tired-sounding exhale. “That’s just sexual attraction, Gabe. You’ll get over it.”
Gabriel goes from the one who needs help with touch, to the one who every so slowly nurtures Ellie’s soul back to health. And I’m not saying Gabriel, a man, cures Ellie of her dark spirit. She takes time for herself and does that just fine on her own. But it’s Gabriel who gives her the push – and a foundation to love herself again.
“You can’t fix me, you know.”
She’d said something similar to me at the Platinum Pearl and I’d questioned my own motives. But looking at her now, I knew that had never been my intent. I wanted her to heal, and I hoped I could be a part of that. But no one could fix anyone else. We could only fix ourselves. “No, you’re right. I can’t fix you.” I can only love you. And I truly want to try.
Because Ellie comes to live with Gabriel injured, he is kind of forced (although 1000% willing) to touch her. He has to help feed her and dress her and after a while, the touching isn’t even a thing anymore.
There is so much depth to this story – that my rambling won’t do it justice. So I’m going to say – read this. Ellie is horribly assaulted outside the strip club and there a flashback of her being sexually abused as a teenager – so keep that in mind if that is a trigger for you.
I found this author’s voice to be outstanding. Her character development, the entire arc of the story, the darkness matched with all the hope. Maybe the final climatic scene was a little overly dramatic – but I’ll totally overlook it!!
I’m completely in love with this story.
Grade: A
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Most of All You: A Love Story
Mia Sheridan
Buy This Book
I’ve started an oddly weird tradition of gorging on a Mia Sheridan book for Mother’s Day. Back in 2014, it was her Archer’s Voice that had me ignoring my family in order to flip pages. This year, it was her 2017 title Most of All You: A Love Story (picked up via AAR’s Steals and Deals!) that captured my attention. What are the odds?
Eloise ‘Crystal’ Cates has had a rough life. At the age of seven, her dying mother dumped her on the doorstep of her biological father, a man who wanted nothing to do with the child he’d believed to have been properly aborted years ago. Growing up unwanted, unloved, abused and beaten down in every way possible, it’s no wonder she’s made a career for herself twirling naked around a stripper’s pole. She believes that all men only want one thing, that she’s only good for that one thing, and that the mistreatment she constantly gets is par for the course. Until she meets Gabriel Dalton.
Gabriel has also had it rough, although he managed to come out the other side of absolute horror with his soul intact. When he was nine years old, Gabe was abducted by a paedophile and held prisoner in a dank basement for six long years. He escaped only to learn that his parents had perished in a car accident, and the trauma has left him unable to endure any kind of physical closeness with anyone.
As a form of self-help, Gabe wanders down to the Platinum Pearl to seek out the kind of woman who would probably be willing to accept cash to help him overcome his aversion to touch. Crystal immediately captures his attention, and, at first, she agrees to help Gabe with his ‘therapy’. However, when it becomes clear that Gabriel is not like the other men she’s known and that he has the ability to crack through the miles-thick wall she’s built around herself, Crystal turns him away in a cruel, hurtful act.
Feeling guilty but glad to be rid of someone who makes her actually feel things, Crystal becomes the victim of a brutal attack that leaves her virtually helpless. With absolutely no-one to help and no way of taking care of herself, she must take Gabe up on his generous offer to live in his home so that he can care for her while she recovers. As the two spend time together, Crystal’s tough exterior begins to weaken, and she finds that she’s letting Gabe in a little bit at a time. Gabe discovers that being needed is just the thing necessary to get him over that last hurdle for complete healing, and that his initial belief that Crystal is something special was not wrong.
This book was great, and only a couple of things kept it from being a DIK for me. Ellie (‘Crystal’ becomes Ellie once she tells Gabe her real name) and Gabe are truly damaged characters with seriously traumatic backstories to explain their current states. It’s easy to believe that Gabe would hate physical touch and that Ellie would have deep trust issues given what they endured as children.
