Review: Intense and Passionate LOVE That REFUSES to be denied! That's what this one's about!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2014
Paradise Taken by C.M. HuttonSeries: Paradise Taken #1Genre: Contemporary RomanceAge Group: AdultRelease Date: June 22nd 2013Length: 255 pagesFormat: Kindle DRCSource: via tour hostReview Date: April 2014Steam Rating: ScorcherOverall Rating: 4.5 STARSReview:WOW! What a wild ride! This is an emotional journey—one that is putting me through the full gamut of emotions. I have been sad, angry, and appalled but I have also felt joy, love, and raw passion too. I originally thought I would read this one for a couple reasons. One, because it was based on a true story, which is always intriguing—but also because St. John is the most beautiful place I have EVER been to (and I used to travel a lot). When I eventually get married it will be at the Westin in St. John. The island is simply breathtaking in its amazing beauty. I got so much more than I expected.WARNING: This novel contains a couple that cheats on their spouses with one another. It is straight up cheating. There is no legal separation, and no one is being abused in any way by their spouse. They are just cheating. If this is something that you cannot tolerate in your novels then I suggest you not read it. ←I knew this going in so I was prepared.Why did I read it if it was so immoral? Well this is my take on cheating in novels → It happens in real life (which this story is actually based in) and I like my novels to feel real, and the MC’s flawed and sometimes that means they make mistakes. Even big mistakes like cheating. Do I condone it—NO—but I understand that it happens.Paradise Taken is about two couples who have known each other since college, Rob & Kaye and Jake & Claire. It is told in Kaye’s POV. She finds out early on that Jake has loved her since they were friends in college. But he never did anything about it and she married his friend and business partner Rob. After 20 years of marriage both couples decide to move to St. John and start a business. They only saw each other a few times a year before this so Jack held his feeling in check. But now being around her has made him unable to hide those feelings any longer."Kaye, I'm not asking for anything from you, I know you love Rob, but I can't be here day in and day out with you and not finally tell you that I've loved you for twenty years"Kaye’s marriage is a happy one. There are some minor problems, but overall she adores her husband and it’s obvious he feels the same. They have the perfect life. They still even have passion and lust in their marriage. When I mean they have it all, I really mean they are like the perfect couple.But Kaye starts spending more time with Jake as friends, then more, then eventually they become lovers. Their raw passion BURNS the pages, and their love for each other brought tears to my eyes. I KNEW it was wrong, and I was conflicted—but I just couldn’t help how I felt. By the end I was rooting for her and Jake to work out, which if you told me at the beginning of the novel I would be feeling that way I would have told you that you were high on drugs.But they both have spouses and teenage children to consider. Well Kaye considers them (somewhat) but Jake doesn’t seem to care, he just loves Kaye so much and everything else be damned. So as you can imagine it’s complicated, and crazy, and full of angst. And eventually they do have to make decisions that will affect their entire families. I did not see some of the twists and turns coming—I was literally blindsided by much of what happened towards the end.This one started out a little slow, and I understood why it had to. But once it got going, WOW I was HOOKED! So keep that in mind :)This is book 1 of 2, the second book is told in Jake’s POV. I will be reading it ASAP because the ending of this one SHOCKED THE S#@T OUTTA ME leaving me with so many questions. I NEED to know what happens next!!!"I've waited for this for my whole life. You are the love of my life, Kay."StacyHggBooks Unhinged Book Blog