We Are All Found Things

by Molly O'Keefe

Previously published in The Devil's Doorbell Anthology...

Rennie's trying to forget her past; her mysterious new tenant is trying to keep his past a secret. But when Rennie finds out the truth about Luka she discovers as much about herself as she does her innocent lover.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Novella, Audiobook, Amazon, Anthologies, Dark

68 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2016

About the author

This author is also published under: M. O'Keefe.

Molly O'Keefe has always known she wanted to be a writer (except when she wanted to be a florist or a chef and the brief period of time when she considered being a cowgirl). And once she got her hands on some romances, she knew exactly what she wanted to write.

She published her first Harlequin romance at age 25 and hasn't looked back. She loves exploring every character's road towards happily ever after.

Originally from a small town outside of Chicago, she went to university in St. Louis where she met and fell in love with the editor of her school newspaper. They followed each other around the world for several years and finally got married and settled down in Toronto, Ontario. They welcomed their son into their family in 2006, and their daughter in 2008. When she's not at the park or cleaning up the toy room, Molly is working hard on her next novel, trying to exercise, stalking Tina Fey on the internet and dreaming of the day she can finish a cup of coffee without interruption.

Reviews

[Renegade ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 to 4 1/2 stars



"Why don't you live here?" he asked.
"Because I have a house already."
"Why not rent somewhere safer?"
"I don't know, why don't I have a million dollars?"
"Fair point." Again that boyish, dorky smile and I smiled back. I was not a smiler by nature. I always felt like I was revealing something when I smiled. Some hidden part of me, a secret I didn't particularly want to share, but somehow couldn't help.
But I smiled at this guy, unsure of what I exposed, but keenly aware that I was exposing something.
For a second we just stood there grinning at each other.

***

Seriously, the guy was painfully attractive. I imagined him, just briefly, as a Viking, swinging around an axe. Doing some pillaging.



"Thank you, Rennie," he said with lovely politeness. We shook hands, my calloused, blistered hand swallowed up by his calloused, blistered hand, and I felt myself grow shy for just a moment.
Which was not at all my style.

***

All night long it bothered me, this sense that I knew Luka. And all night I told myself I was imagining things. That we'd had a little chemistry and he looked like a very famous movie star - those two things were working against me. Making me think there was a memory when there wasn't.
But at three in the morning, I woke up with a gasp. I pitched forward in bed, my hand over my heart.
The Mountain Man from Minnesota.

***



He didn't nod. Or move. But he listened to me with his whole body.
His whole soul.
I realized what made Luka different than any other man at this party or in my world. Any other man I had ever met.
His soul was right there. Just under the surface of his skin. All it took was one tiny scratch. One tiny shift and it was revealed.
He. Was revealed.
I didn't reveal myself. I never shook off my bracelets and my necklaces. Or smoothed the rough edges of my blistered hands, my shitty attitude. Not for anyone. At any time. The world I lived in was pretenses and walls. Half-truths and half-lies that everyone told everyone else.
So this, walking into this room with him, was like walking right into a forge. Hot enough to change everything.
It was terrifying.
And thrilling.

***

His eyes, his touch, his skin - every part of him burned.
"Don't treat me like an experiment. Like I'm some poor, sad victim and you're doing a good deed. Kiss me like [you did on] the fire escape."
Thank GOD.
He was so tall I got up on my toes, my hands clenched in the warm flannel shirt he wore. I pushed my body into his, my lips onto his.
And he kissed me back. He kissed me like I could save his life. Like it was now or never.





"... in the end, we are all found things."

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/24/2019)! 🎁

Blurb:
Rennie's trying to forget her past; her mysterious new tenant is trying to keep his past a secret. But when Rennie finds out the truth about Luka she discovers as much about herself as she does her innocent lover.

[Timitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the premise of this book. It was interesting, intriguing and kept my attention.


Copy provided by author in exchange for a honest review

[Paganalexandria]

01/11/21 currently free in Broken and Beautiful: NINE Book Boxed Set
https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Beautif...

[Reading · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brilliant cover and title
The story?
Meh

[Elle Thorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My critique partners and I have been discussing writing shorter length stories, and basically wondering how the hell to do it. Squeezing in all the regular romance beats, along with character arcs, depth of emotion and all without resorting to instalove seems like an incredibly difficult feat to accomplish when you have less than 30,000 words to play with. So the three of us buddy read this, so we could study it, pull it apart and work out how the pro’s do it.

And Molly O’Keefe is a pro. No doubt about that. I was blown away by how much detail she managed to squeeze into such a small book. Luka and Rennie jumped off the page from the very first sentence and drew me into their world.

Rennie is an artist, welding being her choice of medium. She has a rented space in a shitty part of town that keeps getting broken into. The only solution is to find someone to live in the loft apartment over her workspace, who can call the cops when trouble arises.

There’s an attraction from the minute she meets tall, blonde, Viking-ish Luka. He’s beautiful but awkward and she can’t work out how she knows him. It’s only after he moves in, that she realizes how she recognizes him and that she already knows the secret he’s keeping. In fact, the whole world knows his shameful secrets.

There isn’t a ton of plot to the story, beyond them revealing their secrets to each other, but the need to know their secrets had me flipping pages.

