Review: Loved it!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 24, 2014
I'll tell you now... this book starts off with sex.  In a bathroom... against the wall... It's an experience that Raphael Cruz or "Cruz" as his friends call him, never forgets.  When he happens to pull the girl in question over on suspicion of drunk driving, he can't believe his luck.Harlow is pissed when the cop makes her look like an ass on the "sobriety" test he makes her do.  She's lost and looking for the rental house, she's going to be staying in with her best friend Willow.  She's been through a rough time, and there is nothing more she wants then to relax on the beach.  After she gets the cop fired of course.The next morning causes her to be reunited with her one night fling in a rather embarrassing way. It doesn't help matters that he's not that sorry for being caught doing what he was doing... She's mortified, and then gets more angry after realizing he's the cop from the night before.  Making her feelings quite known, she's bound and determined to leave the house and Cruz for good.I could not stop reading this book!  Although a self proclaimed man-whore, he does the one thing that he always thought he was not capable of.  He becomes friends with a woman.  It's unprecedented for him. He's always had one motto... Get In.  Get Out.  It's been working fairly well... until he gets to know Harlow better.The one thing he's always been secretive about is his childhood. It wasn't the picture perfect one that Harlow had, and his mother wasn't a mother at all.  He doesn't want Harlow to judge him for it, so he keeps it hush-hush.  He does introduce her to the people in his life that do matter to him more then anyone, which is a huge step for it.  Once he does this, he starts to re-evaluate his feelings for Harlow. He makes a life-altering decision regarding her, and goes out on a limb with his feelings.  Something he's never done.Harlow, at first hates the sight of Cruz, but once she gets to know him, she sees he's not the jerk she assumed he was.  He's smarter then she gave him credit for, and has done things in his life that shock her.  He's a Marine, and served three times over in Afghanistan, which astounds her.  He's young, but he's lived a life most people haven't.  When he makes the mistake of calling her baby, she makes it known to him that she despises that nickname.  The nickname he gives her is really funny, and it grows to stick throughout the book.  I loved it!!  It was something between them that no one really understood, but they did.Ok... now... the ending.... All I'm going to say is this... if it hadn't been almost midnight last night when I finished the book... I would have been screaming NOOOOOOOO throughout my house.  Also... I really want to read the second book to find out what happens.I loved Cruz!  As much of a player as he was, he wasn't a bad guy.  He was forced to grow up faster then a child should, but it didn't break him.  It made him the man he was.  He loved Harlow completely, but because of his fears about his childhood, it causes him to nearly lose her.  Also, he isn't expecting that there are people in Harlow's life that don't want them to be together.Harlow... I so loved her.  Plus, I can say... I have been in her place.  I know that feeling of being second place... all the time.  I've known that hurt and frustration of not being good enough.  She wasn't the rich snob that Cruz thought her to be, and all she wanted was to be loved.  That and to find a job teaching.  She thought she had finally found the one man who could give her what she wanted... love...Again I will say... I can not wait to read book two!!!