Showing posts with label Cynthia A. Rodriguez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cynthia A. Rodriguez. Show all posts

Monday, November 7, 2016

Review - Souls Collide by Cynthia Rodriguez - Jill Mac


Title: Souls Collide
Series: Crashing Souls #2
Author: Cynthia A. Rodriguez
Release Date: Oct 26, 2016





You remember me. You still hide from me, despite my fleeting weakness. Despite seeing my heart. Despite witnessing the miraculous moment I gave to a young man with the purest intentions.
The singular moment that changed everything. Lives hung by threads and I not only cut one, I mended it, changing everything without realizing the repercussions.
I could give them hope. I could even help them fall.
But I could not repair the trust they damaged.
You think you know their story.
But you do not know everything.


Most people don’t get second chances, but Dexter Andrews can’t seem to get it right. Not when he’s connected with his soul mate and not years later when he finds out about the tragic secret she kept from him. Now it’s his turn to set her free and pray that she finds her way back to their love. Even when it hurts so badly he feels like he can’t breathe.
Noa Cruz knows she isn’t perfect. She knows she is selfish and a liar, but she’s different now and that means putting her responsibilities before the love she keeps quiet.
Two lovers, made for one another, defying their destiny.

Souls Collide is a companion novella to Crashing Souls, the story that introduced us to the sweet Dexter and his passionate yet troubled soul mate, Noa.






Souls Collide was the perfect ending to Dexter and Noa's story.  I fell in love with their story in the first book  Crashing Souls, and I was beyond excited to read the rest of their story.  

"We loved each other so much that we hated each other."

Souls Collide picks up right where Crashing Souls ends. If you read Crashing Souls, you know that Dexter and Noa's story was anything but easy.  It was hard, but it was real.  These two have a love that is just, I don't even have the right words for it.  They are honestly the true definition of soul mates.  They both had everything in life against them, mostly each other getting in the way, but deep down you know that they are meant to be with the other.  

" I still loved her through my silence.  I yearned for her, for my match.  While part of me called for her, another part of me stopped myself from reaching out to her.  Because I both loved and hated the woman who was the mate of my soul."

For real, like to be completely honest, Cynthia is unlike any author I've ever read.  Her words are so poetic and beautiful, even through heartbreak.  I knew once I picked this book up I wouldn't be able to put it down.  Cynthia's words took hold of me and held me hostage until I read the last word.  The story itself is unlike any other story I've come across.  It has everything I look for in a book and more.  A devastating love, so destructive, yet so beautiful.  Two characters who you just couldn't help but love and feel bad for.  I loved and understood both Noa and Dexter.  Usually when reading you tend to be on one characters side more than the other.  With Souls Collide I couldn't pick a side.  I understood both characters, and I wasn't mad at them for how they acted in their situation.  

Cynthia, you did such an amazing job with this story and these characters.  I found myself slowing down towards the end because I didn't want to part with them.  I loved this book so much!

This wasn't my first of Cynthia's books, and I can promise you it wont be my last!

<3 Jill Mac




     


I got in the shower and tried not to think about it as I scrubbed my skin and washed the hair I’d have to pull back today. It was getting too long to wear down. The absence of the hot water when I turned the shower off had me reaching for my towel quickly.
I wiped the fog from the mirror, my eyes immediately drawn to the words in my skin. My mind was already Noa’s, but now she owned my body and she’d always own my soul.
Every time I saw the tattoo, it was like a portal straight to Memory Land where Noa was the ruler. The sweetest hell.
It was no wonder she could so easily forget. I’d been the fool to get a tattoo as a reminder of her ownership of me right where I could see it every day. She’d been the smarter of the two of us to get it somewhere she didn’t have to see it.
But did anyone else ever see it and ask her what it meant? And if they did, what did she say? What did she feel in that split moment when she allowed herself to remember that night when we ventured out into the world after hours of lovemaking and marked each other in a way the world couldn’t ignore?
Did I own her in that moment?
My chest constricted at the thought. Even if she was mine for only that moment, I’d take it. Moments strung together like Christmas lights were enough to make the world just a little brighter.
I didn’t wipe the mirror when my image began to cloud with steam again. The dark smudge of the words in my skin were still visible. I remembered those four words and what they meant to me.
She only seems free.
She no longer seemed free. She was free. Noa was free of me.
I dressed with care, as I usually did. Having a put-together appearance usually kept people off my back. If I looked like I had it all, no one would doubt it.
I was grabbing my favorite pair of dress shoes when my hand brushed against something. I closed my eyes momentarily before grabbing it and straightening.
My camera. The one Noa had gotten me for Christmas.
What Noa didn’t know was that this device, built with plastics and metals and glass had moments of ours trapped inside. I turned it on, ignoring the flicker indicating a low battery. A few button presses later and there she was. The smooth expanse of naked skin, her hair piled on top of her head, her fresh tattoo, the bubbles surrounding her. I caught her before I started cooking dinner. Pressing the button with the arrow pointed right, it was like watching her come to life in slow motion. Each inhale, exhale, and inhale…as if she were taking deep calming breaths. If I listened close enough, I could hear the sound of the water filling the tub.
The camera’s screen shut off, and just like in real life, I hadn’t experienced her nearly enough. A story without a conclusion, a movie cut off nowhere near the end credits.
I shoved the camera back where it was hidden. I wouldn’t charge it. I hadn’t touched it since the day Noa gave it to me. As I turned off the light in the closet, I shook my head.
I’d likely charge it as soon as I got home from work. Each memory was a hit of emotion. It reminded me that I was living and breathing.







