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Tripped Up
Can two broken souls find wholeness together?
When her pop star boyfriend is caught with her best friend, Castle kicks him to the curb. Leaving the indie music world, her bad reputation, and her Hollywood lifestyle behind, she swears off relationships forever.
But Castle is twenty-two years old, flat broke, in foreclosure, all alone and has no plan for the future. With reluctance, she turns to her estranged family for a loan. What she doesn’t expect is to run into her childhood sweetheart, Trip Dunnavin.
Too bad she’s done with relationships.
Too bad he’s done with flings.
Trip Dunnavin has never loved anyone but the man in the mirror. But now his violent temper and serial womanizing have cost him everything - his fiancé, money, power and status. At the insistence of his lifelong friend Ella Riverwood, he escapes his crumbling Dallas life and moves to California to face his demons and make a new start. Ella has only two rules: No one-night stands and stay far away from her little sister, Castle.
Yet, how on earth can he behave when that beautiful savage from his past acts as a continual temptation? Might this wild creature be the very woman to finally tame Trip Dunnavin?
Never before has anyone made Trip want to be a better man than this somewhat violent, always surprising, sharp tongued, wild child that seems immune to his charms.
He's determined to win her trust and then her heart.
But sometimes wounds from the past wield a destructive force on the present. And when mysteries and dark family secrets come to light, both Trip and Castle may find themselves tripped up by the truth.
When her pop star boyfriend is caught with her best friend, Castle kicks him to the curb. Leaving the indie music world, her bad reputation, and her Hollywood lifestyle behind, she swears off relationships forever.
But Castle is twenty-two years old, flat broke, in foreclosure, all alone and has no plan for the future. With reluctance, she turns to her estranged family for a loan. What she doesn’t expect is to run into her childhood sweetheart, Trip Dunnavin.
Too bad she’s done with relationships.
Too bad he’s done with flings.
Trip Dunnavin has never loved anyone but the man in the mirror. But now his violent temper and serial womanizing have cost him everything - his fiancé, money, power and status. At the insistence of his lifelong friend Ella Riverwood, he escapes his crumbling Dallas life and moves to California to face his demons and make a new start. Ella has only two rules: No one-night stands and stay far away from her little sister, Castle.
Yet, how on earth can he behave when that beautiful savage from his past acts as a continual temptation? Might this wild creature be the very woman to finally tame Trip Dunnavin?
Never before has anyone made Trip want to be a better man than this somewhat violent, always surprising, sharp tongued, wild child that seems immune to his charms.
He's determined to win her trust and then her heart.
But sometimes wounds from the past wield a destructive force on the present. And when mysteries and dark family secrets come to light, both Trip and Castle may find themselves tripped up by the truth.
290 pages, ebook
First published July 30, 2015
11 people want to read
About the author
Jeannie Kaye
2 books19 followersJeannie wrote her first book at the age of ten. She illustrated it, stitched it together, glued a hard cover on it and read it to anyone who would listen. The book centered around an anthropomorphic rabbit looking for a solution to her continual rejection at school. Though Jeannie kept few relics from her childhood, this book still remains on her shelf. Her writing career began. Well, sort of.
As a child growing up in Austin, Texas, she read and read and read. In math class, she hid her book under the desk and read. She'd stay up until the morning to finish whatever book she was reading. While on the phone late at night with her boyfriend, after a lengthy silence following one of his heartfelt confessions of love, he'd ask, "Are you reading again?" Oops. All through high school, Jeannie wrote poetry and snippets of power-packed, tension-filled scenes for books she never started. In college, she wrote headlines for the Daily Texan at UT and later wrote articles for magazines. Eventually, after a long stint in nonfiction, Jeannie ventured into the world of stories. After winning the First Impressions award in 2013 for her work in fiction (under the pen name Jaye Bright), Jeannie launched her career with her debut novel, Ever Locked.
Jeannie graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Chemistry and History. She is a Certified Life Coach and lives in the Deep South with her attorney husband, who dotes on her mercilessly. She has two teens and two adult children who are all her favorite people on earth.
As a child growing up in Austin, Texas, she read and read and read. In math class, she hid her book under the desk and read. She'd stay up until the morning to finish whatever book she was reading. While on the phone late at night with her boyfriend, after a lengthy silence following one of his heartfelt confessions of love, he'd ask, "Are you reading again?" Oops. All through high school, Jeannie wrote poetry and snippets of power-packed, tension-filled scenes for books she never started. In college, she wrote headlines for the Daily Texan at UT and later wrote articles for magazines. Eventually, after a long stint in nonfiction, Jeannie ventured into the world of stories. After winning the First Impressions award in 2013 for her work in fiction (under the pen name Jaye Bright), Jeannie launched her career with her debut novel, Ever Locked.
