{"id":52665,"date":"2020-07-07T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=52665"},"modified":"2020-10-27T09:19:06","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T13:19:06","slug":"release-arc-review-southern-sunrise-southern-series-4-by-natasha-madison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=52665","title":{"rendered":"Release & ARC Review: Southern Sunrise (Southern Series, #4) by Natasha Madison"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fave for 2020, Southern Sunrise is now live!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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\u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Nook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Blurb<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Emily<\/strong><\/p>\n

I fell in love with him when I was fourteen. Under the stars, he told me he loved me, and under the stars we promised to love each other always. But under the stars, he broke my heart by walking away.<\/p>\n

He left me without a second glance. I was just an afterthought.
\nNow he\u2019s back, but this time, I\u2019m not falling for his Southern charm.<\/p>\n

Maybe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time I get my happily ever after, even if part of me wishes he was still mine.<\/p>\n

Ethan<\/strong><\/p>\n

I found out on my twenty-first birthday that everything I thought I knew was a lie, and the man I had grown up thinking was my father wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The pain I felt blinded me, making it impossible to hear what anyone said.
\nI left them all behind, including her, my best friend and the woman I was going to marry.<\/p>\n

Five years later, I\u2019m back, only to find the woman I still love has another man\u2019s ring on her finger.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s going to marry my best friend unless I stop her. And this time, I only have until sunrise to change her mind.<\/p>\n

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Add on Goodreads<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

\u201cYou and me, Sunrise, it\u2019s a forever kind of love.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

6 HUGE STARS<\/strong><\/p>\n

OMG, this book! An emotionally stunning second chance romance that is all about healing, forgiveness, and coming home. This book has all the feels and I devoured it from start to finish. I loved every single moment and I\u2019m riding an absolute giddy high of book love, so you\u2019ll have to excuse my epic gushing.<\/p>\n

I read this book coming off the previous one – Southern Storm\u00a0<\/span><\/em>\u2013 which I really struggled with. I was honestly terrified going into this book thinking it was going to be an angsty love triangles with characters making silly decision \u2013 but no! It\u2019s nothing like what I thought, it\u2019s everything I didn\u2019t know I wanted<\/s> needed, and it rocked my little world.<\/p>\n

Redemption came for me in the first chapter, which is when Ethan finds out the big secret his parents have been keeping (read my not-so-gushy review of Southern Storm<\/i><\/a>\u00a0if you want details on that one). It\u2019s gutwrenching, but it\u2019s infinitely satisfying as we see Ethan let loose with all of the anger that I was feeling on his behalf (finally giving me an outlet for my own feels), and it sets the scene for the rest of the book as, angry, lost and grieving, he storms out on his family, and the girl he loves.<\/p>\n

It’s five long years later when he returns to town, and he is a changed man. He\u2019s been through hell, but he\u2019s ready to face up to his past and finally make amends for leaving the way he did. He knows it\u2019s going to be difficult and that he has a lot to make up for, but it\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

And here come the feels!<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my home.\u201d \u2026 It took me five years to get back here, and every single day is going to be one step in getting my life back.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ethan very quickly learns that not only has he changed in the time he\u2019s been away, but so have the people he left behind. He shattered them, and they are still grieving his loss, especially the girl he left behind, Emily.<\/p>\n

Emily and Ethan fell in love as teenagers, and they were it<\/i> for each other. First loves, true loves, soulmates, they were planning their future together when Ethan up and left. Emily was left broken, but she has picked herself up and tried to move on, and that includes getting engaged\u2026 to Ethan\u2019s best friend of all people. Whaaaaat? If, like me, this particular plot twist turns you right off, don\u2019t fear!

<\/span>Spoiler<\/div>
Emily\u2019s fianc\u00e9, Drew, is a douche. It\u2019s more about her trying to move on than actually being in love with him. She\u2019s admitted to Drew that she still loves Ethan and will probably never get over him, and he seems accepting of that. They haven\u2019t even slept together. He takes off on a trip really early in the book so he\u2019s barely part of the story, and it turns out that he\u2019s an epic asshole who has been cheating on Emily the whole time. They are over before anything happens between Ethan and Emily. So it\u2019s not a love triangle. Not even a little bit.<\/div><\/div>\n

The initial scenes with Ethan and Emily together are fantastic! Full of chemistry and emotion, and that feeling of building anticipation as we revel in all of the longing that is so clear between them. Ethan makes it really clear early on that he wants Emily back, and in epic romance hero style, he lays his heart on the line for her, even as she tries to keep her distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo me a favor and let me be. If you ever cared about me at all, just let me be.\u201d
\nHe walks to me now, and I don\u2019t move, I can\u2019t. \u201cI\u2019ll let you be,\u201d he says the words. \u201cBut for the record, I loved you every single day that I was gone. I loved you every single second. In my darkness, you were my light \u2026 \u201cIn my pain, you were my strength, and when I looked into the face of evil and fought for my life, you were the reason I wanted to live.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh swoon!<\/p>\n