Cynthia A. Rodriguez hates writing her own bio. In her spare time, you can find her watching movies, ranging anywhere from classic movies to action flicks (she has a weakness for Marvel adaptations), and reading steamy novels. She is stationed in North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and their Miniature Pinscher, Winnie (as in Pooh).
   

Friday, April 15, 2016

Release Day Blitz ~ The Sound of Serendipity by Cynthia A. Rodriguez

Title: The Sound of Serendipity
Author: Cynthia A. Rodriguez
Release Date: April 14, 2016
Find on Goodreads
So many things can happen to a person on a Central Park bench.
For Emerson Kingsley, falling in love happened, despite her broken monster of a heart.
Emerson knows more about listening than she does about love, whether it’s listening to artists as a music producer or listening to stories as she people watches.
Months of watching Maddox Bailey from a park bench are to blame for her infatuation. In her mind, the moment they meet will be spectacular if she ever finds the nerve to speak to him.
But when the two share an awkward cab ride, she realizes that maybe fantasies are meant to stay that way.
The only problem is, now that they’ve met, he keeps popping up in her life. Each time he does, Emerson finds the real-life Maddox to be better than anything she could’ve dreamed—sexy, passionate, and sweeter than his chocolate brown eyes.
A woman in love with possibilities meets a man determined to make them happen.
We’re inside his apartment and I hope he doesn’t notice the way I’m clamming up. He’s in the kitchen, pouring us each a glass of wine and the dull romantic lighting is making me wish that I knew how to do this. How to initiate. How to be someone other than Emerson Kingsley; no virgin but no sex goddess either.
“Are you planning on leaving?” he asks when he walks over to me with both glasses in hand and I shake my head. “You can take off your coat. If you’re staying.”
I unbutton the large wooden buttons, slide the wool off my body and fold it over the top of his couch. He’s standing there, watching me with a smile in his brown eyes.
“You can take your shoes off too,” he suggests and I step out of them. My bare feet pad against the wood floor as I make my way to him.
“Thanks.” I take the glass of white wine and look around. The place looks exactly the same.
“Are you afraid?” The question takes me by surprise. I sit on the couch and wait until he’s sitting next to me to answer.
“I think I’m more afraid of disappointing you than anything else.” I set my glass down. “And I’m a little afraid of losing control with you. Of letting things happen and falling so hard that I break in the process.”
He pats his lap with his hands and I place my feet on him. When he starts rubbing my right foot, I groan. It feels amazing.
“Trust me to take care of you. Trust me to catch you,” he says and I relax. After a few minutes, he turns his ministrations to my left foot and I’m so relaxed, I may fall asleep. “Will you run away if I kiss you?”
My eyes are closed and I smile before I shake my head. I feel him let go of my foot and then he climbs over me. Holding his weight above me, not quite on top of me. I feel his breath on me. Cinnamon.
He takes my lips, just a taste. Then he takes another taste and another and my hands are on his back, in his hair, where ever I can touch him.
He sits up and takes me with him and before I know what I’m doing, I’m pulling off his shirt. He grabs my face between his hands and kisses me, and I’m so in the moment that I can’t be bothered about what I’m doing right or wrong.
