The Cliff

by Christie A.C. Gucker

Can a childhood pact a effect the lives of three adults?

Love and betrayal surrounds the lives of lifelong friends Lanie
Rhodes, Grant Bennett, and Dane Voight. Years ago, they made
a pact to remain together as friends forever. The boys also made
another secret pact that same day—to never vie for Lanie’s love.

Grant and Lanie have secretly been pining for one another
since they were children. Now grown up, they finally admit
their feelings for each other and what ensues is a twisted tale
of deception as Dane does everything he can to stop them.

The story weaves around this uneven love triangle.

What will happen to the pact? Will friendships be destroyed?
Will lovers emerge?

Genres: Romance

500 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2012

About the author

Christie A.C. Gucker lives in NJ with her husband, two daughters and a menagerie of pets. Being a mother is one of the greatest joys of her life. She has worked in the advertising industry for over 20 years as a degreed artist, but also works in the fine arts, especially sculpting out of stone or snapping photographs. Christie is also a singer and musician, and can be found singing on a few CDs.

After the death of her father, Christie searched for something to fill her desire to make a mark in this world. Her love of the arts and creativity allowed her to search for a new medium, which she found with a pen instead of a brush. Being an avid reader her whole life, and with her family cheering her on, she decided to take her shot, and began writing.

Christie is fascinated by the supernatural and sharks, and studies both avidly. You’ll be sure to find something spooky lurking somewhere in her stories. Her greatest joy is sitting on a beach with her family while surf fishing, flying kites or building sandcastles with her girls.

Reviews

[Grace Curry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never written a book review if my life, but I simply had to for this one because of its blatant disregard for victims of sexual assault. Early on in the book, the main character is drugged and a man who was her friend from childhood forces himself on her. Had this been handled with even a minor degree of respect for victims, this could have been an amazing story. However, the act of rape is treated like it isn't a big deal. The main character jumps right back into explicit and often ridiculously overdone love scenes literal hours after the attack. This is unrealistic and offensive to someone who has lived through this type of crime because it takes a long time to recover and sex is the last thing on your mind. Even worse, they go back to socializing with the rapist like nothing happened. Sure, they are a little peeved and the guys duke it out, but its more about jealousy over who got the girl. No one considers pressing charges and when the parents come to visit, they are more worried about keeping up appearances than making the culprit take responsibility. The author of this book obviously knows nothing about sexual assault. As a survivor, I found this story repulsive. It sends the wrong message to victims. Its telling them its not a big deal and to just forget it ever happened, and that is the worst kind of message to convey. It would be even worse if someone you considered a friend and almost brother did this to you. I don't know that the author was thinking, but I do not recommend this book at all, but especially not to survivors.

[Elena Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Great plot, characters and easy to follow. It sucks you in and you just can't stop reading!!!!

[Liz at Fictional Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok… this book. Whew. This was quite a story, it really ran me through the wringer. I signed up for this tour a while ago. The excerpt I read sounded really interesting, I knew nothing else. Then just before I started reading it, I looked it up. As it turns out this book started out as Fan Fiction of the movie Twilight. I have never, at least that I know of, read and Fan Fiction, so now I was definitely curious. In fact, I ended up going to my blogger friends for a bit of clarification, and Danielle at Book Whore Blog ended up writing a piece about it. So if you are as confused as I was, and still a little am, then maybe it could help you too!

Lanie, Grant and Dane grew up together. Their parents had been friends forever, built all of their homes on a cliff together, and started a business together. The three families made a new family of their own. Now the parents have stepped aside and the three children run the business and reside in the homes. There’s always been a sort of triangle between them, but there have been pacts to prevent anything from tearing up their happy threesome. But that whole world is about to change, because Grant and Lanie are going to break the pacts and admit their feelings for eachother. No, not feelings. Love. LOVE. Surely Dane would understand, right?

I really loved this story. I loved it for a lot of reasons. One, there is this intricate architecture between everyone. You have so many different levels; parents, children who are now adults, cousins, in laws, outsiders. It was really something to see everything tie in together and form this whole braid of life. Two, sex. Oh my goodness, the sex. There was a lot of sex. Anyone who reads my blog knows I enjoy reading about it. There was one point in this book where I actually wrote in my notes “Ok, there is TOO much sex.” But then there was a point when the sex was gone, and I missed it. So that begs the question, is too much ever enough? Ahem…. And three, more drama than you can shake a stick at!

