A sexy single dad fights for the woman he wants in the most emotional stand-alone romance you’ll read this year. MARCO I have loved Rosa since I met her in high school English, even though the odds have always been stacked against us. She is the child of criminals, resigned to a bleak future. I’m the heir to a successful construction company and am not afraid to go after what I want. And I want … I want.
And I want Rosa. Always and forever.
ROSA
I broke the law to make sure Marco got custody of our daughter, and I paid the price. But now that I’m out of jail, I’m terrified my ugly past might bleed into our daughter’s future.
The only way to ensure that doesn’t happen is staying far away from both of them.
But Marco isn’t letting me run from him. Not again.
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They are worlds apart and yet true love always find a way. Marco fell in love with Rosa in high school. She broke the law so that Marco could have their child and now she is out. She wants to keep a distance so that her past doesn’t rub off on them but Marco isn’t having any of that. Will these two find their way back to each other?
Great addition to the series. Looks like we have one book to go! Can’t wait.
ARC for honest review with no compensation
Need You Now by Molly O’Keefe is book 4 in The Debt series and is an emotional, heart wrenching, lots of tears, standalone, second chance romance helping to conquer the past and bring light and love to the future!!
Can’t wait for the next book…who will it be???
Need You Now by Molly O’Keefe is a second chance romance that will have your emotions on an emotional roller coaster.
Rosa is finding is difficult to believe that she deserves to finally have the happy life she has always wanted with Marco and Ariella after breaking the law to keep her brother and father away from them. When she gets out of jail she stays away from them in order to protect them, but Marco sets out to fight for the woman he loves and the family he has always wanted them to have.
I’m looking forward to reading more books by this author in the future.
I was given an ARC from the author/publisher. All conclusions are mine and mine alone.
This is the first book I have read by this author and it absolutely will not be the last! I love Rosa and Marco’s story. I want to go back and read the other books as I hear it will round it out more for me. But it’s a stand alone and an amazing story! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!
*Magic Beyond The Covers Book Blog *
I’ve long been a fan of Molly O’Keefe’s passionate and atmospheric writing. The unique bond that ties her characters and moody edge to her stories compel me to keep reading whatever she decides to write.
Need You Now is a beautifully twisted tale of sacrifice and redemption and the lengthens one will go to for love. Torn apart by all that is unjust, Rosa & Macro battled to find their way back to one another with a journey that was both tragic & tense, but also so incredibly sweet. It’s a story that entangled me from its very first page and kept me gripped me until it’s last.
What a ride! it was full of angst and romance! this was a new author to me!.
He Saved Her Place
An emotional journey that takes you through losing everything you love to fighting to get it back. No sacrifice is too great, when love is the driving force.
They fell in love when she was only sixteen. Life happened and her past tore them apart. Their love would be tested.
It’s been four long years since they were torn apart. Marco wants the life they should have had. Rosa is trying to prevent her past from ruining what she sacrificed everything to protect, Marco and their daughter. She’s afraid to hope for a future.
To move forward, she’ll have to risk it all. But isn’t a Happily Ever After worth everything?
Rosa’s story was sad and filled with pain. She was independent and strong, sometimes to a fault. She was a fighter and a survivor. She protected those she loved, no matter the cost. She deserved love and happiness.
Marco was loyal and his love for Rosa was a constant for him. He just had to convince her to choose him. To fight for them…together.
Their story is filled with struggle and heartache. Their love was worth the fight. Neither time nor distance would change that. True love stands the test of time. Their love was forever!
3.75
Marco has had a pretty normal life whose family share a deep love, he’s not got much in common with Rosa. He still loves her with all his heart. Rosa has had a really rough life. She’s remarkably resilient given all she’s been through. She’s still a good person intent on doing right especially by the one man she’s loved and their daughter. Even if that means staying away from them.
As misguided as Rosa’s reasons are, she’s earnest and has thought it all through. It takes a lot for her to realize maybe there is another way and maybe she can have the future she wants. Her step-dad and brother are so evil and stand in the way of her happiness.
So much emotion and angst surrounds Marco and Rosa’s story.
Oh, the feels, there are so many feels in this one! If you read The Debt series, the pregnant teenager, Rosa, this is her but this is totally standalone (but I highly recommend going back and grabbing The Debt series and binge reading it). My heart broke for Rosa and how she gave up everything just to survive and for Marco trying to survive as a single dad. All he wanted was his wife back and he would do anything to get her… I highly recommend this one!