But while Emily is relieved to see Ethan safe, healthy and at home, she can\u2019t trust him with her heart again. It almost destroyed her the last time he left, and she can\u2019t risk it happening a second time. I love Emily \u2013 she\u2019s sensible, she\u2019s smart, and she\u2019s absolutely relatable. I could understand her decisions and the way she acted, and I was fully on her side as she held nothing back from Ethan<\/p>\n

\u201cYou left me,\u201d she says the three words that cut me. \u201cYou just left me.\u201d She turns in my arms now. \u201cYou left me, and I had to learn how to breathe without my chest hurting. I had to learn how to go an hour without wanting to call you. I had to learn how to wake up and pretend I was okay. I had to learn how to live again.\u201d She puts her head down and cries, and I pull her into my arms. \u201cI can\u2019t survive that again.\u201d
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to. You won\u2019t ever have to.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s so emotional, so swoony, and so exciting watching everything unfold between these two! They have a lot to work through, and the feels are intense, and I was in tears watching it all come out. I was feeling everything with them, and I thought their reconnection played out perfectly! Paced well, with so much emotion, it\u2019s realistic, sensible and functional, and the mix of heart-wrenching declarations, sweet moments, and passionate sexy time is mixed well with the laugh-out-loud banter and sense of fun that Ethan and Emily have between them. Their love for each other shines through each and every encounter, and I adored every moment of them together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI belong to you, my heart belongs to you in this life, in our past life, and in our next life, it will always be you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Emily isn\u2019t the only one left shattered when Ethan left. His family were all devastated by his abrupt and shocking absence, and he has a lot of fences to mend. One by one, we get to see him make his peace with the people he let down, and oh, my heart. Those special moments are beautifully written with so much emotion, and almost every single one of them had me in tears. He gets the answers he needed, and he is able to explain himself beautifully. I understood and empathised with him, I was never angry with him, and I love how he owned his mistakes and made such an effort to make things right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the same man \u2026 I just have a few broken pieces.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s epic. It really is. And there\u2019s this sense of the series coming full circle as so many of the things I was wrestling with are resolved, and we get this sense that everything is as it should be \u2013 even if the journey to get there was a hard one. If I had to go through the dramatic turmoil of the preceding books to get this story \u2013 it was worth it. The feels are there, but without all the angst (which I appreciated) and I finished the book with a massive cheesy grin and happy tears streaming down my face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved you then, I\u2019ll love you forever.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a beautiful story of family, forgiveness and healing, and of realising and fighting for the life that you want. An instant favourite, and one of Natasha\u2019s best, I love it so much!<\/p>\n

6 stars!<\/p>\n

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Southern Series<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \"\"\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\"\" \"\" \"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Southern Chance (#1) <\/strong>(Jacob & Kallie)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Nook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Comfort (#2) <\/strong>(Casey & Olivia)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy: \u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Nook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Storm (#3) <\/strong>(Beau & Savannah)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Nook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Sunrise (#4) <\/strong>(Ethan & Emily)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Nook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Heart (#5)<\/strong> (Mayson & Chelsea)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Nook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Heat (#6)<\/strong> (Quinn & Willow)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Nook<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Secrets (#7)<\/strong> (Amelia & Asher)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Kobo\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Nook\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Southern Sunshine (#8) <\/strong>(Reed & Hazel)
\nReview<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Buy: \u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0Nook<\/a><\/p>\n

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This series spins off into the Southern Wedding series, with books for the Southern Series kids.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Find family tree and series crossover details here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Abou<\/strong>t the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"When her nose isn\u2019t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she\u2019s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It\u2019s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn\u2019t listen to her\u2026<\/p>\n

Facebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Facebook Reader Group<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow on Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Follow on BookBub<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Subscribe to Newsletter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Check out more great reads on our\u00a0Natasha Madison Author Spotlight<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fave for 2020, Southern Sunrise is now live!     \u00a0Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Apple\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Nook\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo   Blurb Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South Emily I fell in love with him when I was fourteen. Under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,52,173,50,49,9,24,29],"tags":[59,581,48,1129],"class_list":["post-52665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-6-star-reads","category-drama","category-epic-romance","category-favourite","category-feeeeeeels","category-romance","category-second-chance-romance","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-natasha-madison","tag-review","tag-southern-series"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Southern-Sunrise.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-dHr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}