Mick is in for a wild ride…Baseball Pro, Mick Jasmine, is the worst at relationships. His most recent ex-girlfriend pitched a crystal vase at his head with such precision, that maybe she should tryout for the Sea Dogs. It doesn’t help that one of his ‘game-day superstitions’ is getting laid right before each game, and that he even has a handful of women on call to help him fill this need.But … fill this need.
But Mick is over his lifestyle. He’s done with being a certain type of person. On a whim, he gets in his car and drives halfway across the country for Pecan, Kansas; a desolate town that’s not even on the map. He knocks on the trailer door that used to belong to his childhood best friend. In his entire life, he’s never loved another girl the way he loved her as a child. She’s the one. Somewhere in his heart he knows this.
But what he finds on the other side of the door, he never expected. Raven Malone, all grown up…
Nick is no match for Raven Malone all grown up. She’s going to eat him alive.
**This novel was previously titled CRAZY SEXY NOTION. The title and cover were changed to match Sarah Darlington’s new series, the KILL DEVIL INK Series, which features characters from this novel. This book can be read as a prequel novel to the novels in the KILL DEVIL INK Series.
KILL DEVIL INK READING ORDER
0. Crazed
1. Inked (coming summer 2020)
2. Marked (coming 2021)
more
This was the first book I’ve read from Sarah and it will not be the last. I was hooked from the very beginning and couldn’t stop reading. I absolutely love Mick. The way he fought to get Raven back and help her, how could you not. I’m also a sucker for friends to lovers romance too. I will definitely be reading more from Sarah in the future.
I really enjoyed this book. This is the story of Mickey and Raven who were childhood best friends who lost each each other after Mickey moved at the age of 10. They are now adults with their own issues and are back in each others lives.
I really wanted to not like Mickey because the book starts out with him being a cheater. But as the book goes along I can’t help but love him. I can’t help but love his heart. We learn the only women he ever truly loved was Raven. He even goes to find her as an adult and rescues her from the life she was leading. She was a hooker and she had a 7 year old daughter. While life had been good to Mickey, it hadn’t been to Raven. But I loved her character. She was strong and feisty. And the banter between Mickey & her was great.
This is a story of true love. But it’s not a life is perfect story. This story is real. Sometimes life makes it hard on you. And sometimes people make decisions just to survive. But love can heal all. It may not be easy to heal and trust but in the end it’s worth it.
I recommend this story to romance fans (some hot scenes!), friends to lover fans & anyone who loves a good healing story.
BOOK REVIEW
Title: Crazed (formerly Crazy Sexy Notion)
Series: Kill Devil Hills Ink
Author: Sarah DarlingtonSarah Darlington
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Enemies-to-Lovers, Childhood-friends-to-Lovers
Rating: /5
I love Raven’s character in this story. I love her tenacity, her drive, her ferocity, her brutal honesty. She does whatever she has to do to survive and provide for her daughter. Including allowing Mick to whisk her away across the country in hopes of a better life.
I struggled with Mick’s character in the beginning… His careless attitude towards women was very off-putting for me, even though some of the behavior was completely warranted **cough cough** Sandra. In the end he won me over, though, but I’ve always been a sucker for baseball players.
Some of my favorite moments:
“Raven—” The word left my lips like a whisper lost in a storm. A burst of heat rocked through my body. Because, damn, she was…gorgeous. Something fierce to behold. The innocent girl from my youth? Not even close. More like a pinup poster the horny teenage version of myself would have jerked off to. Her fierce emerald eyes, rimmed in deep black makeup, cut into me like knives.
It didn’t help that this man had to be straight up handsome, too. Like Clark Kent Handsome. Like handsome is such a classic, generic way. You know the type—thick brown hair, stubble for days on one hell of a strong jawline, deep blue eyes, a cleft chin, and lips that could drop panties. He even had on dark frames today, as if he really were trying to channel Clark Kent up in the front seat. Good thing I’d always been a Batman fan.
“Let’s pretend you’re not you and I’m not me, just for this one moment,” she whispered. She ran her tongue against her lips. “Tomorrow you can resume hating me, and I can resume hating you.”
I believed in morning workouts, game day rituals, the slice of a perfect curve ball, in Sunday dinners with my family, in snow tires, long winters, in a good Irish whiskey, in the feel of a hot fire on a cold day—and that kissing Raven was the epitome of life on this planet.
Happy reading!!
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I voluntarily reviewed an ARC copy of this novel I received from the author.
Crazy Sexy Notion is a quick, enjoyable read written by new-to-me author Sarah Darlington. It tells the story of childhood best friends Raven and Mickey who were separated when they were ten years old and went on to live very different lives. Raven stayed behind in the trailer park they grew up in, doing anything to make sure she could provide for her young daughter, including becoming a prostitute. Mickey, now called Mick, moved in with his wealthy father in Maine and went on to become a baseball player. Now an adult, Mick realizes that not having Raven in his life is what he’s been missing all these years and decides to travel back to Pecan, Kansas to rescue her. Raven says yes when Mick asks her and her daughter, Samantha, to move to Maine with him, and while Raven feels like it was the right thing to do for her daughter, she doesn’t know if it was the right choice for her heart.