This is a standalone story but is also part of The Debt series. Rosa has a terrible homelife, her mother is dead, her father and brother are criminals and they deep dragging her into their criminal world. The only good part of her life is Marco, her high school sweetheart and father of her unborn child. Marco is the heir to a construction company and madly in love with Rosa. In order to make sure her father never gets custody of her unborn child, Rosa breaks out of St. Judes, a home for deliquents in order to marry Marco so that he will become the legal guardian. When Rosa is released, she knows she has to keep away from Marco in order to protect her daughter from her family. Unfortunately, Marco does not seem to be able to let that happen. It was good to hear Rosa’s story, and although this is a standalone, reading the other books in the series really rounds out the story.
No one does emotion better than Molly O’Keefe.
This book? Wow is all I have to say.
Need You Now is full of all the feels a reader could ever ask for.
Rosa is so broken, but trying to do what she thinks is best.
She fights to find her strength and hope. It’s a beautiful thing to read.
Marco is so mad that he’s almost spiteful, I thought, but then something changes and he starts to fight for what he wants.
Nothing more sigh worthy than a man willing to work for what he wants.
This book is everything!
Thank you Molly for the opportunity to read and review this book.
So much emotion and angst surrounds Marco and Rosa’s story. It pulled on my heartstrings the entire book. Nobody deserves a happy ending more than these two. Rosa was dealt a crap life and hoped to give her daughter more by staying away. Marco never gave up on them being a family and isn’t going to let Rosa walk out of their life. Watching them find their way back to each other…
I haven’t read the other books in this series but definitely plan to!
This unique romance simply blew me away. Powerful, poignant and so incredibly emotional, this beautiful story kept me totally captivated, melted my heart and left me swooning. I loved Rosa and Marco. They were such an amazing couple and their story delivers almost more feels than one heart can take. As for the characters themselves, Marco made my heart ache. He came across as genuine and you could easily sympathize with his thoughts and feelings as he dealt with everything and fought for the woman he loved. As for Rosa, she made my heart bleed. I don’t think I can use enough words to do her justice. She was loyal and fierce, protective and self-sacrificing and strong, so very strong. I’m not sure how many people could do what she did and make the choices she made without become hard, bitter and jaded. Just a absolutely terrific book.
Complex, intricately written story! Loved the continuation of the series and was hoping for more! Love Molly and the characters she weaves!
Emotional and Gripping Story!!
Rosa is from a dangerous family and ended up in a Juvenile home, then prison. Marco comes from a “normal” family and is the love of her life.
A complicated journey for Rosa, as when she escapes the juvenile home, she saves the lives of others and they want to repay the favor. This ends her self-imposed isolation while the lure of her husband and daughter break her heart.
Marco has waited for Rosa to come to them on her own terms, but he will wait no longer. Love, loyalty, family and survival combine into a heart-wrenching tale!!
*** I am voluntarily leaving my honest review of this book ***
NEED YOU NOW is the fourth instalment in Molly O’keefe’s contemporary, new adult THE DEBT erotic, romance series focusing on a group of former teens thrown together in the foster care/juvenile system of San Francisco,California-Tommy, Beth, Simon, Rosa and Carissa. This is Rosa and Marco’s second chance story line.
Told from three first person points of view (Marco, Rosa, Bates) using present day and memories from the past, NEED YOU NOW follows the rebuilding relationship between waitress Rosa, and single father Marco. Approximately four years earlier, while in the foster care system, horrific acts of violence are perpetrated on five young souls-Tommy, Beth, Simon, Rosa and Carissa- who will be beaten and broken for any number of offenses deemed inappropriate or wrong. These five ‘young offenders’ destroyed by a sexually and physically abusive foster family, will discover that freedom came at a cost- all debts must be repaid; anytime, anywhere, without question or fail.
Rosa and Marco were in love but life for Rosa and the others was a nightmare in the foster care system. Raised by an abusive and racist father, Rosa landed in the system, only to face more abuse as time went on. Falling in love with Marco meant a chance at happiness but a pregnant Rosa would take matters into her own hands when the attacks against her ‘foster siblings’ dealt its final blow. On the run, having no idea about the death and destruction back home, Rosa would steal a car, ensuring the man she loved, would get custody of their new born daughter. Fast forward four years wherein Rosa has been released from prison, but struggles to reintegrate with the man that she loved, and the daughter she never knew. What ensues is the rebuilding romance and relationship between Marco and Rosa, and the potential fall-out as the man who holds the IOUs comes looking to help our story line heroine.
Rosa never knew what happened the night she decided to make her move. Having stolen the keys to free her friends, Rosa would walk away only to find herself in prison for stealing a car. While her friends would discover their freedom came at a cost, Rosa never knew freedom, just the loss of her daughter and friends. Rosa had promised Marco she would come looking for them upon her release but trouble back home with her brother and father, meant Rosa was unable to face the people she loved without brining danger and death to their front door. Marco had never stopped loving the mother of his child but Rosa refused to move back into their lives. Hoping against odds that Rosa wanted to be part of their lives, Marco goes in search of Rosa, offering a second chance.
