Title: September Rain Series: Savor The Days #2 Author: A R Rivera Pages: 359 Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Suspense Publication Date: May 15, 2015 Published by: Self Published Format: eBook Purchase: Amazon Kindle| Smashwords +Add to Goodreads

You met her in Between Octobers. You know what she did, but you don’t know why. She wasn’t always a monster. Actually, before she met Evan, she was a completely different person . . .

* * *
Clinging to your past will smother your right now . . .
which is exactly what Angel Patel is hoping for, since nothing in her present life is quite what it seems.
The past is where she left her heart, beating inside the chest of the boy she loved. What does she have in the here and now that’s so special? Nothing and no one.
Angel’s been in prison for the past six years. She’s got about sixty square feet of concrete flooring enclosed by concrete walls and one metal door. One twin-sized bunk. No windows—which means no view. No birds, no trees. No family to visit.
No friends.
Avery Campbell doesn’t count. She was never Angels’ friend, though if you asked Avery, she’d say different. She’d sell her story to anyone; try to make them believe that it was okay for her to betray her life-long friend—the only real friend she ever had. Avery’s convinced that lies are acceptable if they protect someone. But that isn’t always true.
It all goes back to when Angel and Avery met the hazel-eyed boy who would become the love of Angels’ life. Jake Haddon. He was a surprise. Such talent; a gorgeous, undiscovered, musical genius at the age of eighteen. He was also the lead singer of Angels’ favorite indie rock band on the cusp of stardom.
When the state prison Angel resides in is marked for closure, Angel and her lawyer go before a two-person panel to plead her request to be moved to a moderate security facility, better suited for someone like Angel.
Ever anxious to draw out the memories of her life with Jake, Angel recalls how Jake was the only good part of her terrible life as a disposable kid, raised in foster care. With him, she was happy for the first time in seventeen years.
Because she didn’t know what Avery was doing.
During the case review, as Angel recounts the lies and mistakes that snowballed into the sentence she’s currently serving, she’s simultaneously formulating a plan to escape. She aims to find her long-lost love, Jake, and spend the rest of eternity trying to make up for her part in the crimes that landed her in jail.
But before she can do that, she needs to get through the case review. She has to make sure that the interviewing panel understands that it was not her—that is was her best-friend turned sworn-enemy, Avery—who plotted and carried out the crimes. That it was Avery who killed Angels’ boyfriend, Jake Haddon.

**Reads as a stand-alone. Story is connected through characters, not the plot.**

. . . Jake was anxious for me to meet his mom. He’d planned to introduce me several times, but I was always too nervous. I made up excuses the first couple times. He didn’t like my cancelling, but had been letting me get away with it. By the fourth invitation, his patience was wearing thin. Seeing this, I agreed to go over one Sunday afternoon.
“She’s going to love you.” Jake assured me, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the radio. “Just relax.” His hazel gaze drifted from the road to the rearview mirror.
Avery was in the back of the van, watching the store fronts blow by. I’d invited her at the last minute because knowing she was there would help me feel confident enough to relax. And Jake didn’t say anything when she got into the car, so I assumed it was okay.
“Where’s your mom work?” Avery asked.
“Post Office.” Jake turned to me and smiled.
“Why do you want me to meet her so bad?” I asked.
He looked into the rearview mirror again. “Because I like you.”
Just then, I looked into the back. Avery was staring at him, wearing a small smile that faded when her eyes caught mine.
My fingers clutched the set of knots forming in my stomach. When I looked back to Jake he glanced from the rearview mirror to the road, and then back at me. I straightened in my seat.
When we stopped at a red light, Jakes eyes went right into the rearview mirror, again. He was looking at Avery, even when she wasn’t talking. I understood why—I mean she was so much prettier than me—but it made my chest quiver, and not in a good way.
I told myself it was nothing but couldn’t help asking, “Why do you keep looking behind you, in the mirror?” My tone was low, hoping Avery couldn’t hear.
Jakes face didn’t change, but his gaze shifted to the road ahead. “I’m being a responsible driver.”
“It doesn’t mean anything, Angel.” Avery whispered, reaching up to pat my shoulder. I swear she had the ears of a jungle cat.
I looked out the window behind us. There were a few cars. The light changed and we started moving. I watched Jake as he checked his mirrors and then switched lanes, but his gaze kept going back to that rearview mirror.
“What are you looking at?” I asked more forcefully.
Jake didn’t take his eyes off the road, but they shrank. “Traffic.”
“Who are you looking at?”
“Angel.” My name was a warning. “Don’t start this again.”
“Tell me. Who are you trying to scope out back there?”
Jake shook his head and scoffed as he guided the van to the roadside. He parked and turned to face me, pinning me with his undivided irritation. “Are you trying to start a fight? Because I thought we were going to having a nice time. I thought that I was taking you to finally meet my mother. If picking a fight is your way of trying to get out of it again, you let me know. The way I’m feeling right now, I will fucking fight.” His lips thinned and his voice was stern.
The sliding door of the van slammed. I looked into the back and Avery was gone. I turned to look out my door and found her face in my open window.
“I’m not fighting with anyone.” She snapped, before taking off down the sidewalk.
I jumped out after her. She stopped when she heard my door close and turned around, stalking back to me.
“Angel, dammit, would you get back in the car?” Jakes’ voice sailed from inside the van.
I ignored him. “Ave—”
“Go, Angel.” She told me. “I’m only a few blocks from my mom’s store. She’ll give me ride home.”
“Angel!” Jake called, sounding more upset.
I was torn. “I’m sorry,” I told her.
“Angel, you’re really pissing him off right now. Over nothing. Just get in the van and go meet his family. It’s important to him.” She turned and started down the block again.
A second later, Jake was behind me. “Well? Are we fighting or what?”
I turned to face him, but kept my eyes on the ground. “Let’s go.”
He opened the vans passenger door for me and I hopped inside.
Jake’s temper vanished as we drove down the road. My mood improved considerably as I watched him repeatedly checking the rearview mirror.

Amazon | Smashwords

~~~~~

Book 1 in the Savor the Days Series – Between Octobers

Check out my review for this book here!

A.R. Rivera loves to read, write, and talk. She does all of it, at every opportunity. Sometimes simultaneously. She also writes about people with lives much more interesting than her own and blogs about the difficulties of said writing, as well as making up flash fiction and other junk.
She’s also a mom to four amazing boys (three of which are in a rock band), a wife to the greatest husband in the world, a daughter to two super parents, a baby sister to three siblings, an aunt to more nieces and nephews than she can count, as well as a self-professed weirdo, couch potato, and people-watcher.
She’s also got a mind-bending Sci-Fi trilogy in the works that she’s very excited about.You can view her book trailer for Between Octobers here:

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