Jeannie graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Chemistry and History. She is a Certified Life Coach and lives in the Deep South with her attorney husband, who dotes on her mercilessly. She has two teens and two adult children who are all her favorite people on earth.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 8, 2015
This novel is a potboiler. Meaning everyone has a secret. And the secrets are buried within Texas big buck families and sexual adventures.The reader needs only to be patient and all will be revealed.
The love interest is a 26 year old man who has been dominated by his mother and hated by his father. His inamorata was shunned from her also wealthy Texas family and lived a piteous life of degradation on the streets of LA before hitting big in the music biz. This set-up creates an arc that holds from beginning to end.
There's no missing the Evil Ones. They are writ large and ugly. Deftness is not employed. The author writes fluidly and carefully examines the couple as they struggle with lives so savagely mangled by family.
The love interest is a 26 year old man who has been dominated by his mother and hated by his father. His inamorata was shunned from her also wealthy Texas family and lived a piteous life of degradation on the streets of LA before hitting big in the music biz. This set-up creates an arc that holds from beginning to end.
There's no missing the Evil Ones. They are writ large and ugly. Deftness is not employed. The author writes fluidly and carefully examines the couple as they struggle with lives so savagely mangled by family.
September 2, 2015
Kaye first introduced William Bentley Dunnavin the Third aka Trip in ‘Ever Locked’ as the philandering physically and emotionally abusive fiance’ of Iris who finds her true love as a runaway bride in the arms of a fugitive Alonzo Locke. ‘Tripped Up‘ is the good-for-nothing billionaire bachelor’s road to redemption and pairs him up with a feisty, no-nonsense castaway who kicks and beats him up when he tries to get too fresh with her!
That girl is Castle, an indie rock legend and Ella’s younger sister. Who is Ella? That is the woman Trip thought he was in love with while he was two-timing his ‘mommy-approved’ fiance’ Iris. Well, he isn’t and Ella is frankly much too sensible for the beast. As she tells him straight up, “Trip Dunnavin, you are twenty-six years old, a successful attorney, a pillar of Dallas society, and now a very eligible bachelor. Pick yourself up, change your abusive ways, and get back in the saddle.”
The saddle part of course does not come till the very end, in spite of some hot and heavy sessions between Castle and Trip - because he needs to prove to Castle that he is not a regular Joe, an Uncle Buck (rapist), a Stellan Schmidt Crush (her ex-boyfriend), some road-side hook-up wanting his next fix, that he will be dependable and honorable.
That is tougher said than done, since Trip’s past, his one-stall stands and his bat-crazy arrogant mother and never-there father don’t make it easy for him to change his ways. His attempt at ‘knowing’ a woman before sleeping with her was ridiculously lame: as he asks Castle in a bar, “What is your greatest fear? Who is your No.1 enemy? I played barbies with my sister” and finds out she was in juvenile detention centre and laughs like a hyena.
There are skeletons in Castle’s closet too and it will take courage on both sides to have a mutually-satisfying end.
As Castle says, “I’m in charge of my future, and my future does not include men who control me...or men who hurt me.”
Good read.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair, unbiased and non-reciprocal review.
That girl is Castle, an indie rock legend and Ella’s younger sister. Who is Ella? That is the woman Trip thought he was in love with while he was two-timing his ‘mommy-approved’ fiance’ Iris. Well, he isn’t and Ella is frankly much too sensible for the beast. As she tells him straight up, “Trip Dunnavin, you are twenty-six years old, a successful attorney, a pillar of Dallas society, and now a very eligible bachelor. Pick yourself up, change your abusive ways, and get back in the saddle.”
The saddle part of course does not come till the very end, in spite of some hot and heavy sessions between Castle and Trip - because he needs to prove to Castle that he is not a regular Joe, an Uncle Buck (rapist), a Stellan Schmidt Crush (her ex-boyfriend), some road-side hook-up wanting his next fix, that he will be dependable and honorable.
That is tougher said than done, since Trip’s past, his one-stall stands and his bat-crazy arrogant mother and never-there father don’t make it easy for him to change his ways. His attempt at ‘knowing’ a woman before sleeping with her was ridiculously lame: as he asks Castle in a bar, “What is your greatest fear? Who is your No.1 enemy? I played barbies with my sister” and finds out she was in juvenile detention centre and laughs like a hyena.
There are skeletons in Castle’s closet too and it will take courage on both sides to have a mutually-satisfying end.
As Castle says, “I’m in charge of my future, and my future does not include men who control me...or men who hurt me.”
