Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Be Mine Forever! We have a guest post today from the author, Kennedy Ryan!
What is the best part of falling in love with your childhood friend?
I love this question. It is something I definitely considered while writing BE MINE FOREVER. Cam and Jo met when they were 12 years old, and for the next decade and a half, are thick as thieves. Because of all the hell Cam experienced before he met Jo and her cousin Walsh, the hero from WHEN YOU ARE MINE and LOVING YOU ALWAYS, Cam is very guarded. Even when you think you have all of him, you only have the small slices of himself he has decided to share. Jo knows she has more of Cam than anyone else, but doesn’t realize just how little that is until they explore their feelings for one another. She keeps bumping up against walls he has erected to protect himself and, he thinks, to protect her from him.
This brings me to the good part of falling in love with your best friend. There is this juxtaposition of the familiar and the undiscovered. Jo imagined her first kiss, her first date, her first time with Cam, and now she gets all those things, and the reality exceeds her daydreams.
At the same time there is all this new terrain, there is also a delicious familiarity. The way they can complete each other’s sentences because they know each other so well. Seeing each other over the years through highs and lows, hard and good times, being there for one another and celebrating together. There is all this history, spiked with all these new sensations and experiences like first dates and sexual intimacy. The romance adds dimension; deepens and enriches a connection they have been building for so many years.
I think this excerpt perfectly embodies both sides of this coin!
At thirteen years old, Jo had fantasized about her first kiss. In her mind, it would be with Cam. She had practiced on her pillow and French-kissed her hand. She had positioned herself just so during Spin the Bottle, but Cam’s bottle had never landed on her. He’d never even hinted that he’d wanted to kiss her, that he fantasized about her, too. So all she’d had were daydreams. And in those daydreams, Cam nibbled at her lips. Slipped his tongue into her mouth, shy as she was. He was gentle and careful.
This was not that kiss.
This kiss was made of sweet smoke and embers. It sizzled on her lips and seared her senses until she could only feel and taste and touch and see him. The whole universe whittled down to this man completely possessing her with a kiss. Sucking her tongue into his mouth. Pulling her lips between his teeth for tantalizing bites.
Cam walked them backward with slow, measured steps until he eased onto the bench, never leaving space between their mouths. He pulled her bare legs to either side of his hips, pressing against her back until her breasts were crushed against his chest. He lowered his head, nudging the straps of her camisole aside with his lips and sucking on her naked shoulder. Jo moaned, tipping her head back until her hair rained between her shoulder blades. Cam pushed the camisole down around her waist and pulled her breast into his greedy mouth. With every pull of his lips and tongue, she rolled her hips against him, a steady, sensual syncopation that shoved Jo over the edge. She took shelter against his chest, gripping his neck, huffing hot air into the collar of his shirt. Her thighs tightened around his hips, and her body released in shivers and whimpers and shudders.
She stilled little by little, falling against him, limp and pliant. Cam pushed her hair behind her shoulders, raining kisses over her collarbones and nipples until they peaked and begged for his mouth again. He suckled at her, sliding his hands inside her shorts, squeezing her butt and urging her against him.
“Cam, I just—”
“I know.” He looked up, anointing her nipples with his words. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I want it again and again and again.”
Be Mine Forever by Kennedy Ryan
Series: The Bennetts #3 (full reading order below)
Release Date: February 3rd 2015
Can a secret crush . . .
Jo Walsh has loved Cameron Mitchell for as long as she can remember. Whether front and center in her life or on the periphery, the tall, brooding artist has made his presence seductively and irresistibly known. But whenever they start to get close, Cam pulls away. Jo’s tired of keeping her feelings in a box Cam is afraid to open. If he wants her, he’ll have to prove it. And if he doesn’t, Jo will need to know the real reason why . . .
. . . become the love of a lifetime?
How do you walk away from your soul mate? Cam wishes he knew. No matter how far he runs from Jo, he can’t resist looking back at the silver eyes that seem to see right through him. But as well as Jo thinks she understands Cam, the dark truth about his past is something she shouldn’t have to handle. Cam’s sure that setting Jo free is the right thing to do. Too bad his heart has other ideas . . .
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I wasn’t the biggest fan of Cam by the end of Loving You Always, but I’d hoped that Kennedy Ryan would be able to change my mind about him, and she succeeded! I really enjoyed reading Cam and Jo’s story – I was a big fan of the writing and of how Kennedy Ryan was able to portray Cam in such a different light. And Cam and Jo are just scorching together!
“Finally, it’s you and me.”
I adore childhood friends to lovers books, and Be Mine Forever is a fantastic example of one. Jo and Cam have been best friends since they were children. They know each other inside and out… or do they? Jo has always been in love with Cam, but Cam has never reciprocated her feelings. What Jo doesn’t know is that Cam is a man with a tortured past, full of demons he hasn’t exorcised yet.
When Cam returns home from Paris, he finds a very hurt and angry Jo. They’re best friends, but he cut ties with her while he was in Paris. He’s tried to ignore his feelings for her for so long, but seeing her again brings them back full force. But he believes that being with Jo will only hurt her in the long-run, because of dirty, painful past. So he keeps pushing and pushing her away, until Jo finally pushes back.
I admired Jo. She’s a tough, independent woman, but also very feminine and sweet. She’s loved Cam for half her life, and I admired that she never gave up on Cam. She’s the only one who sees the goodness in him, who sees past his scars, but Cam thinks he’s not worthy of her. So when Jo gets fed up with Cam putting up his walls, she tears them down and makes him see how good they are together. And they are seriously HOT together! There’s no shortage of chemistry between them, and I was so happy when Cam and Jo finally got together!
The best part about Be Mine Forever was how Kennedy Ryan was able to characterize Cam in a more sympathetic way. I REALLY didn’t like him in the previous book, but in this book, his past comes to light, and my heart went out to him. He was always closed off in the previous books, but with Jo, he starts opening up. He’s truly changed for the better by the end of Be Mine Forever, and he truly does deserve to have his own HEA.
Be Mine Forever was a deep, heartfelt romance I enjoyed. The depth of the characters that made this book shine. I loved the character growth in both Cam and Jo, and I was wholehearted rooting for their HEA.
Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.
Reading Order: The Bennetts series
#1 ~ When You Are Mine: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ Loving You Always: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ Be Mine Forever: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
Kennedy Ryan writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She always give her characters their happily ever after, but loves to make them work for it! It’s a long road to love, so sit back and enjoy the ride. In an alternative universe and under her government issue name, Tina Dula, she is a wife to the love of her life, mom to a special, beautiful son, and a friend to those living with autism through her foundation Myles-A-Part, serving Georgia families.
Her writings on Autism have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, and she has been featured on the Montel Williams Show, NPR, Headline News and others. She is donating a portion of her proceeds to her own foundation and to her charitable partner, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA).
Her interview series MOMMIES DO THE MOST AMAZING THINGS is featured each month in Modern Mom.
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