While it is heavily implied that Gabe suffered sexual abuse while he was a captive, Sheridan avoids all descriptions of that, and we have to assume that he received therapy to help him work through the trauma. Because he’s still unable to handle any physical contact, he’s a virginal hero, however his sexual awakening is never a focus beyond the fact that Ellie gives him his first kiss. Honestly, other than the motive for him to seek out Ellie, his aversion to touch doesn’t pose too much of an obstacle between them. Indeed, Gabe is a remarkably well-adjusted man given what he went through. I found that the way that he coped during his captivity, the way that he maintained his sanity during what amounted to six years of complete isolation, to be very creative and touching.
I appreciated that Sheridan avoids a few Big Misunderstandings between Ellie and Gabe by having them actually talk about things and letting the other explain situations that might look bad. That said, I did become frustrated by Ellie’s inability to accept that Gabe truly had feelings for her, despite that fact that he confesses it openly and often once they reached that point in their relationship. One of my biggest pet-peeves is the character who believes – despite hundreds of reassurances – that he or she is no good for their love interest and that, in order to ‘save’ the one they love from making a tragic mistake, they must make the ultimate sacrifice and walk away. Ellie falls into this trap, and I kind of wanted to shake her. This couple had enough emotional baggage without her adding a Martyr Complex to the mix. Sheridan skirts very close to this sad cliché, just managing to save the situation when Ellie has the epiphany that Gabe can’t truly save her, but she must save herself.
Unfortunately, this led to my sense of déjà vu towards the last quarter of the book, when Ellie and Gabe’s trajectory begins to read a lot like Archer and Bree’s story from Archer’s Voice. Ellie realizes that Gabe’s love can only heal her so far and that she must find her own strength, the same way that Archer came to see that he couldn’t rely on Bree to save him. I never worried, however, that Gabe and Ellie wouldn’t find their way back to each other, so the whole exercise felt somewhat perfunctory. Too, a lot of things fall magically into place and Ellie’s self-discovery without the aid of professional help comes off as a bit too fairy-tale.
My other issue is so nit-picky I hesitate to bring it up. Ellie’s real name – Eloise – was a hard one for me to wrap my brain around. It’s not only old-fashioned but far from sexy, so every time Gabe called her ‘Eloise’, I winced. Sticking with just ‘Ellie’ would have been fine, but he doesn’t. And there is a far-fetched coincidence with Ellie’s name that I won’t spoil that did cause me a bit of eye-rolling. Still, this name hang-up is probably just me, so no harm, no foul.
In the end, I can highly recommend Most of All You to anyone looking for a love-heals-all story with two genuinely damaged leads. It is well written with engaging characters, and Mia Sheridan is quickly becoming one of my auto-buy authors. Even better than breakfast in bed, she’s now my Mother’s Day treat!
Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo
Buy Most of All You: A Love Story by Mia Sheridan:
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Book Details
Reviewer: Jenna Harper
Review Date: May 24, 2018
Publication Date: 10/2017
Grade: B+
Sensuality Subtle
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
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Archer's Voice
Mia Sheridan
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It’s a rare book that compels me to spend the entire day reading, so I was thankful that I began Mia Sheridan’s Archer’s Voice the morning of Mother’s Day so I could indulge in such a great story without guilt while the family fed me and handled the daily chores.
Bree Prescott arrives in the tiny Maine town of Pelion hoping to find peace from the nightmares that have plagued her ever since she and her father became the victims of a brutal crime. She rents a cottage by a picturesque lake, gets a job as a waitress in the local diner, and does her best to fight the morning panic attacks she endures every day. While she’s glad the locals are friendly and welcoming, Bree has no plans to get romantically involved with anyone. She certainly never expects to be so intrigued by the town’s eccentric recluse, a man who won’t speak to anyone and whose family’s past dramas still provide fuel for gossip and speculation.