Overall, I found this book fun and enjoyable for what it is- a fast paced stand-alone romance filled with compelling drama based on secrets and misunderstandings and former lovers. I didn’t immediately love Mick or Raven, but I found their motivations and the fact that neither one was perfect to be endearing and made for good storytelling. So often, one main character is a total screwup and the other comes across as perfect, but I really appreciated that Darlington wrote both characters with flaws. And I ultimately found myself rooting for them to dig themselves out from under all their emotional baggage to fully realize their love for each other. Throughout the whole book, I was intrigued by Mick’s half brother Nick and I’m very excited and looking forward to what happens in his book, Street Rat: A Modern-Day Aladdin Retelling!
Sweet Story (3.5)
Mickey and Raven’s story was a mixture of sad and sweet. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to reading the next book in the series.
“I promise I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you.” – Mickey
It was this childhood promise that Mickey held on to and remembered for the 15 years he’s been away from Raven Malone. Always feeling like he let her down and abandoned her. The truth is though that when you’re a child some promises are a lot harder to keep. At age 10 life changed unexpectedly for Mickey giving him the chance to leave the Cherry Hill Trailer Park in Pecan, Kansas and become the man he is today. A man who’s smart, successful and ready to make good on the promises he made to his childhood sweetheart. So with determination he sets out on his journey to rescue the one girl he’s never stopped loving.
When Mickey moved away at age 10 it broke Raven Malone’s heart. He was the one person that made living in Cherry Hill bearable. In his absence Raven’s life went from bad to worst. No longer the innocent child she once was Raven harbors a dark secret. Trying to make enough money to escape the confines of Cherry Hill and make a new start Raven turns to prostitution. The last thing she expected was for Mickey to show up at her door wanting to be her knight in shining armor.
Will Raven be able to forgive Mickey? Will she be able work through her insecurities and the pain of her past to allow love and happiness a second shot?
Loved it! I think Mickey is my new favorite Darlington BBF, next to Leo!
I’m not even sure how to go about describing this book or how exactly it made me feel! I’m kind of feeling like Raven and her dilemma with Mick~ “…if I ever actually saw Mickey again in my lifetime then I’d show him…I’d show him…Well…I still wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to show him.”
Crazy Sexy Notion is so different from Ms. Darlington’s previous books, but in a really good way! It’s funny and sexy and so freaking entertaining! It cracked me up, well Mickey cracked me up, honestly. He’s so intensely clueless, and he definitely won’t be for everyone, that’s for sure. He’s a cheater and an unapologetic manwhore, but I loved him. I’ve read every book Sarah’s written and next to Leo freaking Maddox, Mickey Lawson is my favorite bbf of hers. He’s got some quirks, he goes about things in completely the wrong way, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t think before he acts most of the time, but his heart is in the right place.
”Raven, pack a bag. I’m here to take you home.”
Mick takes it upon himself, after 15 years, to go save his childhood best friend, Raven. The thing of it is, he doesn’t even know if she needs saving! He’s been feeling guilty for having left her in the crappy trailer park they grew up in all those years ago, and gets this “notion” in his head that he needs to go get her. He was 10 years old when he left, just a kid, so there’s really nothing he could have done at the time, but this is something he needs to do for himself, and once he’s made up his mind there’s no turning back.
”But touching her, no matter how miniscule the touch had been, felt like…everything. The closest thing to something real I’d ever felt in my life.”
What follows is a delightfully amusing tale that had me laughing, shaking my head, and rooting for these 2 oddball characters. Crazy Sexy Notion is an unconventional love story of two long lost best friends that kept me engaged from start to finish.
I really enjoyed Crazy Sexy Notion , I’ve read a few of Sarah Darlingtons books and liked them now I can’t wait to see whats to come for this author . The blurb really intrigued me and once this story hit my kindle I devoured it . The sex scenes are really steamy and with chemistry so undeniable these two really burned up my the pages . I can’t wait to read whats to come from this author
copy provided for honest review
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hero= 8 heroine= 8 secondary characters= 8 Chemistry= 9 steam= 9
romance=6 humor= 3 darkness level= 5 action= 3 mystery= 3
enjoyment= 9 angst=3 story line=9 Story ending=9
character development= 9 pacing= 9
cover= 10 stars= 4 author= 9
would I recommend this book= yes
would I re read this book= yes
would I read future books by this author= yes
3,5 stars
I received an ARC of this book and this is my voluntarily, honest review of it.
Sometimes you read a blurb and you get very curious about the story. This was one of those times!
I read the blurb and then I really wanted to read the story and I’m so glad that I did because this story was a nice surprise.
Mick (or Mickey like Raven likes to call him) was born in a trailer park. His mother wasn’t a great parent but he had a best friend there… Raven. They did everything together so it broke his heart when his father came to take him away from there but Mickey also knew that he had to get away from that terrible place if he wanted to have a good future for himself. But he made a promise to Raven that he would get her away from there. Now, fifteen years later Mick is still thinking about Raven and his promise to her. He is still feeling guilty for leaving her behind. So after another bad break-up with a girlfriend Mick decides that the time has come to look Raven up and to keep his promise to her.
