Gold by K.A. Linde: Review & Giveaway

Synopsis

The prey becomes the predator.

Love. That cursed four-letter word no longer belongs in Bryna’s vocabulary. The only four-letter word she knows now is gold. 

...and fuck

She’s well acquainted with that one. And that’s exactly what she plans to do. She’s no longer the golden girl, and when she meets a businessman who promises everything she could ever want from the arrangement, she intends to get her money’s worth.

Follow the conclusion to Bryna’s gold digging story in this scandalizing, duplicitous second book to the USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde’s All That Glitters series.

★★★★ 4 Stars ★★★★

My Review

Diamonds (All That Glitters, Book #1) was met with mixed emotions; readers were suffocated by their own ambivalence and frustration. These emotions fueled intense feelings, both negative and positive. I personally thrive on any emotion a book can create, even if that feeling strongly resembles hate. For others though, these emotions can alienate them from truly connecting to a story or most importantly, the characters. In this case, it was the heroine, Bryna, who was the trigger. The loaded gun. She was an absolute mess. The entire story was a mess.  You are kind of left hating everything.

But I liked it.

Not only did I feel that Diamonds was a necessary foundation. I also felt the author purposely forced the readers to hit rock bottom in order to build something amazing from the ashes. To quote myself from my original review of Diamonds:

“I wasn't so much in love with this book, as much as I'm in love with where it's going.”

 Gold went there.

I LOVED IT!! But what absolutely kills me, is that I can’t detail why without MAJOR spoilers.

THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS!

I just need to emphasize to you that the relationship in Gold, THE relationship (you’ll know the one I’m talking about) is fantastically indescribable. I loved everything about him. Them. Their journey.  These are the type of relationships I read to find! This was an entirely different book, an entirely different Bryna.

It even has an HEA! Which terrifies me. Truly horrifies me. With two more books left in this series, the other shoe is bound to drop. Damn you shoe! What the hell will K.A. Linde do to me next? I can’t wait to find out.

The thing I want for everyone to get out of this review is that despite how you felt about Diamonds, you need to read this book. Don’t get smothered by your own negativity, continue the journey.

It will take you there.

READ ON!

★★★★ 4 Stars ★★★★

Books in the Series

Diamonds (All That Glitters, #1)

Amazon
B&N
Kobo

Gold (All That Glitters, #2)

Amazon
iBooks
Kobo

Platinum (All That Glitters, #3)
Release TBD. The third stand alone book in the All That Glitters series. Follows Trihn Hamilton, one of Bryna's best friends, in their junior year of college as she navigates her parent's expectations and the heady lifestyle she and her friends have created in fabulous Las Vegas.
Goodreads

Silver (All That Glitters, #4)
Release TBD. The fourth stand alone book in the All That Glitters series. Follows Stacia Daniels, the second of Bryna's best friends, in their senior year of college as she struggles with the consequences of her jersey chasing desires in fabulous Las Vegas.
Goodreads

GIVEAWAY

K.A. Linde is giving away a $50 Amazon gift card!

 K.A. Linde's GOLD Release Week Giveaway

Diamonds by K.A. Linde Blog Tour: Review, Exclusive Excerpt, and enter to win a $100 amazon gift card!

Diamonds by K.A. Linde


Blurb:
Bryna feels his eyes on her.

Hot, seductive, enticing.

He’s at least ten years older than her seventeen years, and he knows exactly what he’s doing to her with that look.

Walking away would be the smart thing to do…

But she can’t. Not that first night when he takes her home and claims her body. Not when he shows up in her life again with expensive gifts to win her trust. Not even when she’s falling for him, and everything else is falling apart…

Find out how Bryna goes from golden girl to gold digger in this tantalizingly scandalous first book in the USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde’s All That Glitters series.


Review:
Diamonds definitely takes a dip into the early synapses of K.A. Linde's controversial mind. Though I respect the diversity of her writing over the years, I feel that this book unquestionably brings us back to her roots. This series will once again polarize her fans and readers to epic extremes. Love. Hate. Frustration. Anger. She characteristically makes it difficult to like any one character too much, especially the heroine. The ambivalent emotions her readers will feel for any one person is what makes this book interesting; it's what makes her writing interesting. She's not afraid to alienate the reader. That is what pushes them to want more. They want to connect. They want to "like" a character so much that they become trapped in a world that frustrates the hell out of them, but a world they can't bring themselves to leave. It is also why K.A. Linde is one of the very few authors I will tolerate a love triangle from. The ambivalence leaves it possible for me to change my mind, instead of just stearing me towards the direction that I'm "suppose" to go.


