Review: Blew Me Away
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 20, 2013
No doubt in my mind, you absolutely have to read Otherwise Alone (Book 1) before reading Otherwise Occupied otherwise you would be confused and discombobulated. The first is just a novella and shouldn't take you more than two hours to read. And even if it took you longer it is so worth the time.In this book Evan is tagged by his boss as an unemotional, apathetic man but he is everything but. He struggles with PTSD from his military days and is plagued with nightmares and horrid memories of being a POW. He tries to occupy himself with his job and with paid company but his heart calls for the one he meet in the Arizona desert - Lia. The combination of all these factors - job stress, his inner turmoil, his lack of sleep and his longing for one woman pushes him towards the brink of insanity.Otherwise Occupied is not my typical read. Otherwise Alone is my typical read. The later is concentrated on romance  while Otherwise Occupied is on suspense. Here we have two different books with the same hero but each  written in two separate genres.When I read them  back to back I thought it was just amazing - something that I have never experienced before. I was very impressed with the authors cleverness and ingenuity.  I also would have never thought that I would enjoy a book written in the male POV. But to me, getting into the mind of  Evan Arden was the highlight of this story.The story telling was unique and incomparable , the climactic scenes were written with  precision and accuracy. We can not ignore the fact that there is HUGE, MASSIVE, GIGANTIC  element missing in Otherwise Occupied. This missing component would have left me frustrated and dissatisfied but even without it  the author was still able to keep me enraptured. Yes, this story has a pretty significant cliffhanger but it sets the next book up nicely and I'm pretty sure it's going to be EXPLOSIVE! I can not wait to get my hands on the next one... I definitely recommend this series.