With his scraggly beard and unkempt hair, Archer Hale looks like the hermit he has become. A childhood tragedy has left him mute and emotionally scarred, and being raised by a paranoid uncle further intensified Archer’s feelings of isolation and freakishness. He keeps to himself, only venturing off his land for necessities. When he literally bumps into Bree in a parking lot, she barely registers in his mind. But then she shows up at his house, and he finds that she can actually understand him. Before long, he begins to look forward to her visits, and against every instinct he has, he begins to care for her.
As Bree gets to know Archer, she discovers that he is nothing like the man others in the town believe him to be. It takes her a while to get past his initial coldness, but once she does, she finds a strength in him that helps her begin to heal. However, Archer’s fear of abandonment is crippling, and Bree fears that he’ll never be able to trust anyone or allow himself to feel love again.
I’ve labeled this book a contemporary, but it could also fit into the New Adult genre given that Bree and Archer are both in their early twenties. To be sure, there are little of the typical NA tropes, and even when the book does skirt close to clichés, it manages to remain fresh and unique.
Archer is truly a damaged hero. His handicap is legitimate – he can’t speak because his vocal chords were irreparably damaged when he was a child. The trauma that he witnessed along with the ostracism he suffered through the majority of his developmental years combine to inflict real emotional problems for this man.
As for Bree, she’s the perfect combination of determined without coming off as pushy. When Archer at first ignores her attempts to communicate with and befriend him, she doesn’t give up. But never do her efforts to get to know him cross the line into stalker-like behaviour. She has to earn his trust and the pay off is well worth the effort.
For those who enjoy a virginal hero, Archer’s Voice is a wonderful example of the trope done well. Archer’s situation has naturally lead to his current state of complete innocence, his introduction to sex having been nothing more than some girlie magazines handed to him by an uncle uncomfortable with answering a thirteen-year-old Archer’s questions. While Archer’s ability to become a great lover in a very short time stretches credulity, his delight in discovering the pleasures of physical intimacy is genuine.
However, I did have some problems with the book. The ending was a bit too abrupt and neat. The villains were cardboard-ish and overly dastardly, although Sheridan does manage to give him some nuance by the end of the book. Too, the big plot twist involving the tragedy that left Archer an orphan was obvious from the beginning. While necessary to establish Archer’s backstory and the reasons for his current mental state, I found all of the Hale family drama to be wholly unnecessary and predictable and wished that Sheridan had just left all of that out. In addition, Bree’s ability to speak sign language came across as an unlikely coincidence. And when it’s explained how Archer himself learned sign language, I had serious doubts that such a thing could truly happen.
Sheridan also engages in some unfair writerly tactics wherein she keeps information from the reader just so that she can reveal the truth in dramatic fashion. For example, at one point Archer finds himself with a prostitute, and things seem headed in a very specific direction before we cut out from his point of view. Bree believes what we as readers are also lead to believe, only for us all to find out later that there was a big misunderstanding. This happens again towards the end of the book when Sheridan indulges in a cruel attempt to manipulate the reader by heavily implying one situation to be the case only to reveal the truth a few pages later. I saw no reason for this bait-and-switch and didn’t appreciate the breach in reader/writer trust.
The story contained a bit too much love-as-all-healing-power. With Archer’s support, Bree has a major breakthrough in coping with the trauma she had endured. But after that significant beginning, we get little to nothing of the lingering effects of her PTSD, as if she were magically cured by his love when in fact she surely could have used some professional counseling.
Oddly, though, Sheridan pulls the exact opposite when it came to healing Archer’s emotional and mental scars. Rather than Bree’s love solving all of his problems, it served to exasperate Archer’s extreme – and understandable – fear of abandonment. His fear that his constant need for reassurance would eventually drive Bree to resent him comes from a legitimate place, and his solution to the problem is internally driven. He realizes that she can’t save him, he must save himself.