Good read.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair, unbiased and non-reciprocal review.
August 19, 2015
Tripped Up was a first for me. I generally fall in love with books because I adore the alpha male or the bad boy rock star or something to that effect. Jeannie Kaye gave me a heroine worth falling for, I mean in a serious friend crush kind of way. Castle is a breath of fresh air to the romance pages. She is FIERCE and I respected her. Of course, this is not to say that our hero, Trip, was anything to thumb your nose at, he just wasn’t as all-encompassing as Castle.
There is a ton of depth to these characters. Their history, especially Castle, forms who they are and it comes through page after page. From the high society of Dallas to the streets of California, readers are treated to a wonderful array of characters and storytelling.
Trip and Castle are two broken souls looking to find a way forward. Their reasons for being broken could not be more different. When the former childhood friends come together, all bets are off. Together and apart Trip and Castle better themselves. The question is can they overcome overbearing families, secrets of the past, and personal shame in order to find a way to be together.
I absolutely loved this book and I look forward to reading Blaze’s story in book 3. For anyone who likes a girl who knows where she comes from and how to handle herself, this is the book for you. You won’t find Castle crying in a corner waiting on anyone to rescue her.
There is a ton of depth to these characters. Their history, especially Castle, forms who they are and it comes through page after page. From the high society of Dallas to the streets of California, readers are treated to a wonderful array of characters and storytelling.
Trip and Castle are two broken souls looking to find a way forward. Their reasons for being broken could not be more different. When the former childhood friends come together, all bets are off. Together and apart Trip and Castle better themselves. The question is can they overcome overbearing families, secrets of the past, and personal shame in order to find a way to be together.
I absolutely loved this book and I look forward to reading Blaze’s story in book 3. For anyone who likes a girl who knows where she comes from and how to handle herself, this is the book for you. You won’t find Castle crying in a corner waiting on anyone to rescue her.
September 15, 2015
Two households, both alike in pants crapping insanity.
If some one in the Dollanganger family from "Flowers in the Attic" were to fall in love with a Brewster from "Arsenic and Old Lace", their romance would be something like this.
Castle and Trip have both fleed their families, Castle when she was a teen and Trip at the age of 26, and find each other. Both have been used as a punching bag by their families and have taken very different paths to deal with that abuse.
This sounds like it should be dark and heavy, but it is actually light and uplifting. Both Castle and Trip come to terms with the fact that the abuse they suffered wasn't their fault, and together they can work to heal themselves.
The book had a nice pacing. It switched back and forth between the two characters learning to deal with the each other's Post Tramatic Stress, and slowly revealing more and more of the abuse their families inflicted on them. Until they can stand up to face their abusers.
This book is part of a series and bits from the other books fly in and out for no apparent reason, a little distracting but not over the top.
Overall a good read.
If some one in the Dollanganger family from "Flowers in the Attic" were to fall in love with a Brewster from "Arsenic and Old Lace", their romance would be something like this.
Castle and Trip have both fleed their families, Castle when she was a teen and Trip at the age of 26, and find each other. Both have been used as a punching bag by their families and have taken very different paths to deal with that abuse.
This sounds like it should be dark and heavy, but it is actually light and uplifting. Both Castle and Trip come to terms with the fact that the abuse they suffered wasn't their fault, and together they can work to heal themselves.
The book had a nice pacing. It switched back and forth between the two characters learning to deal with the each other's Post Tramatic Stress, and slowly revealing more and more of the abuse their families inflicted on them. Until they can stand up to face their abusers.
This book is part of a series and bits from the other books fly in and out for no apparent reason, a little distracting but not over the top.
Overall a good read.
November 22, 2015
The writing was very good, despite a couple typos, and kept me engaged. I enjoyed the story and the real life quality of the characters. At times it became a little soap operaish. Not sure why this was listed as Christian, seems to fit more in the inspirational category. There were only brief mentions of going to church at the end. Some content may be offensive to those in the Christian category as there are some swear words and quite a bit of talk of one night stands. Overall I enjoyed the story and would read future books by this author.
August 11, 2015
I never thought I would like Trip but I loved him here and he changed for the better as well.
Learning about Castle's history tore me apart and I shed some tears too. Castle and Trip are perfect for each other. Learning to trust and love one another plus discovering about themselves through the journey.
Can't wait for the next one!
Learning about Castle's history tore me apart and I shed some tears too. Castle and Trip are perfect for each other. Learning to trust and love one another plus discovering about themselves through the journey.
Can't wait for the next one!
August 16, 2015
Great emotional love story. Couldn't wait for them to finally see the light.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews