Sunday, November 2, 2014

Blog Tour & Review: Bigger Than the Sky by Harper Bentley


Title: Bigger Than the Sky (Serenity Point #1)
Author: Harper Bentley
Release Date: Sept 30, 2014
Find on
Goodreads

Five years ago, I left my fiancĂ©, hotter than hot Navy SEAL Kade Kelly, at the altar. 
No, I’m not an idiot.
Yes, I had my reasons. 
Now I’ve made a new life for myself working at a large firm in Richmond and I’ve left the past behind. Or so I thought.
Upon returning to my hometown of Serenity Point, Virginia, to take care of some business, I find that Kade’s now home for good and he’s none too happy about my being here. 
Two months. That’s all I’m staying then I’m out of here. Unless I believe the town’s pink-haired psychic’s prediction. Or embrace the sense of belonging I feel at being back home. Or give in to the emotions stirring inside when Kade's attention is suddenly on me. 
He scares the crap out of me. 
He thrills me. 
He used to tell me our love was bigger than the sky.
I always knew ours was a once-in-a-lifetime love. So how can he be so sure it can happen again?

“Amelia?”
After my squawk of surprise, I turn and see Brody Kelly walking across the street and I can’t help the huge smile that covers my face.
“Brody!” I holler and run to meet him, jumping up and throwing my arms around his neck for a hug as his encircle my waist and he spins me around.
“Thought that was you,” he says with a grin as he sets me back down.
“In the flesh,” I say with a smile as I look up at him, covering my eyes with my hand to block the sun. Brody was always such a cutie with his messy sandy brown hair, expressive hazel eyes and mischievous grin that always let you know he was up to no good. He’s around six-two, two-hundred pounds of rock solid muscle and I’d think he was hot if not for the fact that he’s like a little brother to me.
He walks over and whistles at my car. “Man, Mill, getting’ pretty fancy on us. Might wanna hide it in the garage tonight so no one steals the rims.” He grins down at me when I come up beside him and smack him in the arm. He looks around for a second and says, “Seriously, where’s Jeeves? Didn’t he drive you?”
“Shut it, Brody,” I reply with a giggle.
“Guess you’re doing pretty well for yourself then, huh?” he asks, a small frown forming on his face.
I purse my lips then respond, “Yes, I’m doing okay, I guess.” He looks at me out of the corner of his eye in a that was so an understatement kind of way since my car cost almost six figures. “Um, what’re you doing here? I mean, it’s like  you just appeared out of the blue,” I say.
He takes me by the shoulders and turns me to face across the street. I look at Pettyman’s Lumberyard, but that’s when I notice it no longer says Pettyman’s on the front but Kelly & Family Lumber and Construction in its place.
“Y-you bought Pettyman’s?”
He nods with another grin then asks, “So how long you in town for?”
“Not sure. I’ve got two months’ vacation time I’m using so I came to finally check out the station,” I explain, turning back to face it, my smile falling away.
“Aw, Mill, I’m sorry. They were good people,” he replies. “I know Harley feels terrible about everything.”
Harley Sedgwick, the local heating and air technician, had inspected the heater in Papaw and Meemaw’s house for years, telling Papaw on his inspection five years ago (the winter after my wedding debacle) that it really needed to be replaced. Papaw had scoffed at him telling him there was at least a good five more years in it. The next year, Papaw had neglected to call Harley to come back out and take a look, and Harley had been so busy that it hadn’t even occurred to him to check on them. The heater had developed a leak since the previous year it’d been checked, and my beloved grandparents tragically died in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning on a chilly day in early November.
“I know,” I say. “I hope he knows it’s not his fault. Papaw was a stubborn old fool anyway, as Meemaw would’ve said.” I chuckle sadly.
He curls an arm around my shoulders to comfort me. The Kelly men and their protectiveness, I think which makes me sigh.
“So think you might be back to stay?” he asks looking down at me, eyebrows raised.
I huff out a laugh because that’s a ludicrous idea. “No. I wanted to see if maybe I could get the place up and running again then sell,” I inform him.
He drops his arm then nods with what looks like disappointment, which I think is ridiculous. He knows I’m never coming back.
“So how are you? How’s Piper?” I ask.
“She’s fine,” he says aloofly. Then he gets a shy look on his face. “I passed the fireman test. I’m a real-live firefighter now.”
My eyes now get big and I squeal, “Really? Oh, my God! I’m so happy for you!” I hug him again telling him his news is wonderful when I hear someone clearing his throat behind him. Still holding on to him, I lean to the side and look around his shoulder, and what I see makes me swallow down a gasp.
Dear God.
Brody’s older brother Kade Kelly.
Still hotter than hell Kade Kelly.
Kade Kelly who’s got a hard body that’s sculpted like a magnificent work of art.
Who has a large Celtic cross tattooed on his back with “Fiona” in the middle of it in honor of their baby sister who’d died at birth.
Kade Kelly who sings and plays guitar in a band.
Who took my virginity when I was sixteen and he was eighteen.
Kade Kelly who I left standing at the altar five years ago.


Bigger Than The Sky by Harper Bentley is a story about allowing fear to take you away from what your heart desires, from a love that consumes but leaves you needing more at the same time.  About taking a risk from what is expected and doing what one needs to do in order to survive.  The story of Amelia and Kade is one that will tug on your heartstrings and have you silently rooting for this couple to make it as you turn each page.  Bigger Than The Sky was a 3.5 star read for me and I would recommend it to others who want to dive into a love story unlike any other you may have encountered.

"And after five years, I think I've finally figured it out.  Everyone needs a home.  It's not just a place where you put pieces of furniture that you like.  It's not a place that you retreat to once you're back from work.  Home is the place where you feel safe, where you're most comfortable."

Amelia, or Mill as she is referred to throughout the book left the love of her life Kade Kelly at the alter, literally and never looked back to her hometown of Serenity Springs.  Returning home after five years to fix up the garage that her Papaw had owned in order to either sell or find someone to manage it when she returned to her life, she dreaded running into Kade Kelly.  Never had she expected to Kade and his brother Brody owned the business across the street and she would be faced with him each and every day; reminded of her feelings for him, how she almost married him, and how she walked away from it all.

Kade Kelly was a marine when he was left at the alter by Amelia and he was crushed by it, or so his brother Brody tell her on more than one occasion.  Blowing out his knee while on active duty, he returns home and opens his own business with his brother and begins to make a life for himself.  And then Amelia walks back into his life and so did the feelings that he had for her.  After a cold shoulder start when the two encounter each other again for the first time, the love that they had begins to resurface, along with the hurt that went along with it.

It is only when someone seems determined to run her out of town in the fancy car that she drove up in do Kelly and Amelia start to rekindle the romance that they had all of those years ago but not without some struggles.  Amelia has insecurities in regards to Kade's true intentions, which seem to grow due to a series of easily explained but completely misinterpreted events. And Kade...Kade never seems to waiver from his love for Amelia, which the reader can feel jump right off the page; especially when he tells her "bigger than the sky" which had been his way of telling her that he loved her all those years ago.  Will their love conquer all?  Can they have the life together that they started five years ago?  Only time will tell.


Harper Bentley has taught high school English for 22 years. Although she’s managed to maintain her sanity regardless of her career choice, jumping into the world of publishing her own books goes to show that she might be closer to the ledge than was previously thought.
After traveling the nation in her younger years as a military brat, having lived in Alaska, Washington State and California, she now resides in Oklahoma with her teenage daughter, two dogs and one cat, happily writing stories that she hopes her readers will enjoy.