Veiled Innocence by Ella Frank

BLURB:

Tick, tick, tock.

Time.

That’s all I have now.

A small room, a photograph, and time.

They want me to trust them and confess my sins.

They told me they wouldn’t judge me—they lied.

I thought we could convince the world that this wasn’t a crime.

We were wrong.

Time doesn’t stand still.

The clock keeps ticking, the world is unconvinced, and now…

Now he is gone.

♦ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♦

Excerpt One – Mr. McKendrick’s POV
Copyright © 2014 by Ella Frank

I couldn’t believe she’d followed me home.
I was sitting in my truck with my hands wrapped around the steering wheel. I could see her in the rearview mirror, and my heart pounded in my chest as I thought about my next move.
I’d purposely waited to leave until she had gone home. It had been quite the wait, but I couldn’t afford to put myself within close quarters of this girl.
She was undisciplined and clearly had never heard the word no in her life. She wanted things she couldn’t have, and I needed to make that much clearer than in our previous conversations.
I could see the hood of her car peeking out from behind one of the neighbor’s hedges and wished I could forget she was there, but this time she had crossed too many lines. She needed to know that this behavior could not continue.
Pushing open my truck door, I climbed out and locked it before walking down the drive. I strode purposefully along the sidewalk and tried to think of exactly what I was going to say to this student of mine.
Please stop following me? Please stop hitting on me?
They both sounded ridiculous, and I realized that at this point the word please needed to be thrown right out the fucking window.
Polite wasn’t going to work with Addison Lancaster. It was time to get serious, maybe even mean, because this girl had the ability to destroy me.

♥ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♥

Excerpt Two – Addison Lancaster’s POV
Copyright © 2014 by Ella Frank

I’d waited until he got out of the truck before approaching. I didn’t want his escape to be as easy as driving away. Standing in the small stone alcove of the gate, I knew it would be best to wait until he stepped away from the lit area. That way, any cars driving by wouldn’t be able to see us.
I wanted no excuses, no reason for him to worry, but I could see my silence had caused just as much concern as my presence would have. He turned to me, and I finally took a moment to really look at him the way I wanted to.
His hair was still pulled back but several pieces had now escaped and been pushed behind his ears. The darker stubble lining his square jaw made my fingers tingle with the need to touch.
“Oh, thank God,” he whispered, sounding relieved.
I thought he would move away from me once he knew I was safe. Instead, he reached out and squeezed my shoulder.
“I thought something had happened to you.”
I don’t think he realized that he was slowly massaging me.
“Jesus, don’t do that again. Okay?”
Taking another step closer, I agreed quietly. “Okay.”
He licked his lips and removed his hands, and I saw in his eyes the minute he decided it was time for some distance.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked. His casual black sports jacket shifted with the breeze, and all of a sudden I couldn’t remember why I was there. All I knew was that I wanted to touch him.
“Addison?”
His voice had the ability to make all of the noise inside my head cease.
Blinking up at him, I finally answered, “Yes?”
“What are you doing out here?”
Moving in so my jacket brushed the front of his, I finally reached to touch him, but he grabbed my wrist, holding it away.
“No,” he told me, and his voice was so stern I probably should have heeded the warning…but I didn’t.
“No?”
His head bent down, and when his face was a hairsbreadth from my own, he repeated, “No. Tell me why you’re here.”
His breath was warm as it ghosted over my lips, and I couldn’t help but part my own, hoping by some miracle I could taste him on my tongue.
“Why are you here? That’s a better question, don’t you think?”
“I know better than this.”
I reached up needing to touch him, but he took that hand too, holding them both prisoner. Being held in place with nowhere to go elicited a hunger in me that I didn’t yet understand. “Know better than what?”
“Than to be here.”
“Then go,” I offered.
That was all it took. He spun me around, backed me up against the truck, and had my arms pinned by my head so fast I lost my breath. Leaning in beside me until his mouth was by my ear, he rasped in an unsteady voice, “I can’t.”
I turned my head to face him and saw all of his turmoil, and finally, the full impact of his desire. “Then don’t.”
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
Life is full of ironies, because with him, I’d never felt more alive.

Veiled Innocence Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QaYThW64WU

PURCHASE LINKS:

AMAZON

AMAZON UK

B&N

GIVEAWAY:

The prizes for the Rafflecopter consist of  –
A $150 Gift Card to Victoria’s Secret
A Women’s Silver Glitz Fossil watch – Tick, tick, tock…
A $50 Gift Card to Amazon
A $25 Gift Card to Barnes & Noble
2 Signed Copies of Veiled Innocence
5 Ella Frank eBooks  (Winner’s Choice)

LINK TO VEILED INNOCENCE GIVEAWAY

AUTHOR BIO:

MY REVIEW:

It’s taken me a bit of time to work out what I wanted to say about Veiled Innocence.….

I’ve been reading Ella’s books since I picked up Exquisite and have thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve read!! I was pretty sure from the teasers we were getting that I was gonna like Veiled Innocence but in truth, saying I ‘liked it’ is an understatement………

Ella took my heart, twisted it in knots then ripped it out and bloody broke it…. but I’d go through it all again – in a ‘tick, tick, tock’ heartbeat!!

I loved VI – throughout the telling of the story I was all over the place in my thinking as to what had/was happening..
Ella wove a tale that kept us guessing, itching to find out more – but scared in case it wasn’t what we wanted it to be.
I ran through a gamut of emotions – some of the support characters had me fizzing and mad as hell, while one in particular, Doc, had me intrigued from the get go.

I love a dual POV – enjoy the insight into the thoughts of both characters and what they are feeling/going through.
~ Addison – for a young woman she was, at times, was older than her years while at others everything seemed like a game to her. She was confident, demanding and determined as hell, – when she set out for something she pretty much got it, regardless of the lengths she had to go to… but as the story continued, we found that Addy was a complex character – shaped by events from her past, and her parents attitude towards her, meaning she had a need for control that was ever present, until Grayson came into her life.
~ Mr McK – I really liked his character. His life wasn’t turning out the way he thought it would – he was stuck back home because of his sick father, teaching at a high school when he’d rather have be doing things that made him feel alive and then he was hit by the storm that was Addison – poor bugger really didn’t stand a chance…

Ella Frank‘s writing is excellent. The change of time frame and character between chapters kept the book flowing.
The last few chapters had me reading late into the night – I needed to find out what the hell was going on!

I give Veiled Innocence 5*s and would, without doubt, recommend it – it really is worth a read!