All of the Rosa’s foster care siblings play secondary and supporting roles. The man who holds the ‘debts’ against the former friends makes Rosa an offer but Rosa isn’t willing to sell her soul for a few thousand dollars, a soul that was already damaged beyond repair.
NEED YOU NOW is a story of betrayal, vengeance, and abuse; of second chances and retribution; of family, friendship and love. A little darker than the previous instalments NEED YOU NOW continues to focus on the hellish life of five friends whose second chances come at a cost. The premise is edgy and raw; the characters are broken, colourful and determined; the romance struggles in the face of desperation, guilt and love.
I have not read the Debt Series, but I will after reading this book. Marco and Rosa will pull you into their story and wrap you up in heartbreak, angst and you will feel like you are right there with them through all their struggles. All Rosa wanted was to give her daughter a fighting chance, more than she ever got and that would mean she had to stay away, but Marco won’t have it, he needs her and so does her daughter and he will fight to the end for his family. You will feel for Rosa and all she’s been through and why she’s doing what she is to keep her family safe from the evil that lurks around every corner. No spoilers here, this was an outstanding read, I loved it, and I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of this book.
LOVED!!!
I thoroughly enjoyed this! So many feelings and emotions as the story unfolds. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.
I genuinely care for these characters.
Marco…*sigh*… could he be any more caring and loving and loyal and bossy and SEXY?!
He loved Rosa. So. Much.
But he was so angry with her.
He needed Rosa.
But he wanted to hate her.
But his love for her was fierce.
And I could feel it.
She did what she had to do. And it angered me, too. But the author wrote it perfectly to make me understand.
And that scene in the back room at the Diamond Club?? All. The. Tingles.
I loved this story! When I finished, I wanted all the other characters’ stories. Right now. And guess what? They’re available…I had no idea! #bookhookerfail
I did not read the other books in the series and I don’t feel I needed to to enjoy this story. I *loved* this story! A lot. But will I read the others now that I’m done with this one? Hell yes!
I’m not sure I’ll ever truly get enough of the St. Joke’s crew. Each book emotionally-charged with the right amount of angst and hope. With Need You Now, we get the mysterious Rosa’s story. The girl who single-handedly put in motion the means of escape from the evil Pastor and his wife who made the lives of Simon, Tommy, Beth, Carissa and Rosa a living hell. And like all her former ‘classmates’, I was just as curious as to what her life looked like now and if she found some semblance of happy after all the sad each had to endure.
Wow. Never did I expect to find myself falling hard for this brazen, selfless and brave soul. Rosa is one to be admired as she took her punishment for a deed she deemed very necessary all those years ago, and has stopped at nothing to protect those she left behind. And I don’t mean the St. Joke’s crew. Who knew she had the love of her life waiting for her with the baby girl who meant everything?! All of this one heck of a surprise as we watch Rosa do her best to stay in the shadows and love her Marco and Ariella from afar, keeping them safe from the vermin that is her father and brother.
Bates, once again, shows his face as the mystery man tied to all things St. Joke’s, this time with a bit of different kind of proposition for Rosa, since she helped free everyone that fateful night. His intrusion into her life turns everything upside down but I was beyond hopeful it would also mean she could finally be back with her loves.
The back and forth between Rosa and Marco is at the center of this story and it was incredibly heartbreaking as each of their encounters just fueled more hurt between them. Bittersweet kind of reunions that left my heart obliterated right along with theirs. Some might say Rosa is being too cautious but her senses are always on high alert as her vile brother and father always seem to come out of hiding at the most crucial of moments. And there was no way she’d ever put Marco and Ariella in harm’s way. A forever kind of dilemma that she always handled the best she knew how.
With each of these books involving the St. Joke’s group, I walk away feeling a bit lighter but still have those gnawing suspicions about this Bates character and just what his story is wrt to his own experiences at the hands of the Pastor. And with Carissa now working for him, I am all kinds of curious about their connection and what it all truly means. The next book is Bates’s and I have to say I am cautiously optimistic I will finally get the answers I have been looking for. I’m sure Simon et al. will be right there with me.
Molly O’Keefe has created a world that I have loved getting lost in and Need You Now just might be the most heartbreaking of them all. But she manages to give these survivors the hope they need to find a new lease on life and it’s been a pleasure being privy to those stellar words and superb storytelling. 5 solid stars all the way!