Title: Epic Sins Author: Trudy Stiles
Series: Epic Fail #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: November 4, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
More Info: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon US
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Purchase: Amazon UK
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Garrett Armstrong, the lead guitarist of Epic Fail, womanizer and not-so-nice guy, leaves a trail of women in his wake. A recent one-night stand wreaks havoc and turns his present completely upside down. He’s faced with a reality that he never expected. Never wanted.
Samantha Weston can’t escape the black cloud that follows her. She suffered an unspeakable loss as a teenager and has been climbing uphill ever since. As soon as her life starts to become manageable, she’s slammed with another tragic event, forcing her to abandon the only thing in life that she cherishes.
A heartbreaking situation throws this unlikely pair together. They’re forced to face things that seem impossible. Can Sam get past the demons that haunt her? Can Garrett accept a fate he swore to avoid at all costs?
Can they conquer the sins that are poised to destroy them, or will they become an Epic Fail?
Epic Sins is the first book of the Epic Fail series, a spinoff of The Forever Family series.
Reading The Forever Family series is not required as these are all spin-off/standalone novels, but it may enhance your experience.
Title: Epic Sins
Series: Epic Fail #1
Author: Trudy Stiles
Genre: New Adult Romance
Cover Design: Okay Creations
Release Date: November 4, 2015
Trailer
My Review
As with all of Trudy’s other works, Epic Sins was truly a good solid read. She writes in a way that is not only appealing to the reader but comfortable; in a way that the words seem to flow off the page and embed themselves in your mind. What I love about her books is the way the characters and story lines become buried in the very fiber of your being. I’m not tossing words out there lightly when I say you finish her stories and not only does your heart feel lighter but you have the strong desire to go out and do good in the world in some way, shape or form. Now this isn’t to say that the road to get there is paved with rainbows and unicorns frolicking through the fields; no, rather it is littered with land mines just waiting to implode your soul and heartache the likes of which you feel you’ll never recover from. It’s a road less traveled, but what makes her stories so authentic is it’s a road she’s traveled herself. She’s not just talking out of her rear and basing her theories off research; this woman genuinely knows what these characters have been through. There’s something about that that just makes the reading experience all the more veritable.
I’m going to be 100% honest here and this may be a first for me seeing as it’s my favorite genre; I truly think this book could have done without the romance element altogether. Even being as it was, you only get it in the last 20% or so, and at that point it just seems like an afterthought; a foregone conclusion. I saw the conflict coming a mile away. In the beginning I had my suspicions and then after a certain event was celebrated I knew for sure what was coming. Now, this may sound like me complaining but it couldn’t be further from the truth. I just think the story was so great on its own, it almost didn’t even need the romance factor. For me the story was about the growth and adaptation of the characters as they learned not only to accept and acclimate to their current circumstances but to forgive others and most importantly, themselves.
I love that this story was told in dual POV because I really feel like we needed that to truly understand each character fully. I enjoyed the past to present timeline alternating chapters, as I felt like Trudy slowly gave us bits and pieces to solve the puzzle ourselves. I loved that she laid the groundwork and left us to our own devices as to the assumptions we ultimately made. And even though my assumptions were correct, the journey to get there was magical. You may not like Garrett very much in the beginning but that is to be expected. But if you take the time to look beyond the surface you will find a man who is just scared and trying to find his way in a world that has often abandoned him. Ultimately, besides forgiveness, that’s what this story is about. Feelings of abandonment. All three of our main characters experience it, through no fault of their own and even through no fault of some of the abandoners. But regardless of the circumstance, the feeling is still there and its a hard one to overcome. The moment they accepted what was right in front of them was beautiful though. Trudy excels in pulling every emotion from the pages and thrusting them in your face, unable to deny them.
I’ll leave you with this; trust in the author. She’s going to take you on a head trip, but I promise that in the end she’ll put you back together better than when you began. She continues to amaze me with each book she publishes and I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next!
Epic Lies (Epic Fail, #2)
Coming Early 2016!
Epic Love (Epic Fail, #3)
Coming Summer 2016!
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