He reaches under my shirt and runs his hand from my abdomen to my back. One hand makes light work of my bra’s clasp and then I’m leaning back to pull it from my body, throwing it across the room when I’m free. My white cotton tee is all that covers my breasts and before I can appreciate the way Maddox looks at them, he’s teasing them through the thin cotton, his finger grazing over them. Then his mouth is on my nipple, and I scoot closer to him until I’m rocking against the bulge under his zipper. Between the feel of his tongue and the way it flicks over the cotton and the way I’m rubbing myself against him, I’m ready to do anything he wants to do.
Suddenly he pushes me to stand, and I run my fingers through my messy hair as he unbuttons and tugs at my jeans. My panties come into view and he kisses my hipbones from his place on the couch. He turns me and I cry out when I feel his teeth scrape my lower back, just before the swell of my bottom.
“You’re breathtaking,” he says. I tug my shirt over my head and drop it on the floor. Then I hook my thumbs into my panties and slide those off. He’s staring at me with eyes that can’t stay still. They’re exploring and I want his hands to do the same.
I want to be naked in front of Maddox. I want him to be naked in front of me.
“Your turn,” I say, my voice little more than a whisper.
He stands and now that he’s towering over me, I can’t help but feel a little intimidated.
So I grab his belt and unbuckle it before tackling the buttons lining his groin. I brush against the hardness beneath and I try not to hold my breath. When enough of them are loosened, his jeans fall to the floor and I’m looking down at the prominent erection hidden by his blue boxer briefs.
I look up at him and he raises a brow. So I pull those down and straighten myself. I exhale and then we’re at each other. He lowers us to the floor and I arch my back, bringing my torso toward him. He runs his hand from my neck, flattening his hands between my bare breasts all the way down until he’s strumming my clit like his favorite guitar. He plays my body like a love song. There’s something sweet and intimate about the way he touches me. The way he caresses my bones, skin, and flesh. He touches me on the outside but he somehow touches me inside as well, where my soul is hidden. I know that love is such a dangerous feeling. I know it but I can’t help the way his name sits on my tongue, ready to escape the prison of my lips and teeth. The same way my heart escaped my ribcage and now only comes to life when he’s near.
“Maddox will ruin any man for you. DAYUM MADDOX. Day-um.” – H.B. Stumbo, Author
“The Sound of Serendipity was the craziest, most epic roller coaster ever, and I never wanted to get off.” – Jessi Elliott, Goodreads
“Cynthia Rodriguez has went and knocked it out of the park AGAIN! Her writing is truly remarkable. Every single thing about this story was spell binding.” – Tarah, Book Queen
“This book was pure bliss!” – Mg Herrera, Goodreads
“The Sound of Serendipity has blown me away. It’s an eloquently told, unique story that will undoubtedly leave a mark in the romance genre.” – Erin, Southern Belle Book Blog
Cynthia A. Rodriguez hates writing her own bio. In her down-time, you can find her watching movies, ranging anywhere from classic movies to action flicks (she has a weakness for Marvel adaptations), and reading steamy novels. She is stationed in North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and their Miniature Pinscher, Winnie (as in Pooh).

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Cover Reveal ~ The Sound of Serendipity by Cynthia A. Rodriguez

Title: The Sound of Serendipity
Author: Cynthia A. Rodriguez
Release Date: April 14, 2016
Find on Goodreads
So many things can happen to a person on a Central Park bench. For Emerson Kingsley, falling in love happened, despite her broken monster of a heart.
Emerson knows more about listening than she does about love, whether it’s listening to artists as a music producer or listening to stories as she people watches.
Months of watching Maddox Bailey from a park bench are to blame for her infatuation. In her mind, the moment they meet will be spectacular if she ever finds the nerve to speak to him.
But when the two share an awkward cab ride, she realizes that maybe fantasies are meant to stay that way.
The only problem is, now that they’ve met, he keeps popping up in her life. Each time he does, Emerson finds the real-life Maddox to be better than anything she could’ve dreamed—sexy, passionate, and sweeter than his chocolate brown eyes.
A woman in love with possibilities meets a man determined to make them happen.
My eyes water and I blink in order to keep myself in check, but I can’t help the way I react to him. He sings all of his parts, skipping over mine, and I’m jealous that his first run through is without fault. He knows exactly what his voice needs to do to compliment the music. Not a second is flat and nothing is anything less than perfect.
When he exits the booth, I’m pretending to be unaffected. My wine glass is back in my hand and I’m smiling.
But can he see the fading pink in my cheeks, the glassiness of my eyes, the way my hand clenches around the glass to hide its shaking?
“Your turn,” he announces before he sits down beside me. Inside, I’m a zoo and my heart is the main attraction.
“Really, you could sing the whole—”
“Go, Emerson.” I sigh and he takes my wine from me. His hand brushes mine and I look down at where our skin met. “Go.”
My eyes crawl slowly up to his face and then his eyes and he gently nudges me, his face telling me to go. I can’t say no, so I slip off my heels and I’m a good three inches shorter. I pile my hair on top of my head and rub my hands together, hoping it helps them steady. He’s looking at me, and I feel like I have to tell him why I’m so hesitant and afraid.
“I don’t sing in front of people,” I explain.
“The good thing is, I’m only a person.” He turns to face me and leans his elbow against his desk.
Have you looked in the mirror?, I want to ask him. Only a person? Pfft. Only the most beautiful man I’ve ever stood this close to and I’ve been around some of music’s finest. I walk inside the booth and all I can hear is my breathing. Because I don’t want to worry him, I get right to it and place the headset on and listen to his verse. Then the hook begins and I’m harmonizing with his already laid down singing.
You arrest my senses,
And I’m left defenseless.
I want to tell myself not to cry, but I can’t because of the wine and because of the words. This song means too much not to cry. I only worry that I’m going to sob so hard that the words are unintelligible. Now would be a good time to look at Maddox and see if I’m doing all right, but I can’t do that either. I keep my eyes closed as I sing my love letter to no one and to him.
The songs ends but I don’t want to leave the booth. Thankfully, my tears are gone with one swipe under my eyes. I look down and wonder what comes next because I can see all of the secret pieces of me scattered before me in this small closet. If Maddox sees them, I don’t know what that’ll mean. It’ll likely mean my embarrassment because there’s no way….
“You can come out, Em,” he says, and I figuratively pick myself up off of the floor and join him. “Where the fuck did that come from?”
I grab my glass and gulp it down. My hands are steadier by the time I’m through, and I take that as a good sign.
“Don’t tell anyone,” is all I say. He nods and I don’t think he knows that I’m not just talking about the singing. Then again, why would he? I want to take every small moment we’ve shared and hold them to my chest. I want to go home with them in my arms and lock those moments in a safe, and on days where I feel like I need more, I’ll look back on the many almosts we shared.
“Yeah? Well, what the hell do we do with the song now?” I hear something in his voice and I can relate to it. I wonder if other artists feel this way after they create a masterpiece. A little empty, a little shaky. Like somehow their life source is depleted. Like sharing a bit of your soul leaves you with less and less each time.
“Nothing?” I need to sit and rest and maybe try to get back what I lost. But the more time that passes, the more comfortable I am with this piece of myself existing outside of my body.
“No, no. This is too much to keep it to ourselves.” He hands me a copy of the song on a flash drive and I toss it in my purse.
He’s so intense right now, and I just want to lie on the floor and breathe him in. So I do. I squat down near his couch and let my butt hit the ground with a thump before spreading my limbs out. The floor is hard beneath my back, but I feel a little saner down here.
He plays the song, and I can’t help but shudder when our voices sing together. How could anyone not feel something when they hear music?
“You talked so much tonight. You do realize I’m never going to let you go quiet on me again, right?” I look forward to his coercion.
He sits beside my body, and I want him to touch me so badly. Always wanting when it comes to him only to be disappointed when nothing happens. I’m drunk on his presence more than I am on the wine, and before I know it, he’s lying next to me on his hardwood floor. All of this space and he chooses right here, nearly touching me. Does he feel the world slowing? Is he reaching out for my hand?
“I love this. It feels so honest.” I hear the way he gulps after he says this, but he doesn’t know how honest it is. He doesn’t know that he’s gotten something from me that no one else has. We were at it for hours, the music making us numb to time, so I’m not surprised to see that it’s nearly three in the morning when I look at the digital clock on his wall. He’s relaxed beside me as the song plays on repeat, and we talk about random things.
I can feel his body heat and I wonder, as he tells me he’s a Leo, if he knows that his pinky is so close to mine, I can almost taste the way it’d feel to touch him. I try to remember if it felt like this before, but the same way Maddox demands every part of me belong to him without ever even knowing, he erases what used to be. Funny, it took nothing from him to erase everything from me.
I searched high and low for a way to forget the pain, and he was here all along. All I needed to do was sit in his presence.
Maybe it’s the wine, but I could lay here forever.
Cynthia A. Rodriguez hates writing her own bio. In her down-time, you can find her watching movies, ranging anywhere from classic movies to action flicks (she has a weakness for Marvel adaptations), and reading steamy novels. She is stationed in North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and their Miniature Pinscher, Winnie (as in Pooh).

