Review by Kimmi:
I am the kind of reviewer that MUST begin writing all of the voices, emotions, and intense feelings I have after finishing the last page of the book I've just read. It is sad to say, but it must be said, that if there isn't a storm of craziness in my mind after I finish a book my followers can read in between the lines of my reviews and they can tell, with that being said this is SO FAR from that book, it is at the other end of the universe from that book. Now, I apologize for letting this crazy bitch off her leash before hand *unhooks leash* but if I don't let her out, she is going to take me out!
Holy Shit! No, freaking seriously! Holy Shit!!!! I don't think the readers that had their hands on this book and wrote their reviews were able to fully grasp or accurately explain the total phenomenon of epic proportions that lies with in this books pages! And I am sorry but dammit I effin' SCOFF at you!! Why?!?! Damn you WHY am I just now reading this book!?!?! Sheesus! R.D. Cole where in the hell have you been sister!!! Damn girl! R.D. Cole has a style unlike any other author I've read to date. She does NOT pull a single punch, hell she grabs you by the nape of the neck while shoving fist after fist of the bad and the ugly down your throat! Then she turns around and feeds you with a silver spoon the hot sexy sweet and you eat that shit up like a kid on the living room floor after trick or treating on Halloween! And when you aren't even looking she delivers an excellent round house kick that leaves you babbling, confused, and asking WTFH!?!?! However her writing magic lies within her finesse to do all of this without flooding your mind with unnecessary details and her ability to put you through the proverbial wringer, yet at the end you are not left in the midst of a bitch cliffhanger, and you get the solitude of the character as she went through her journey of Learning how to live.
Trudy Love has been handed shit cards from the dealer of life since the beginning. In and out of foster homes who only saw her as a monthly check, she grows up starved of love, attention, and a sense of family. When she is finally granted one good hand, she immerses herself in every piece of love she is granted. She excels in dance, her grades remain at a 4.0 or higher, and she is finally able to make someone happy, not for the monthly check, but to see her succeed. Until her next hand is dealt, and her happy house of cards fall all around her, uncaring of the despair and devastation she is also left alone to deal with. When a guy she sees around school, not a student though sees her grieving over the loss of the only mother she has ever known she is grateful for his offer of a place to stay. But unbeknownst to her she has just walked into the devil's den. His kindness doesn't last long, and his hurtful words aren't the only thing that hurts when fists and bloody lips begin to become her norm. Now with a baby growing daily in her womb she knows that all she has to do is make it through her last year of school. Brad aka Satan doesn't know it, but she has been granted a full scholarship to a college in another state. So with her plans set in motion all she has to do is make it to the finish line and she can see it, it's just barely out of her reach. But life and plans for Tru are just like a deck of twisted cards, a game that she always seems to be on the losing end of. And yet again, she falls, yet again her plans become meaningless, yet again she loses it all.
Was Jax born with money? Yes. Does Jax
take it for granted? Hell No. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph if I could hand select a fictional character to make fictional babies with, and ride away into our fictional future in our fictional minivan, it would be Jax, ALL DAY *coughs* AND ALL NIGHT BABY ;) I have loved a many fictional men, Kellen, Jake Wethers, Christian, Gideon, but I would take Jax's college boy ass over EVERYONE of them! He has a heart of an angel and the mouth with a sinful tongue. Holy cheese and crackers, he is perfection. Every damn sexy as hell inch of him.
When he first lays eyes on Trudy there isn't a question of if, it's mothafuckin WHEN..... He will play the part of a friend, he will play the part of a hero, hell he'll play any damn part he needs to and it isn't to win the game, it is to win her heart and soul. Well, he won mine the second he strutted his fine ass, dark brown eyed, dimpled smile self onto the pages! Sorry this review isn't about how Jax turned me into a crazy bitch in heat.... back to the story ;)
Nothing has ever come easy for Tru in life, and Jax's love and devotion seems to good to be true. With bumps in their paths left and right, and her deep need to keep her heart guarded, it seems like this is a love that cannot ever last. But Tru Love is Jax's True Love, and come all of hell and the highest floods of water, he isn't going to let her go, period.