This story is told from Lanie’s point of view. As the only female in the precious trio, she was treasured. But not just by Dane and Grant, but by everyone. At times I felt like she was a bit whiney and a bit coddled. But overall this woman was an enjoyable character for me. When she was a strong young woman is when I liked her most.

So the triangle? Well, Dane doesn’t exactly handle everything too well. He really brings in some mystery and drama, and I just loved his character. To me, he kind of felt like a Stephen Baldwin, both in looks and temperament. Hot, young, cocky, arrogant… capable of anything? When we get our hearts broken we all act in ways we wouldn’t expect. And Dane is no different. I hated him and I loved him. Terrific character.

I have a lot of feelings about this book. At times it was such high heat, I thought the paint would peel. Sometimes that was coupled with such intense emotion, I was in awe. At a couple points I thought it could turn into a mystery. Sometimes I was angry, and others just frustrated. A few characters got on my nerves once in a while. For my tastes some of it was a bit overkill. Then there was intense joy, and heartbreaking sadness that had me bawling like a baby. Oh yeah, mascara running and burning my eyeballs. I had to read the epilogue a couple times. There is definitely a full gambit in these pages. Overall? I can’t get it out of my head. I’m thinking about reading the epilogue again! I don’t know if it is still classified as Fan Fiction. Personally, I saw almost no similarities. But I am definitely glad I read it.

[Fangirlingranma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here are some of my tweets that I left while reading this AMAZING book:

Up til after 1 AM! Why? Reading The Cliff! EVERY CHAPTER A CLIFFIE! Just 1 more...dang it...ok, 1 more...dang it... GREAT BOOK!

Got a Q 4 u: Is it still considered phone sex if only 1 partner is on the phone? THE CLIFF IS A VERY HOT BOOK! Hope my iPad doesn't explode!

What do chocolate covered strawberries, Oreos, mousse & Nutella all have in common? THEY MAKE U MELT! Read The Cliff!

In the old days we rubbed on Baby Oil to get a suntan! Liked The Cliff's usage a whole lot better! SCORCHING HEAT W NO SUN BURN!

Let's play JEOPARDY-Topic The Cliff for $1000: "When fun with food takes a trip down memory lane!" *buzzer* "What is THE SEX CAKE?" Correct!

Hmm...interesting use of a chocolate covered strawberry! Wow! Need a FIRE EXTINGUISHER while reading The Cliff

The Cliff: SOULMATES who love unconditionally & learn to forgive! Once u find the other part of your soul, u can't live w/o it!

What a great ride *standing ovation*
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE HAS NO EXPIRATION DATE!!

Tissue by tissue (and sex cake by sex cake) all the way to the TOP OF THE BEST SELLERS LIST!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just gotten started with this book and am shocked that I was able to actually set it down to write a review. So far it's 4 stars but I'll probably bump it up to 5 once I finish...I can tell it's going to be that good. I see that some are upset this was first a fanfic that got published-- I think it's wonderful that books like Twilight and Harry Potter have inspired people to try their own hand at writing and we should support them 100%. As an established author I would think there is no better compliment than my book sparking something in a complete stranger that makes them want to start writing.

Great job so far, Ms. Gucker-- I can't wait to see what else The Cliff has in store for us and what the future holds for your writing.

[Pat Buzby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, I was so excited to read this book and now I can't believe I spent the time reading it. Basically it was a magazine article, with 490 pages of soft porn and should be titled Shades of Green. Pretty people with no brains, playing mind games and being naked most of the day. It could have taken place in Idaho. I have no idea why it was Ireland. Poor.

[Jennifer Fay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a romance reader, but this was recommended and I thought I'd give it a shot. The story is simple enough, but it carries you along with a number of really steamy sex scenes along the way! A good beach read :-)

[Katie(babs) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This used to be a Twilight fanfic called The Cliff by RobstenCuteness.

[Linsey]

See comment.

[Rick R · Rating 1 out of 5]

Christie is islamophobic and spreads hatred about muslims on Instagram. Avoid reading her books or helping her in anyway.

[Katie Melton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally write reviews, but since the author is my friend, I feel obligated to explain why I gave the book 4 instead of 5 stars.

My Review:
I truly loved this book. So if you love a good romance with lots of sexy times and an HEA ending, then this book is for you! This book captured my attention, kept me on the edge of my seat, fed the lustful heathen in me, and ran my emotions through the wringer.

