Review: Recommended.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 12, 2014
I've read the author's "What I didn't say" before and liked it, so I thought I would take a chance on "Moments of Julian" even though it's not quite in the same genre.  I'm glad I did.  The story is told from the heroine's point of view (Sage).  She is ambitious, competent, personable, hard working, demanding, manipulative, loyal, high maintenance, and completely unconquerable.  She's all of that on purpose and is happy to be the person she has become.  I wish more heroines were like this.  Julian (the hero) was great - tattooed and arrogant on the outside, but nerdy and insightful on the inside.  But honestly, he was forgettable next to Sage.  She really stole the show.When the book starts, she knows nothing about Julian, but they have ridiculous chemistry and have a hot, spontaneous make-out session.  To her chagrin, they run into each other again soon after, and start having a series of moments together (hence the name) that Sage initially doesn't want to call a relationship.  Really, neither of them starts out able to have a stable relationship.  They both have secrets and trust issues.  But as they spend more time together, they want each other badly enough to grow.  It was beautiful and fun to experience.  I liked that the problems between them weren't as straight-forward as the classic big miscommunication, and that they couldn't be resolved as easily as having the classic big groveling scene.  And in the end, they're still the same people.  He's still just as brilliant and arrogant and she's still a corporate shark in stiletto heels, but they've learned to be in a relationship together.The book also focused on problems with her work that turned suspense/action-y, but I found this part of the book weaker.  I could generally anticipate the twists and surprises, so that leached some of the drama and tension out of the story line for me.  YMMV.I also found the secondary characters to be a bit of a mixed bag.  Sage's family and Julian's friend were fun and interesting, but only one (Sage's youngest brother) was really was around enough to be more than a character sketch.  The antagonists were all on the mustache twirling villain side of the spectrum.In summary, the prose, dialog, romance, and main characters were great.  The plotting and antagonists were acceptable.  Overall, I'd give it a 4.5 stars, but I'll round it up to 5 because I'd like to read another of her contemporary romances.