When I finished this story I was a hysterical, crying, hot damn mess! I loved it, I hated it, then I fell even more in love with it. I love the authors way of beating me down, then building me back up, and then kicking my ass making me bust it into my happy house of cards. This story is beautiful, heart wrenching, heart warming, it is brutal, and gives you closure while leaving you begging for more all over again. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Learning to live gracefully nabs 5-where the hell has this book been all my life-Kimmi Stars ★★★★★
Learning to Live; Book Trailer
Need the link to FINALLY grab your copy? Look no further my love:
Kimmi's Author Review with R.D. Cole author of Learning to Live:
1) Give me a brief biography on yourself and tell me what, if you could say, is the most definite thing that inspired you to write?
~I live in good ole' Alabama (Roll Tide) but grew up an army brat. At age four my parents finally settled down along the gulf coast where they both grew up. I have a wonderful husband who is 9 years younger than me and a 9 year old daughter who's blind and autistic. We love fishing, mud riding on anything, and shooting guns. I have a 38 revolver. Laughing is my favorite thing after creating. I love painting and not long ago took hold of my crazy imagination and started writing. I'm a weird person who doesn't care what people thinks of me. I love make-up and shoes and love dressing like a pin-up sometimes. And this is what inspired me to write.....was my life and experience. I wanted to write about some of my experiences in life that effected a large part of who I am today. But after I started, the story was not mine anymore. It quickly became Jaxon and Trudy's
2) What do you have in the works for us right now?
~Right now I'm working on Learning to Heal. It takes Jasmine aka Jazz, who you meet in the first book, and we get to see how the decisions she made during book 1 affect her and her future.
3) Can you name any authors that influenced you to become a writer or has a major influence on your writing style?
~Geez! So many have inspired me with their writing and the emotions they set in my heart. S.C. Stephens, Rebecca Donovan, Abbi Glines, Colleen Hoover, Tara Sivec, C.M. Stunich, Jamie Mcguire, Kendall Grey, Hadley Quinn, and Many many more. Reading their words and feeling what their characters felt was unreal and I wanted to do that. I wanted to stir emotions in people so deep they would remember my characters.
4) While writing do you set yourself an allotted amount of time per day, or do you just follow the voices in your head?
~I definitely follow my characters lead. I'm constantly writing things down. It doesn't matter what time it is. If something comes to mind I scribble it in a notebook or on my dry erase board. But sometimes if I get in a funk I sit and just start writing. The funk will dissipate and fingers and imagination starts running. Its like starting a lawn mower. Start tugging the rope with force and it will eventually start.
5) Do your characters have a face before you begin writing them? Are they ever based on an actor/actress? Or do your characters begin as a blank canvas that becomes more clear and develop physically while you are writing?
~I already have my main characters features in my head, but later I got online and found what matches not only their looks but their personality as well. My secondary character just morphed into their own person as I typed. I wanted variety because the world is full of variety.
6) What is your most favorite and least favorite aspect of writing a book?
~My most favorite thing about writing is falling in love with my characters and story. As I write it's like me reading it for the first time. I sometime have to remind myself that I can change things I don't like. Until I push publish of course.
My least favorite thing is the funk I was talking about earlier. I hate it and sometimes it feels like I won't get out, but when I do the excitement is addictive. You just want to shout and when I do they crazy looks can't bring me down. Boosh!!
7) If you could have any one of your characters be nonfictional and apart of your day to day life, who would you chose and why?
~I think I would choose Jazz. She is so much fun and full of pent up energy. Plus she has awesome clothes.
8) If you could give the new authors that are about to release their debut novel your shiniest pearl of wisdom, what would it be?
~You cannot please everyone with your story. Don't take bad criticism to heart, because everyone has a preference. I love to please people but I've learned I cannot please everyone. I love my story and that is all that matters. Just take their words and use it to form and build next story. But nothing in this world is perfect.
9) Ok, now, we all have our fav heroines, and our best book boyfriends, if you could chose a character from ANY book that you would you want to be, who would you be and why? And who is your book boyfriend? Out of ANY character from ANY book, who would you snag up as a husband if he wasn't fictional?
~Wowzers! This is hard. Hmmmm... I think if I could be a character is any book it would have to be Keira from Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens. And of course Kellan would have my named tattooed on him and write me songs. Totally Effing HAWT!!! I know their relationship was VERY rocky, but they have an awesome relationship with each other and their friends are Da Bomb!!! (D-BAGS RULE)
10) While you were writing your book was there a point when everything just started clicking together and you heard Johnny Nash singing "I can see clearly now the rain is gone." Or was it a bitter fight all the way to the end?
~No fight on this story, but book two has become one. But I will Kick ass in the end. I'm just working some kinks out before I get back in the ring.
Thank you for this amazing interview Kimmi!