I gave the book 4 stars just because of one plot point and I don't think that's any reason for someone not to read it. There are so many readers who like that particular plot point or didn't let it affect them the way it did me.

So, please give The Cliff a chance!

WARNING: Don't continue to read if you don't want anything spoiled!!

My spoiler filled explanation for 4 stars: *SPOILER ALERT*

As I said in my review, I truly loved the book and balled like a baby at the end, but here's why I gave it 4 stars. I did't like that the date rape issue wasn't handled more seriously or really at all (IMHO). I didn't like that she just ended up forgiving him far too easily. Sure, this kind of thing happens in real life all the time (sadly) and maybe I should just hate Lanie's character for how she handled things, but I just can't. I'm totally that kind of forgiving person. So that lead me to wishing that when the event actually happened, there was more knock down drag out drama over it. Oh, there was drama regarding it through-out the book for sure, but I felt like the rape drama took a back seat to the other dramatic things happening in the book, when it should have been front and center eating a hole in me, making me hate Dane more and more and then some kind of twist and reason for me to like him, so that Lanie forgiving him made sense.

Instead, it ended up eating a hole in me and I ended up frustrated with the author in the end, because the whole book I was waiting for "the other shoe to drop," waiting for something that would make me really understand why Lanie forgave him so easily. I felt that the reason given required more back-story for why she would do such a thing. I wished there was at least a little insert with some kind of focus on Lanie's angst for what Dane did, like her best girlfriends sitting her down and being like "What the hell are you thinking? We aren't leaving until you explain yourself, because we think you should report his ass." I feel like something like that totally would have been in their characters' nature and then Lanie's long explanation would have satisfied many readers who might feel like me.

See, this is why I don't write reviews. I feel like I'm not explaining what I mean very well. I'll try again. As I mentioned, I'm a forgiving person to a fault, and that means I have a story to tell as to why I've forgiven people for things I shouldn't have. That kind of forgiveness doesn't come in the short amount of time that the book spans, it takes a REALLY long time. I feel like the gist was that she forgave him because they have a long history together so she wanted to just move on, and this just doesn't feel real enough for me. Sure that can be part of it of the reason, but I needed more of what makes Lanie "tick." You feel me?

So, I think I did a horrible job explaining myself, but hopefully my dear friend will understand what I'm saying. ILY Christie! <3

[Laura DeLuca · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Cliff, three childhood friends made a pact to never to let romance come between their friendship. Grant and Lanie have always secretly harbored feelings for each other, and finally they declare their feelings. They expect their friend Dane to be happy about it. After all, its been years since they made the silly pack and Dane has a girlfriend of his own. Yet, when Dane learns about it, he's less then thrilled and sets out to try to destroy their blossoming relationship. Their old friend isn't the only challenge they face. They also have to worry about how their parents will feel about their relationship and there's a vixen whose trying to use their business as a means to steal Grant away from Lainey.

The Cliff was great read filled with spicy love scenes and some sweet and tender romance. There was also a lot of conflict that kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. The unique idea of the cliff hanger chapters was a interesting twist. Since you were left hanging in the middle of a sentence, it was hard to stop reading! For anyone who likes a good contemporary romance, The Cliff would be a great choice, especially if you'd like to learn some unique uses for your chocolate hazelnut spread.

[summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was an ok read but i found myself not really liking heroine of the story, Lanie, mainly because she seemed to come off as a little spoiled. everybody around her loved and coddled her. and she cried a lot, enough for me to be thinking, 'is she knocked up or something?'

i absolutely hated dane and what he did. for me, it was just something you don't do to a friend, and his particular excuse was just not enough for me. dude would have been better off working his frustrations on a joystick.

the conflict between the main couple didn't merit the kind of reaction that it did, for me. it was just way over the top considering what happened before. i rolled my eyes a lot at Lanie by this point and Grant basically showed just how pussy-whipped he was.

they did have their moments though. and nutella will never be the same for me. nor will any of the other kinds of food they used in their um, hanky-panky business. lmao sorry, just wanted to write that term but i'm perfectly okay with saying sex hehehe

[Beaupeep · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmm, I enjoyed most of it, but there was a lot missing in terms of character and story development. I became quite frustrated in a lot of parts when I felt there were gaps missing that might have helped me understand and connect with the characters better.

[Mell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This wasn't for me, so I stopped reading. The characters and plot never intrigued me.

[Stacie Marquart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a hard time putting this book down and the Epilogue just made me cry. I loved this book!!