The ending snuck up on me, partly because it finished at 84% so it did feel like an abrupt ending, but it wasn’t entirely unsatisfying. Lukas secret is a good one, and explained his character. Rennie’s secret didn’t seem big enough for her behaviour and there were some little things that went unexplained. Which is the only reason I knocked off a star.

Molly’s writing is beautiful and moving to the point of being poetic at times. I’d definitely read more of her work.

[Kimmylongtime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start by saying DAMN !

This was good we are all found things follows the story of Renny and Luka. Renny is a welder 👩‍🏭 and Luka is a quiet aloof giant. He comes to her shop for a job as a security guard because she keeps getting robbed. Renny can’t seem to shake the fact that she recognizes him and she has so many questions. All lost is Renny’s world of Metal and heat Luka and her develop a pattern. Their build up is very slow but the attraction is soo hot. This broke my heart but also healed me. It was perfect and as always Molly makes you want more and more.

Line that stole me

I wanted to draw him and making castings of his legs and arms.
I wanted a great deal of Luka Samuelson.


For my romance readers

- 1 virgin ( you have to read to find out)
- past assault
- flashbacks
- fighting
- HEA
-no OW/OM drama

[~*Michelle R*~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, intense and interesting read! Despite the shortness and quick pace of the story it and the characters were surprisingly engrossing. It reminded me a little of Mia Sheridan's Archer's Voice.

[Natalie ~ The Biblioholic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story had the potential to be something really beautiful. I was so intrigued and so pissed that it ended so quickly :)

[Vanessa Momotyuk · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sucked ass. Was basically a porno with no plot

[Carol]

***included for free in "Broken and Beautiful" romance collection

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure what this was but interesting it was not. No depth, no characters worth mentioning and no plot. Almost DNF but since it was short I finished it.

[Tatiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much potential wasted in a smuty short story.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reviewer angrily declared that it was all porno,no plot.This person clearly was not receptive to the depth of the storyline with it's predominantly emotional, psycho- sexual nature and under pinnings .It would have been truly heartbreaking had the H been unable bust out of his lonely shell,to finally attain that level of trust required to allow him to explore his sexuality at last!
This novella was published by SCRIBD and is not currently available elsewhere.

[Michelle Claypot_Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a seriously special story. Layered and subtle and oh so freaking sexy. I absolutely loved it

[Yvette · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️ The red flags were red flagging in this read. It’s blatantly obvious this book wasn’t written in this decade, because IMO, there’s not a rational woman around that would allow a random man to move in with her without a laundry list of background checks. Then when she figures out how she recognizes him, that’s another red flag. It turns out, he wasn’t the monster in that situation. So the natural thing to do would be to fuck him. What’s sad is there’s potential here for a great storyline, it’s just too short. I love a good novella, this one wasn’t that, but it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read.

[Bleuberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Charlotte Stein...

... then this book is one you'll like too! While I enjoy Molly O'Keefe's other stories, I love that this one has a certain feel to it which reminded me of Charlotte Stein's voice. Something ethereal and visceral all at the same time. O'Keefe clearly has her own voice and style, but whatever it is I like about Stein is here in this story as well. Thumbs up!

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaking down walls

What I love about the stories I've read of Molly's, is that the stories of her characters define their present & their past, but they face that in order to create a future. So many romance stories are full of 'I had a past but I'm over it now & we can just be hunky dory happy together'. This story has way more substance than that, I only wish it were longer so I wasn't left wondering about the back story we didn't get to read!

[Sylvie Rochon · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Lucas walks into the welding shop, he meets Wrenny, the landlord of the place he wants to rent. Free rent for him to keep an eye on the place at night. Lucas is a tall, brroding silent man. He has pain and secrets and it is obvious to Wrenny. She too is a bit broken, lonely and shutdown. The novella centers around their relationship. It is sad and lovely.

[Topsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This was such a unique story. Rennie and Luka's relationship took a long time to develop, and it's only 3/4 of the way through that we really get to know why. Luka has so much damage from his past and Rennie is careful not to push him at the beginning. The story itself is so big but beautifully pared down into a novella (without any loss of meaning). Incredible writing! Joana Garcia did an amazing job of bringing the words to life through her narration.

[Eve Pendle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot - the audio narrator was particularly good in differentiating the voices. Intriguing premise, great characters, sexy, well executed.

The first person past tense didn't work for me though. Especially since it was heroine only pov.

[Dar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is short in length, but deep in emotion. The angst is gripping and palpable, as is the heat and the longing. Two lost souls coming together, unexpectedly and ferociously, and finding a sense of lost peace

[LB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't realize it was a short story!

[Malatina1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

We Are All Found Things is a beautiful story of 2 broken people.What a beautiful story Rennie and Luka found each other.

[FC Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first story by this author. It was an interesting story with interesting characters--an artist and a her tenant who was raised in seclusion. I liked the writing.

[Brittany Mcconnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dont normally like short stories of a story being the only boom. But I really enjoyed this story. Wish there was more

[Beachbaby]

In boxed set - "Broken and Beautiful: NINE Book Boxed Set"

[Laalmom]

Part of Broken and Beautiful

[Mina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars.

[Cory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish it were longer, so I could learn more about these characters