BLOG TOUR REVIEW, EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Surviving Ice (Burying Water #4)

Although I'm sorry to say goodbye to K.A. Tucker's Burying Water series, I am glad to help her celebrate SURVIVING ICE's release. This book was absolutely explosive - check out the excerpt and my review. And, don't forget the giveaway!

Surviving Ice (Burying Water #4), by K. A. Tucker
Publish Date: October 27, 2015
Publisher: Atria Books
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Netgalley
Genre: new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(From Goodreads) Ivy, a talented tattoo artist who spent the early part of her twenties on the move, is finally looking for a place to call home. She thinks she might have found it in San Francisco, but all that changes when she witnesses a terrible crime. She’s ready to pack up her things yet again, when a random encounter with a stranger keeps her in the city, giving her reason to stay after all.

That is, until Ivy discovers that their encounter wasn’t random. Not at all…

I gotta be honest - Ivy has never been my favorite side character in the Burying Water series. She's been here and there since the beginning, first as a friend of Jesse's in Oregon. Then, as the cousin of a friend of River's in Ireland. And, now, as the niece of a tattoo shop owner in San Francisco. Ivy's location might differ frequently, but there are a few things about her that always stay the same - Ivy's abrasive attitude and her ability to beautifully ink people's skin. 

Ivy's nomadic lifestyle led her to her uncle's tattoo shop in San Francisco and just as she got comfortable there, he was gone and Ivy was faced with a choice - stay and run the shop herself, or pull up stakes yet again. As it turns out, it's a sexy stranger who stops into the shop for a large tattoo who keeps Ivy in place for a little longer than she planned. 

Sebastian is a former SEAL who now works for a private firm. This firm is involved in the untimely death of Ivy's uncle, and Sebastian is called in to clean up the mess - and anyone else who may be collateral damage. As we move through the story, we start to question the motives of the company we work for. Sebastian is married to the job, so he never thought that his company might not be on the up and up. Until Ivy. 

As in the three previous books in this series, there is a seriously suspenseful mystery woven throughout the romance. In fact, the romance is almost an afterthought - it happens in spite of both Sebastian's and Ivy's plans and intentions. Both of them are preoccupied with who murdered her uncle and why. Sebastian has a lot more information than he's letting on, but there comes a point where he starts to use that information to help Ivy instead of harming her. 

The real question was how Ivy would handle the fact that Sebastian was not exactly who he said he was once she found out. She's a hot head and pretty volatile, so you knew she would be mad, but the question was, would she be mad enough to kick him t the curb forever?

I have thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful new adult series. Although I'm sorry it's over, it's been a really amazing experience as we met each couple, saw their huge barriers to happiness, and watched them over power them all. 

“You’re two hours late!” I holler, rolling the shade up, preparing my best scathing glare for Bobby. It’s not his giant frame I find looming outside, though.

It’s that guy from yesterday.

We simply stare at each other through the grimy glass for a moment: me, in surprise; him, something unreadable, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. He’s swapped his black T-shirt for navy today, to go along with the jeans. Simple, clean, unremarkable. And yet very appealing on him.

“Is it Thursday yet?” There isn’t so much as a hint of a joke in his voice. I can’t tell if he’s serious.

“You’re persistent.”

“Yes.”

“Persistence annoys me.”

Finally, a slight smile touches his lips, and I instantly find myself fighting the urge to match it. He slides his sunglasses off his face, meeting my eyes with that cool, indifferent gaze. “And what doesn’t annoy you?”

“Not much, honestly.”

Another staring match. As intense as the weight of his gaze is, it’s not nearly as uncomfortable as it was yesterday, now that I’m no longer wary of his intentions.

I should be difficult and tell him to come back in a few days. The thing is, I don’t want to be difficult. I want to be very easy for him right now, because I’ve been thinking about him more than is wise since yesterday. Especially since last night. If just a sketched picture and thoughts of him could get me off so quickly and easily, I wonder what the real man could do to me.

Not that I would ever flip my hair or giggle at his jokes or do anything else to make my interest obvious.

I unlock the door and pull it open, stepping back to give him room. “The guy I was supposed to be working on hasn’t shown up, so I guess you’re in luck, because I’m all ready to ink and I need skin to work on.” I let my gaze drift over his arms, honed with muscles and free of any markings, before moving over to his chest and stomach. Wondering if the rest of him is this perfect. Wondering exactly which part of him I’ll get to touch.

“You look more rested today,” he murmurs, a secretive smile touching his eyes. As if he can read my mind, as if he knows that he helped put me to sleep last night.

I don’t answer, pushing the door closed. I lock it once again with a sly smile. As far as I’m concerned, if Bobby shows up now, no one’s here.

Born in small-town Ontario, K.A. Tucker published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.

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