Raven has never forgiven her childhood best friend Mickey for leaving her behind in the trailer park. Now, fifteen years later, she’s a single mother who’s still living in the trailer park. Raven is doing what she can to support her and her daughter but when you live in a small town there aren’t many opportunities or chances for good work. So Raven sells her body in the hope that she can give her young daughter Samantha a better life and future. The last thing that she expected was to see Mickey again and especially not in those circumstances!! When Mickey ask her to come with him, Raven says yes. And although she keeps telling herself that she made the right decision for her daughter, the real question is, did she make the right decision for her heart? Or will the grownup Mickey also break her heart like the young Mickey did? Only time can tell.
Okay, let me start by confessing that when I first met Mick/Mickey in the book that I wasn’t so convinced that I would like him. Because a manwhore and a cheater?!? That’s not really my ‘type’ of guy but I was willing to give it a try and I’m so glad that I did because the more I read, the more I fell for Mickey. Because this is one of those story where you know that once the guy find the right woman he will be faithful, loyal and wonderful to her. Raven was also a character that had to grow on me. But just like Mickey, the more I got to know her the more I liked her.
The story is told from both POV’s.
Although the story had some difficult themes in it, I didn’t find the story too heavy or too sad. The writer didn’t give us a dark story but a story about hope, forgiveness and love. Love that started between two children in a trailer park and a love they rediscovered as adults.
‘Crazy sexy notion’ was a good story and I’m already curious about the next story.
Is it wrong that I ignored my family to read Crazy Sexy Notion? I really enjoyed reading this book.
I wasn’t sure when I read that Raven was a prostitute if I would like the book and I have, to tell you I DID really like the book!
Raven & Mick (Mickey Lawson) grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Mick left Raven when he was 10 and his father came to get him. Raven wasn’t the lucky one to leave when she was young.
After a terrible break-up Mick decided he was going to go and see Raven from his childhood. He felt that she was the answer to all his problems. He hoped she wasn’t married. After arriving at Sandy Hill Trailer Park he finds that she is a prostitute and has a young child. Now he is determined to save her & her child.
I loved the chemistry between Raven & Mick. Of course, the kid is cute too. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading Street Rat.
My review of Crazy Sexy Notion by Sarah Darlington-Author – Yvonne
This book follows the story of Mick and Raven. Beat friends for 10 years until Micks father comes to take him away from the trailer park they live in. Fast forward 15 years and you see Mick going back to his old life to find Raven. He promised himself when he left he would come back for her.
When Mick left Ravens life spiralled out of control. Her life changed and she hated Mick for leaving her. Now he’s back and wants to save her. There isn’t just her to think about though. Can she up and root everything and everyone she cares about for the boy who ledt her and broke her heart?
Think of pretty woman and you have your plot. It is a lovely story and one of best friends become lovers etc. There was just something missing for me. I wanted there to be more detail on some of the things that occurred in the story. A Little more depth. I think I am just to nosey and need to know more.
I do however want to read Nicks book as I found him intriguing throughout the book.
Please don’t let my 3 star review stop you from reading this story. This is just my personal point of view and I know some readers loved it more. Every book isn’t for everyone and not every book is a 5/4 star either. That doesn’t stop it being yours.
Sarah Darlington is a new author to me but after reading Crazy Sexy Notion that is going to change, I really enjoyed this quick romantic read. Best friends growing up and living on a trailer park but that was 15 years ago, what will Mick find now when when he decides to find the girl he left behind as a child. Raven has not had a easy life, she has a daughter and has turned to prostitution to earn a living can her childhood friend rescue her from her life. This is a beautiful love story and I was hooked from the first page, it was read in one sitting a perfect standalone read. the story flowed and it has the perfect mix of humour, romance and banter. The characters in this book have depth and I really hope we get more from the secondary characters. Great quick read.
Sweet and heartfelt, this book is a lovely read.
If you believe in soul mates and the one, loving through adversity and being apart, this book is for you!
4 stars and a vase.
After Mick was taken out of a bad situation by his dad when he was ten he has always felt like something was missing. He missed his childhood best friend fiercely. Once Mick has a wild and crazy breakup he realizes the reason his life doesn’t feel complete. Raven isn’t a part of it. He feels the need to go get her, so he comes up with the crazy notion to drive 22 hours to bring her home with him.
Raven has resorted to selling herself for money. Prostitution is not what she had planned for her life, but here she is drinking to get through it. It pays the bills so.. but when Mick shows up everything changes in the short time he’s there. She agrees to go with him and never wants to look back.
The two have this undeniable chemistry. I love the fact that Mick is so open and honest with his feelings for her and Raven isn’t scared to say what’s on her mind, even if she is scared to open her heart to him.
This book is definitely not a normal love story but it’s gripping and draws you in. The idea is slightly far fetched but it’s a good book nonetheless.