Author: Toni Aleo
Series: Assassins #5
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Publication: June 10, 2014
BREAKING AWAY is a story of loss, healing, and love… where unexpected turns and heartache lead to passion.
To Nashville Assassins’ leading scoring center Phillip Anderson, playing hockey has always been easy… as natural as breathing. His life is no different. That’s until his world is turned upside down by the death of his sister. While mourning his loss, Phillip has to find a way to make his very angry sixteen-year-old niece, Claire, happy. Now, as her guardian, he discovers the only thing that seems to heal her lonely heart is dance class. But what he didn’t count on was the attraction he’d feel towards her drop-dead sexy dance teacher.
For Reese Allen, dancing has always been part of her soul. After having her heart broken in New York, she comes home with the determination to make her dance studio one of the best in Tennessee and succeeds. When she sees Claire dance for the first time, she knows the girl is bound for greatness and takes the troubled teen under her wing. Using dance as therapy, she suddenly finds herself bound to the young woman… and her hot-as-sin uncle.
However, Phillip and Reese are happy in their single lives. It’s simple. They do what they want, who they want, and how they want, but from the moment they meet, the attraction is undeniable. Soon, they are more than willing to spend just one night tangled in the sheets. But, one night turns into two, and two turns into three, until they find themselves in a repeated dance of “One Last Time” that has the potential to be something more… if only Reese and Claire allow it.
Can Phillip find a way to thaw the hearts of both the women in his life, or will he be forever trying to break them away from their pasts?
Check back June 10th for buy links!
Review
Toni Aleo has solidified herself as the queen of hockey.
With the fifth book in the Assassin Series, Breaking
Away, you will fall in love with this ever growing family. Of course, the
old gang is all there from the Adleir's to the Tovik's and all the kids in
between. This round, we get Reese and Phillip who seem to be on the same page
with just sleeping around and having no commitments. Everything should be
perfectly simple for these two, right? What happens when everything is their
lives interconnects? This is what we get to explore in Breaking Away and it does not disappoint. I adored Philip with his
huge heart and need to fix everything. His relationship with his sister, Claire,
made my heart ache. Out of all the
characters, Philip will be the one readers emotionally connect to the most.
Then we have Reese, who is the definition of a woman with a broken heart. With her walls built high, head focused on
work and deep concern for others, she is the girlfriend you want to set up with
guy or a share bottle of wine with. Both
of them have become two of my favorite characters ever and I loved watching the
journey they take. I am beyond excited to see what Toni Aleo comes up with next
for this gang and I am hoping for some Patrick and Claire? Fingers crossed.
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Teaser
When Phillip left, Claire was five, with light,
strawberry blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes, along with a quick smile.
She was happy and sweet, and they were inseparable. He loved her so much, still
did, and it killed him when he left, but he had to get out while the getting
out was good. His mom was downward spiraling and, even though Rochelle was
doing okay, he knew he couldn’t depend on her to change his life. He had to do
it on his own. Unlike their mother, Rochelle was trying to be a good mom. She
worked at Waffle House and tried to stay clean but, like he knew she would, she
relapsed and went back to the life she had before Claire came.
Phillip wished he hadn’t left Claire, but what
was he supposed to do? Maybe he should have fought harder when he turned
twenty-one, but Rochelle wasn’t budging. “Claire is better off with a crackhead
mother than some wanna-be hockey player,” she always said. When Claire glanced
up at him, nervously ripping a napkin, his heart came into his throat. Her eyes
were full of unshed tears, and he prayed they didn’t fall. Or maybe they
should… maybe it would help. Hell, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he
loved this girl, and he wasn’t letting her end up like her mom and his.
“I love you, Claire,” he said softly.
She shook her head, looking away, and he felt
tears stinging his own eyes.
“Whatever.”
“No, it isn’t whatever,” he said, taking her hand
in his. She tried to move away, but he wasn’t letting her go. She looked from
their locked hands, up to his face, her eyes slit in a glare as her mouth made
a straight line. He remembered when all she did was smile, and he wondered when
the last time that happened. Her smile could light up a room, it was
contagious, and he missed it so much. He missed her.
“You don’t love me. If you did, you would have
never sent me to crazy cat lady, or better yet, never left me with my mom.”
Something broke inside him, but thankfully, he
kept it together, holding her gaze as he squeezed her hands.
“I had no choice with your mom. She wouldn’t give
you to me. You’re right about Alice, but I’m not letting you go now. I’m going
to help you.”
“I don’t need help. I need a place to crash until
I’m eighteen. Then I’m gone.”
She finally pulled her hands from his, crossing
her arms. The food was brought to them, but neither of them touched it once the
waitress left. This was going all wrong, and Phillip had no clue how to make it
better. So he decided to go with what his heart was telling him to do.
“You do need help, Claire, and I’m going to give
it to you. I have never stopped loving you, and I never will. I may not have
been there for you before, but I am now, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Claire reached for her fork, cutting a bite and
pinning him with a look. He could see the hurt, the defiance, and the general
lack of care for her life. She had been hurt, and he played a part in causing
that pain. He hoped that between his love and therapy, she would get the help
she needed.
She held his gaze for a long time, before she
shrugged her shoulders and said, “We’ll see about that.”
Without another word, she plopped the waffle in
her mouth. Her eyes said it all.
Get ready for trouble.
Shit.
“5, 6, 7, 8!”
Reese Allen stood in the middle of her studio as
two of her senior dancers, Mallory and Brian, moved in perfect unison across
the floor to “Endlessly” by
the Cab. The cut of the song was magical. It had kept her up all night trying
to get it perfect. It was worth it though, because watching Mallory and Brian
dance to it was pure gratification. They were her best dancers—her go-to
dancers when she needed something perfected. She came up with the dance three
days earlier, as she stood in line at Subway, when the song started playing.
She knew that people thought she was crazy as she moved to the gorgeous music,
but that was how she did things. That was how her art was born.
Reese had been doing it that way since she was a
kid. Of course, her parents and older sister, Harper, thought she was crazy,
but Piper, her twin, never thought so. She just joined in with Reese. It was
great to have a partner, but even when Piper wasn’t there, Reese was always
dancing. No matter where she was, or what she was doing, choreography was
always in her head, always wanting to come out of her. It was surreal and such
a rush when she got it completely perfect. It was like she was giving birth to
this perfect little baby, and when she paired it with amazing dancers, magic
happened.
TEASER TOUR SCHEDULE
The chapter is broken down in the following order...
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Toni Aleo is the author of the Nasvhille Assassins series: Taking Shots, Trying to Score, Empty Net, Falling for the Backup, and Blue Lines.When not rooting for her beloved Nashville Predators, she’s probably going to her husband’s and son’s hockey games and her daughter’s dance competitions, taking pictures, scrapbooking, or reading the latest romance novel.She lives in the Nashville area with her husband, two children, and a bulldog. Read more about Toni here.
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Toni Aleo will be attending Chapter by Chapter Book Rave in NY on September 20th! Over a 100+ authors signing! Check it out!
www.cbcevent.com
Toni Aleo will be attending Chapter by Chapter Book Rave in NY on September 20th! Over a 100+ authors signing! Check it out!
www.cbcevent.com
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