Diamonds is fast paced entertainment. It's not an epic romance, or tear jerker. And it won't leave you connecting with any deep seated emotions. It's angsty. It's frustrating. It's hot, and I had fun reading it. I wasn't so much in love with this book as much as I'm in love with where it's going. You can't really call it a prequel because it's not pre-anyting, but it's definitely the beginning. Instead of just telling us what made Bryna the person she will become, with Diamonds, we get to live it. I can't wait to meet the character that this book created.

So, to the fans of K.A. Linde who have missed toeing the line between love and hate...

Welcome Home.

READ ON!

★★★ 3.5 stars ★★★

Amazon
Amazon UK
B&N
Kobo
iBooks
Paperback

Excerpt: 

“No,” she finally said. “I don’t think you should.”

“Good.”

His hand slid around her waist where his long fingers splayed across her lower back. Her heart thrummed to a beat from his touch. She was warm everywhere at once. If he kept this fire simmering in her core, she knew there would be no going back.

She held on to her confidence and met his dark gaze. The gaze of the devil incarnate tempting her to sin, offering her the apple from the Garden of Eden. Perhaps he was a snake. But if sin tasted this good, then she understood why Eve had thirsted for knowledge.

“Dance?” he suggested.

His hand slid into hers and drew her out to the dance floor. They were soon consumed by people and lost in the crowd. He pressed her back into his chest. Their hips swayed to the beat. His fingers dug into the material of her tight dress, and she groaned at the feel of him. He knew exactly what he was doing.

The heat between them escalated. He pulled her hands over her head and around his neck. He pressed his pelvis into her ass as she ground herself against him. His mouth touched the sensitive skin on her neck, and she shivered all over. He traveled up to her ear, and then grasped her chin, forcing her to give him better access. His lips settled along her jaw and then her cheek. Her eyes fluttered closed in the dark room. Her skin vibrated under his touch as she anticipated what was to come. She swallowed, barely breathing, as she felt the gentlest of brushes. A taste. A test.

Then, he was kissing her. The world went dark. The kiss was hot and insistent and as greedy as the music moving through the bodies around them.

His tongue brushed against her lips, and she opened her mouth to let him in. Their tongues met, and she was lost. She voraciously pulled his mouth down onto hers, never wanting to break away.

As the kiss intensified, he turned her around and drew her into his arms. Her body was on fire. Her face was flushed. Her hands clutched the collar of his shirt. She could do this all night.

She broke away, breathless. Her pupils blasted out, and her chest heaved.

Their game was coming to an end. She had forfeited the prize in the heat of the moment on the crowded dance floor.

“Leave with me,” he breathed into her ear.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

He lightly nipped her ear, and she shivered.

“You don’t.”

Giveaway:

Click here for a chance to win a $100 amazon gift card!

About the author:

USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde has written the Avoiding series and the Record series as well as the new adult novels Following Me and Take Me for Granted. She grew up as a military brat traveling the United States and Australia. While studying political science and philosophy at the University of Georgia, she founded the Georgia Dance Team, which she still coaches. Post-graduation, she served as the campus campaign director for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An avid traveler, reader, and bargain hunter, K.A. lives in Athens, Georgia, with her fiancé and two puppies, Riker and Lucy.

Connect with K.A. Linde:

Website

@AuthorKALinde

Facebook

Goodreads

 *Join the Diamonds after party on Facebook!

Add the Series to your TBR!

Gold (All That Glitters, #2)
July 7, 2015

The prey becomes the predator.

Love. That cursed four-letter word no longer belongs in Bryna’s vocabulary. The only four-letter word she knows now is gold.

…and fuck.

She’s well acquainted with that one. And that’s exactly what she plans to do. She’s no longer the golden girl, and when she meets a businessman who promises everything she could ever want from the arrangement, she intends to get her money’s worth.

Follow the conclusion to Bryna’s gold digging story in this scandalizing, duplicitous second book to the USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde’s All That Glitters series.

Goodreads

Preorder GOLD!
Amazon
iBooks
Kobo

Platinum (All That Glitters, #3)
Release TBD. The third stand alone book in the All That Glitters series. Follows Trihn Hamilton, one of Bryna's best friends, in their junior year of college as she navigates her parent's expectations and the heady lifestyle she and her friends have created in fabulous Las Vegas.
Goodreads

Silver (All That Glitters, #4)
Release TBD. The fourth stand alone book in the All That Glitters series. Follows Stacia Daniels, the second of Bryna's best friends, in their senior year of college as she struggles with the consequences of her jersey chasing desires in fabulous Las Vegas.
Goodreads 

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