He knows everything.
She has all the damn answers.
I’ve always been a free spirit. It’s my nature.
I crave control, but with her it’s far more.
He’s a power hungry climber.
Her wealth could buy and sell me.
It’s too much pressure being the center of anyone’s focus.
She underestimates my desire for her, my need to please just her.
When he’s vulnerable, it’s hard to deny him.
Her crooked … focus.
She underestimates my desire for her, my need to please just her.
When he’s vulnerable, it’s hard to deny him.
Her crooked smile cripples me.
He hides his demons, but I’m no fool.
She thinks not committing to anyone makes her more honest. She’s wrong.
A man like him deserves someone who can offer that kind of love.
She promises nothing, yet I feel like a king when she says my name.
I never let anyone possess me like he did. Not before. Not after.
My greatest regret was compromising. I should have never held back.
Still, when we’re apart I’m not myself.
I miss the days when she was just down the hall.
He’s better off without me, and it hurts.
The ugly truth is I need her more than she needs me.
Our relationship was born out of lust and curiosity.
The lies we told ourselves killed it.
Together, we found Nirvana.
We learned it was all a mirage.
I ruined him.
I broke her heart.
I keep coming back.
I can’t let her go.
KNOT is a contemporary romance and a complete standalone. It is the first spin-off from the best-selling Wake Series. You do not need to read BAIT, SAIL, or ANCHOR to enjoy this book in its entirety, but if you love angst you’ll enjoy them, too.
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Not gonna lie, I have adored everything M. Mabie has written.
But I also know her writing. I understand how she writes. I know what she put Casey and Blake (and let’s face it, ME) through with Bait, Sail and Anchor.
Just looking at the cover of one of her books gives me anxiety.
Ten
Because she knows how to write angst, and what you’re afraid of most.
Nine
And she knows what to do to grab your heart strings and pull.
Eight
She understands how to make you fear the outcome.
Seven
She knows you’ll get to a point in that book, whichever one of hers you’re reading, and say, “There’s no way this can resolve!”
Six
And you start reading faster, but want to read slower, because you don’t want it to end!
Five
And you keep yelling at your book, or kindle, saying, “You two just need to talk and figure this out.”
Four
The characters never listen. They hurt each other, and fight, and make up, and fight some more.
Three
And then you see it. A glimmer, a glimpse of the why, and you understand the characters more.
Two
You find yourself at that one point, tears in your eyes, saying, “I can’t believe he/ she did that. How beautiful…romantic…selfless…fitting…perfect
One
And in this understanding, you’re sitting there, reading, hoping for these two people you’ve only glimpsed previously, loving them, and rooting for them to find their peace, like they were best friends you had lost touch with.
Well done, Mrs. Mabie. Well done.
“I’d go back to the beginning and do everything I second guessed.”
The title is perfect because I had a knot in my gut the whole time. What a ride. I practically snapped my kindle in half from the pressure I was putting on it as I flipped the pages.
Nora is commitment-phobic, but once she dipped her toe in…there was no going back.
“He entered me hard and fast, a lot like he’d came into my heart. Little warning. Little permission. Little resistance from me.”
Did I mention that Reagan suffers from anxiety? Buckle up and hang on for the angst. Countdown if you have to 😉
“Take all of me. Even the ugly parts that don’t deserve you.”
M. Mabie knows how to pull at your heartstrings and play a song with your emotions that will make your heart weep.
My word. I cannot wait for the next “wake” to come by; I will gladly jump on for the ride.
Favorite Quotes:
It was a power like I’d never known, and I was both greedy and grateful.
I hated how the moment had been spoiled – it had been among many other good ones that ended the same way. I’d been harsh with him. He’d been rude with me. But what happens in a lover’s quarrel when you have no arms left to swing with? No legs left to stand on?
You said not to start, and I didn’t. I know you don’t like answering any of my questions, but, then again, sometimes you do. I know you told me to shut up, but you just told me to speak. So forgive me if sometimes you send mixed signals, and I make you mad.
He might have had a silver tongue for conversation, but it was gold at kissing.
I’d asked for honesty, but I didn’t know what to do with so much of it.
You’ll miss out on all color, all of the joy in life, if you only focus on work and wealth. It doesn’t matter how much you make, you’ll end up poor. You have to find someone to share with, kid. Not just one way either. You tend to want to be the only one giving. You have to let people share with you. That’s when you’re winning. That’s when you have it all.
We. That was the one thing he and I had never tried.
I didn’t worry about what he wanted or what I wanted any more. We wanted each other.
My Review:
Reading Knot was a heart-wrenching and painful experience for the first ten or so highly intense and infuriatingly frustrating chapters. The characters both appeared to have control issues and cold-prickly personalities, and while they seemed to be in near constant conflict with each other throughout most of the book, it was particularly heinous during the initial chapters as they verbally battled and ripped into each other like Roman gladiators. I was hanging by a thread and seriously considering a DNF when I rechecked the reviews on Goodreads and saw far too many positive reviews to have been just Ms. Mabie’s relatives, so I soldiered on. I am so very glad I did.
The storyline weaved back and forth over a timeline of several years, with a dual POV as both major characters recalled their relationship with a two steps forward/three steps back type dance. The writing was often taut with tension and fraught with angst. It was also atomically sensual. The main characters frequently picked fights that they both would lose and were abrasive and antagonistic toward each other – and often for no reason. However, they also had undeniable chemistry – and when it was good, it was off the charts fantastic. The ending almost made up for the soul-crushing beginning… almost. I cannot quite forgive Ms. Mabie yet, but like her characters, I hope to eventually get there.