Archer’s Voice missed DIK status by the slimmest margin, but while it has its flaws, I can heartily recommend it to anyone looking for a fantastic read about a truly damaged hero and the power of love to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
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Book Details
Reviewer: Jenna Harper
Review Date: June 19, 2014
Publication Date: 2014/01
Grade: B+
Sensuality Hot
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
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REVIEW: Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan
JaneA Reviews / B- ReviewsContemporary / disability / New Adult / virgin hero14 Comments
Dear Ms. Sheridan:
When I came upon your book, I had spent several weeks reading dark books with quite a few anti heroes and your sweet, tender romance was quite refreshing. I had no idea what I was in for when I started the book as I hadn’t read you before.
Archer's Voice mia sheridanBree Prescott suffered an unknown trauma, got in her car and just drove. She ended up in a small town in Maine where she rents a cabin and hopes to heal. In Pelion, Maine, Bree encounters the Hale boys. Archer Hale is a loner who lives on his land and rarely comes to town. His cousin, Travis, is the opposite. He is gregarious and flirtatious but it is Archer to whom Bree is drawn.
Most of the story is told from Bree’s first person point of view although there are a few scenes from Archer’s. Archer is mute from an incident that happened back when he was seven years old. Shy, uncommunicative, and possibly a bit agoraphobic, Archer doesn’t really know what to make of Bree who keeps stopping by his property but he looks forward to every visit.
For Bree, there’s something that intrigues her about Archer. The fact that he can’t speak doesn’t bother her at all because, as we are told early on, she is “intimately acquainted with that disability.” I don’t want to give it away (although it does appear fairly early in the text) but someone close to Bree was deaf and because of that she knows how to sign. Her ability to sign and perhaps her familiarity with deaf people makes the connection with Archer easier. Others view him as strange and even a little dumb.
Because Archer is inexperienced with women and because he has an intense desire to please Bree, he is easily manipulated by his cousin which causes drama between Bree and Archer but for the most part, most of the conflict is external.
Much of the time is spent with Bree and Archer getting to know each other, both emotionally and then physically. Archer’s had very little experience with the opposite sex and for those who enjoy the virgin hero trope, Archer’s lusty and sweet awakening to intercourse is well done.
The conflict is primarily driven by the other Hales, specifically Travis the cousin and his mother. Archer tells Bree that he is mute because he was shot by his uncle when he was seven. The story opens with a seven year old Archer listening to his Uncle Connor beg his mother Lys to run away. As the tale unfurls, you learn of a complicated soap operatic relationship between the Hale brothers and Archer’s mother. And there’s some suggestion that drama is attempting to repeat itself between Bree, Archer and Travis only Bree’s affections clearly lie with Archer.
What drags the grade of the book down for me was the transformation of Archer from a bearded loner to the character he becomes at the end. It was too fantastical for me and not in keeping with the rest of the story. The ending drama was overstated as well.
Both characters are in their twenties, but the tone of the story does read a bit young despite the explicit love scenes. However, reading about a tender, sweet, inexperienced hero after several dozen alpha males, this felt like a breath of fresh air. B-
Best regards,
Jane
Review: ★Ramsay★ by Mia Sheridan
June 20, 2016 by Lana · Leave a Comment
review- ramsay by mia sheridanRAMSAY
Series: Sign of Love
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Mia Sheridan
Release Date: June 19, 2016add-to-goodreads-button-2
Ramsay- Dirty Girl Romance
Lydia De Havilland is shocked when Brogan Ramsay suddenly reappears in her life. Several years before, Brogan was the son of her family’s gardener, and the boy she hurt and betrayed. But Brogan is no longer the quiet, sensitive boy she remembers. Now he’s a man—gorgeous, powerful . . . and seeking vengeance.
Brogan Ramsay can’t let go of the memory of Lydia tricking him cruelly, leaving his heart shattered and his family penniless. And now he’s back to destroy her family the way his was destroyed. There’s only one problem . . . the girl who wounded him so badly years ago is now a woman who still has the power to render him breathless.
Ramsay is the story of betrayal and wrath, of the strength of regret and the power of forgiveness. It is the story of the thin veil between love and hate, and how more often than not, when we seek to inflict pain on others, the heart we wound is our own.
