October 22, 2014

RELEASE DAY REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Profile (Social Media #5)

Profile (Social Media #5), by JA Huss
Published October 22, 2014
Publisher: Science Future Press
Format: e-book, obtained from the author
Genre: adult contemporary romance/suspense
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble
 

Rating: 5 STARS

(From Goodreads) All the best fairytale princesses have the most horrific pasts. Mine just happens to be more horrific than most.

Fantasizing over Vaughn Asher was a dream. Meeting Vaughn Asher was a fairytale. Loving Vaughn Asher was my downfall.

The past is always there. Waiting. Waiting to expose you. Waiting to ruin you. Waiting to take you back.

Sometimes not even a prince can save you.



We are coming down the home stretch in JA Huss’ Social Media series. PROFILE is part 5 of 6. It’s the shortest of all six installments, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that nothing happens in it. On the contrary – Profile is a total mind screw, both for the characters and the reader. It’s a study in strength – strength of character, of loyalty, of trust, of love. Profile puts the exclamation point on the series as a whole
“For the first time in my life my status has little meaning. For the first time in my life my money has little meaning. For the first time in my life I realize life is meaningless without the person you want to share it with.”

Grace is gone, and to the outside world, it appears she left on her own when the media attention became too much. But, Vaughn is convinced she’s back in the hell she was in ten years earlier. And, now the clock is ticking. Either Vaughn needs to find her or Grace needs to get out right away, or the outcome this time around will be far different and far worse than it was the first time this happened.

I’ve alluded in previous reviews of the Social Media books to a tragic event in Grace’s past that has shaped the woman she’s become. The full impact of that event is felt in Profile as things come full circle and Grace has to deal with the same situation again. But, even though the events are the same, Grace is not. She’s ten years older and ten years wiser, and now she has the gift of hindsight. She knows what happened last time and how to use that to her advantage now.

“I refuse to let him make me panic, Because I’ve been preparing for this. I’ve been mentally and physically preparing myself for round two since the day I realized I was brainwashed six years ago.”

The thing is, I, personally, think that most of Grace’s current strength comes from Vaughn. If the events in Profile had happened to her before she had met him, I don’t know if the outcome would’ve been the same. Just knowing him and knowing that he loves her and that there’s someone out there to survive for gives Grace so much more motivation, even if it’s not a wholly conscious thing. She might not sit there and say, “I’m going to make it through this because of Vaughn,” but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. Grace’s courage under fire made my heart burst. She was put in the worst situation possible, and then once in it, circumstances come to light that make it even more awful. And, yet, her resolve never falters and her brain never shuts off.

If it was possible for me to love Vaughn Asher more than I did after Status, it’s evident in Profile. That man… just, wow. He never gives up. Ever. Not on Grace or on their relationship or on the possibilities for the future he’s always wanted. People told him that Grace was done and she left him. The strength of Vaughn’s loyalty and love for Grace denies him the moment to even consider that possibility.

“She’s crazy if she thinks I’ll let go. Whatever the reason for this disappearance, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll never stop looking for her. Not until I find her. I’ll never accept that she ran away until I hear it from her own mouth. I told her I’d never leave, and I meant it. I refuse to walk away, even if she wants me to.”

Events certainly come to a head in Profile. There’s tons of action and ridiculous amounts of suspense that I promise will keep you engrossed in this book from the very beginning until you finish it. Make sure you map out a good hour or two of your time, because you’re not going to want to put it down. I know it seems nuts, after the first few books in this series, but there is absolutely zero sex in Profile. None. In fact, Grace and Vaughn are only physically in the same vicinity as one another for a very short portion of the book. That doesn’t lessen this book’s impact one iota. In fact, I think Profile is the most powerful book in the series so far.  




About the Author


J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.

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