Fierce

Going The Distance II - YOLO

by Lark O'Neal

A full-length stand-alone romance.

Distance. Chelsea Anderson uses it to flee a violent past and escape into the welcome anonymity of travel as she backpacks around the world. But when an explosion derails her train and strands her in the middle of nowhere, Chelsea, her travel buddy Madeline, and the fiercely sexy Alec McRae are forced to camp out in a tiny mountain village in the Alps. Fighting to escape the dark memories that surface, Chelsea finds herself sharing a very hot kiss with the brooding Alec—but flees back into the safety of distance.

If Alec McRae had invented the perfect girl, she would have looked like Chelsea, and the more time he spends with her, the more he wants her. A simmering sexual tension burns between them, but Alec, too, is using distance as a buffer to hide two secrets: the shame of a life spent in brutal poverty, and guilt that someone in his life made a supreme sacrifice to give him a fresh start.

When the group escapes the Alps, Chelsea and Alec share a magical week in Venice, where the lovers are confronted with everything they’ve tried to leave behind. Will they take a stand and embrace their love or let distance destroy everything?

Check out the first collection of Going the Distance novels!

254 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2016

About the author

Lark O’Neal has waited tables, dispensed drugs to schizophrenics, loaded trucks, answered phones in a call center and tended bar, but the only thing she ever really wanted was to write novels. She writes new adult contemporary romance and paranormal young adult.

As a noted romance and women's fiction writers, she has won many awards for her books, and writes full time from Colorado.

Going the Distance series:
Random, November '13
Stoked, February '14
Epic, August 28, 2014
Brilliant, Winter, 14

The OtherLands Chronicles, a series of novellas
Mirror, April '14
Echo, May '14
#3 , June '14

#4-9 coming in 2014

Reviews

[Amanda Usen]

I don't care what name she's writing under, I love her books. Great emotion, lush descriptions, passion! Adventure! Longing!

[Jan Kaplan]

Fierce is a magnificent novel that depicts how a catastrophic event can change lives in a heartbeat. Ms. O'Neal has created Chelsea, a young woman travelling through Europe, from her home in Santa Fe, NM, as an escape from a horrific past. Her surface facade exudes a strong, calm manner, yet underneath, her panic attacks are frightening her companions and disturbing her ability to function normally.

When she meets Alec, a stunning Scotsman on his own personal quest, there is an instantaneous feeling of something right connecting them. Unbelievably, the train they are on explodes, and Chelsea, Alec and her friends are able to escape with minor injuries. Because of his own experience with violence, struggling to survive in a dangerous part of Glasgow, he immediately understands Chelsea's signs of PTSD.

The narrative flows from Chelsea's and Alec's POV and it moves the story along in a wonderfully fluid way. Ms. O'Neal's lyrical prose about music and specifically the loving link between Alec's violin and Chelsea's violin virtuosity, stirs the soul. Also, I loved that Tyler, Meredith, Jess and Kaleb, from the previous books, were part of this amazing cast of characters.

With Venice as an integral locale, we are treated to a glorious tapestry of sights and sounds, from our lazy gondola ride along the Grand Canal. We are right there in the Piazza, sitting at a cafe with our espresso and pastries, becoming one with Italy.

You'll love Chelsea and Alec ~ for their vulnerability and their intense devotion to love one another, knowing to live any other way is not living at all. This is a wonderful stand-alone book that gives us a HEA ~ hooray! Looking forward to reading Wicked next. I received an ARC for an honest review.

[Carol Stalnaker]

When the train they are traveling on is bombed in the Alps, Scotsman Alec recognizes the PTSD episode the beautiful American Chelsea is suffering. He leads Chelsea and her friend Madeleine escape the train and they travel to Venice together. As Chelsea attempts to carry on despite her violent past and anxiety attacks, she becomes closer to Alec.

The author writes lyrical love scenes and lovingly describes Venice through the eyes of these young people. The love that grows in Alec for Chelsea is in danger of not being reciprocated because Chelsea fears that she cannot feel love for anyone. The story flowed seamlessly and kept my interest throughout. I loved the big, thoughtful, and handsome Alec and felt empathy for Chelsea in her life struggles.

[Robin]

This was a very well-written, interesting, entertaining book. Chelsea has traveling to escape from her past. Alec has been traveling to escape the poverty of his past. An explosion derails the train they're on and strands them in a small town in the Alps. They're attracted to each other, but fighting it, too. Their journey was fascinating to read and I couldn't put this book down. It can be read as a stand alone, though it is the second book in a spin-off series with related characters from the Going the Distance series. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one! I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Melanie Holden]

This is another in Lark O’Neal’s series of YA novels. We have Chelsea who is backpacking through Europe with a group of young people she has met along her travels. Chelsea meets Alec, who is from Scotland and the attraction is mutual. It’s clear that Chelsea has some serious issues and during their travels together we learn about what happened to her before she left home. Alec is very attracted to Chelsea and recognizes some of her symptoms and does his best to make her feel like she can tell him what happened. Ms. O’Neal has a real talent for creating characters that inspire empathy and I really enjoyed these two.

I was provided a free advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

[Jenny T.]

Here's another spin-off novel from the Going the Distance series (with some cameos from Tyler, Jess, & Kaleb.) This story literally begins with a "bang" in Austria and ends in Venice. It features some of the backpackers introduced in "Extreme" and focuses on the budding relationship between Chelsea Anderson and Alec McRae. The characters are complex and working toward healing broken aspects of their emotional/past life which seemed at odds with the very steamy sex scenes described by the author.
Thanks to the Inner Circle for the copy of this book.

[Regina Mastrogiacomo]

Intense story about living with ones nightmares and how people in ones life can help us to answer and face those demons.
I loved Alec because he was so caring about Chelsea and he was determine to live a different life from where he came from. While Chelsea was determine to run from her nightmares, but until she faced them with Alec's help she couldn't reclaim her life.
As always the story was amazing and yummy, the characters were realistic and memorable and as always I wanted more and was sad when it ended.

[Sheila Schwartz]

This was reminiscent of the beautiful love stories like "Love Story" that reeled you in with the Intoxicating narration of the characters who lived, lost and tried again. Definitely made me gasp in pain and screech in anger reading the impact actions in a violent past have on the future. Heartache aside each page turned faster and faster to culminate in a happily ever after that was richly deserved!