THIS IS A STAND-ALONE SIGN OF LOVE NOVEL, INSPIRED BY ARIES. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.
Buy-Links10AMAZONReview3.5 starsRamsay-DGR teaser
Forgiveness isn’t an emotion. Forgiveness is a choice. And sometimes it’s one you have to choose again and again.
I’ve been sitting on my rating for several days now and if I’m being perfectly honest, I still have no idea how to rate this fairly. On the one hand, I absolutely loved the writing style and the premise of the story. I loved the emotion, the feeling, the vividness with which Mia Sheridan wrote the characters. I’m a sucker for the revenge plot and a second chance love story and this book had it in spades. It was written with plenty of emotion to grip the reader and make the characters’ struggles their own. On the other hand there were some things about the story and the direction some things took and decisions made that left me conflicted and frustrated. This is really one of those times where I NEED a half star, because while this book wasn’t exactly a three star, it just wasn’t quite a solid four for me either.
She was everything soft and beautiful and feminine, and she made me want in a way I both loved and hated.
Seven years ago, the son of the gardener fell in love with a princess. She was everything unattainable and what he couldn’t have. But that love led to a betrayal that cost him and his family everything. Leaving him destitute, heart broken, and knowing one thing; he’ll never beg for anything again. But the burn of that betrayal never left Brogan and left him craving revenge more than his next breath.
I hated them-hated the whole lot of them. And now they’d pay. And I’d enjoy every minute of it. I wouldn’t allow anything else.
Now the tables have turned. Lydia is barely keeping her father’s once thriving company afloat. Her brother is deep in gambling debt and alcohol and the only answer to keeping her father’s company is to beg the man that wants to make her pay for everything. Brogan Ramsay. The same man that still leaves her breathless just as the young boy did all those years ago. But Brogan is no longer that boy she once knew. The Brogan of today is cruel, cold, and determined to make her pay for everything his family suffered from her foolish mistake those years ago.
But not everything is as it seems and both Lydia and Brogan harbor secrets of their own. Lydia’s may heal their wounds, but Brogan’s may rip them to shreds.
Ramsay is a powerfully emotional story of forgiveness and the cost of revenge. I absolutely loved Brogan, it’s impossible not to. Being able to be in his head and know his internal struggle over the things he does, his guilt over doing them, and his anger that he just can’t shut off just helped connect with him fully. You truly understand why he does the things he does even if at times you want to hate him for it.
Lydia is a heroine that will be a bit of a crap shoot for some. Some readers may not fully understand her easy acceptance of things her brother does and her even easier forgiveness of them. Family is a tricky thing and as much as I wanted to shake some sense into her some times, a part of me did understand how difficult it was for her considering her brother was her only living family left. She wanted to believe the best in him, almost to the point of delusion. At times her jumping to conclusion of Brogan and the choices she made soon after left me frustrated beyond belief. She was almost naively susceptible to bad thing. But then again, she is young and led a bit of a sheltered life, so I couldn’t judge too harshly.
Ultimately what led to my lower rating was the last 30%. There was just a little too much happening. Between Lydia and Brogan’s relationship and trust issues, their guilt and anger, her brother, Courtney, and a few other things I won’t mention due to spoilers, it just felt a bit OTT for my tastes. Maybe if they were dispersed throughout the book, it would have been a little easier to swallow. but the quick succession of these things taking place just left my head reeling.
I absolutely loved the secondary characters; Fionn and Eileen were like the glue that held everything together. Instead of distracting from the story they added a little something to it that made it just that much better. I don’t remember the last time I read a book where I loved the secondary characters almost as much as the main ones, but that was definitely the case here.
One thing is for sure, Mia Sheridan is an incredible story teller. Her characters are some that will stay with you for a long time to come. And while my rating is not what I’d hoped, I still enjoyed this story. Sure, it left me frustrated at times, but it’s not one I regret reading and I’d certainly recommend it to any fans of this author and those that love a little revenge with their romance. I’m definitely a huge fan of this author and I look forward to anything she may release next.
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