Blog Tour Stop including Excerpt, Review & Giveaway - Moment of Silence by Karen Stivali ~ BFD Book Blog

Author Name: Karen Stivali

Book Name: Moment of Silence

Series: Moments In Time

This book is a ‘Moments in Time Novel’. It takes place in the same world, but can be read separately.

Release Date: December 18, 2015

Blurb:

Growing up, Jason Stern led a charmed life complete with devoted sisters, a father who was one of Brooklyn’s most respected rabbis, and a mother who made the world’s best babka. He headed to NYU ready for anything—except falling for the wrong guy, coming out, and getting disowned by his once-loving family. In spite of that, Jason managed to graduate with honors. He’s got friends who treat him like family, and he’s proudly running the largest LGBTQ teen shelter in Manhattan. Life is good, but he’s still falling for the wrong men.

When charming, sexy Quinn Fitzpatrick begins work at the shelter, Jason falls hard and fast. Quinn is tall, blond, funny—damn near perfect. Only if Quinn’s gay, even he doesn’t seem to know it. If he does, he’s not telling anyone. And he’s about one ceremony away from becoming a Catholic priest.

Long hours of work turn to long nights of talking and laughter, and Jason dares to hope this time he’s falling for the right guy. But Quinn’s got a past to deal with and major decisions to make about his future. When Quinn leaves for a silent retreat, Jason knows the silence may change everything.

Pages or Words: 76,000 words

Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance

Excerpt:

I’d spent so long fantasizing about what it would be like to be with Quinn, it was hard to believe that the real thing was even better than what I’d imagined.

Quinn and I had managed to spend almost every night together for a solid week. When Campbell was at Mia’s, we stayed at my place; the other nights we stayed at Quinn’s. When we were alone together, everything was great. Natural. Like we’d been a couple forever. When other people were around, things felt… awkward.

It was impossible for us to avoid each other at work, and we didn’t want to. We worked great together, and there was no one else I’d rather spend time with. Quinn and I could talk for hours and not run out of things to say. But whenever someone else entered the room, I could see him tense up.

I understood. Even I wasn’t sure it was the best thing for people to know we were together. Workplace romances aren’t usually the best idea, and with most people knowing that he was—what was he? “Almost priest” wasn’t a real thing, yet it kind of was. Whatever the term, it complicated matters. The last thing either of us needed was other people weighing in on the situation, so I didn’t mind keeping the fact that we were together to myself.

I knew Campbell suspected, but he hadn’t asked, and I hadn’t felt like confirming yet. It seemed important to keep it between Quinn and me for the time being—as if letting someone in on our secret might break the magic spell. I didn’t want anything broken. Not the spell. Not my heart. Not anything.

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Moment Of Silence by Karen Stivali
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Whew…I’m kind of a mess after reading this book…I feel like my emotions are all over the place.

Let me first start by saying that this is hands down the best book of the series and one of my favorites of the year. As much as I liked Tanner and Collin, these men far surpassed them and I could not put this book down once I picked it up. Ms. Stivali’s writing is beautiful and poetic in this story. While it does mention previous characters and refers to things that happened in the previous books in the series, I feel like you could read this as a stand-alone if you wanted.

The 2nd thing I want to address is the religion/almost-priest part of the story. That is a major hot button for me. I try to avoid stories with priests or heavily religious plot lines. It’s hard to explain but it’s really better for me to avoid those stories because I usually can’t be very open-minded about it. I’m so happy that didn’t stop me from reading this book. I don’t want to ruin any part of the story but I thought she handled things really well for Quinn and his decision with becoming a priest. I also thought the religious issues with Jason’s Jewish family were handled well. None of it made me uncomfortable or upset.

I loved the emotions in this book…I always love the feels and this book is full of them. It made me laugh just as much as it made me cry. A lot of it completely warmed my heart. Some of it made me angry. Both of these guys are pretty amazing and you can’t help but love them. They both feel every emotion with their whole heart and soul. I loved the slow build of their relationship, that was absolutely perfect for me and I’m usually one to want to rush to the good stuff. They both go through so much personal growth in this story that by the end they are mountains of strength individually and together.

I really want to spoil this book for everyone and talk about all the things I loved about it, but I’m not going to. Just know that this book is a MUST READ to me.

I also have to say that I LOVE CAMPBELL…a lot. I don’t know if we’ll see him again since the next book is going to move on to a different couple but he is one of the best characters of the series. Another character with great potential that I’d love to see a future book about is Nick.

This book will probably make my Top 10 list for the year and I absolutely recommend picking it up and reading it. You will not be sorry.

View all my reviews

About the author:

Karen Stivali is a prolific writer, compulsive baker and chocoholic with a penchant for books, movies, and fictional British men. She’s also the multiple award-winning author of contemporary and erotic romances. She writes novels about love…like real life, only hotter.

Karen’s lifelong fascination with people has led her to careers ranging from hand-drawn animator, to party planner, to marriage and family counselor, but writing has always been her passion. Karen enjoys nothing more than following her characters on their journey toward love. Whether the couples are m/f or m/m, it’s guaranteed that Karen’s novels are filled with food, friendship, love, and smoking hot sex—all the best things in life.

When Karen isn’t writing (and often when she is), she can be found on Twitter attempting witty banter and detailing the antics of her fruit-loving cat, BadKitteh.

Where to find the author:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/karenstivali

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenstivali

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/karenstivali/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5170527.Karen_Stivali

Blog: http://karenstivali.com

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/KarenStivaliAuthor?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5170527.Karen_Stivali

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press