Thursday, October 29, 2015

5 star review ~ Crashing Souls by Cynthia A. Rodriguez ~ Jill Mac



I am darkness; what you would consider a thief amongst the living.
I’ve spent time, so much of it that it seems a trifle word to call it, in that gloom being swallowed whole by human grief and human tears.
I am the Angel of Death.
And all was dark until I met a man, searching for a woman.


Given a second chance to find the love of his life, whose soul was placed inside someone else after a tragic accident, a young man finds himself taking over the life of a teenager named Dexter. But there are rules: She will not remember him and he will only have fragmented memories, not knowing anything about the life he has been placed in and barely anything about the life he once lived. He embarks on a journey to right Dex’s wrongs and find the woman whose soul belongs with his, no matter what it takes. Finding her is one thing, loving her and her self-destructive ways is another.
Artful, sharp, and compelling, Crashing Souls explores the permanent mark left behind when two souls crash together.






Crashing Souls was such a beautiful story.  It was unlike any other story I’ve ever read.  Unique in its own way.  I’m not usually a fan of fantasy, and though this book isn’t categorized as a fantasy, some aspects definitely touch on it.  Still, even not being a fan of fantasy, I couldn’t put this book down.  Cynthia has a way with words.  I devoured this story.  I laughed, I cried, I FELT.  I felt everything.

I loved Dex and Noa’s character.  Dex was given a second chance at life and love.  In search of the soul that belonged with his.  Dex wouldn’t know who she was, until he knew.  Until he felt it.  And boyyyyyy did he feel it.

“Did it always feel like this? Was it always this clear when you met your match? Most people looked for giant signs telling you when you found the one but it had only taken a glimpse into her eyes.  They saw me.  And even if she didn’t know me, her eyes did.”

Noa is one of my favorite characters ever.  I think it’s because I connected with her on a personal level, more than I even care to admit.  Noa deals with everyday struggles that would be hard for any 18 year old to go through. Deep down Noa is just a girl who wants to be loved, but she won’t admit that.  It’s easier for her to push you away for fear of getting hurt, or worse, falling in love.

“Don’t you kiss me Dexter, don’t ruin me for anyone else if you aren’t going to stick around.”

What I loved the most about Crashing Souls was how real it was.  Though it was a romance book, there were no descriptive sex scenes and I loved that.  It’s refreshing to me when an author can write a romance book without having to write sex scenes.  I hate when a book becomes all about sex. Crashing Souls is the story of two souls that belong to each other, but life and its hardships make it hard.  When you find your soulmate, will you do everything it takes to keep them? Because after all, if you’re not together your life isn’t worth living.  That’s what Dex and Noa had to find out.  They both go through ups and downs.  Highs and lows.  Their relationship is at times heartbreaking, and you are left not even knowing if they will ever make it work.  But the thing about soulmates is it isn’t in your control, and I believe that Noa and Dex are that for each other.

“Love was, after all, a game of sink or swim.  Some days I’d been swimming, loving every moment of it.  Others, I was drowning in the enormity of it.”

Cynthia, you are amazing.  Your words are amazing.  This book is amazing.

If you love a real love story, one that is going to hold you prisoner until its very last word, and even after that, Crashing Souls is the book for you.  It was beautiful.  I’m not going to lie, the ending killed me.  It crushed my soul. *see what I did there* But I am happy that the story isn’t over, and we will be getting more of Noa and Dex.

“You see, it’s either going to be you, or I’m going to die alone and hope to catch you in another life.  Because no one can even come close to you, Noa.”

Crashing Souls was a bold 5 star read for me.  Cynthia though this is the first book of yours I’ve read, I know it won’t be my last.  You have a forever fan in me! 
<3 Jill Mac










Cynthia A. Rodriguez hates writing her own bio. In her down-time, you can find her watching movies, ranging anywhere from classic movies to action flicks (she has a weakness for Marvel adaptations), and reading steamy novels. She is stationed in North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and their Miniature Pinscher, Winnie (as in Pooh).

She loves hearing from her readers! You can reach Cynthia at mysticwatersbook@gmail.com. Both her Twitter and Instagram handles are @socynthsays. 
'Like' her Facebook page atfacebook.com/AuthorCynthiaARodriguez and visit her website, www.cynthiaarodriguez.com, where she blogs about books, writing, and leaves really great song suggestions.

Any inquiries should be sent to mysticwatersbook@gmail.com