Review: Unrestrained, Book 3 of the Unrestrained Series -- 5 lovely, beyond happy stars
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 2, 2014
Unrestrained brought the continuation and conclusion to Kate and Drake's story and it was well worth the wait! This book was full of love, suspicion, confusion, sole-searching, desire and plenty of steamy scenes of the vanilla and non-vanilla type, from cover to cover. Rather than summarize the book, I'll avoid spoilers and discuss the characters over the course of the series instead.Of course, this being a romance, there was plenty of scenes full of love, passion, steam and of course, relationship talk. Did I mention the steamy scenes? But that's not all. This book, this series, is about a couple's journey but also an individual's journey to discover her life, her goals, her passions, her fears and desires.Kate and Drake grew and changed, individually and as a couple, throughout this series and that was a nice thing to witness. Kate could be extremely, irritatingly stubborn (and often was not a good sub) in the early part of this series, and still is stubborn from time to time, but she's evolved. She's matured and was more in tune with herself and what she wants in life. Part of that growth is learning from her own experiences and mistakes, and part of that change is thanks to Drake, who is older and wiser and is good for Kate, just as Kate is good for Drake.Often the authors of romance books feel the need to include over the top angst, needed for the plot or not, and the more drama the better. Not always so, IMHO. One of the things I like most about S.E. Lund's style is her lack of too much angst. Don't get me wrong, there is drama in her Contemporary romance books. There are twists and turns in the plot and she's not always very nice to her characters. Having said that, she is realistic about the drama she includes in her stories. It's often emotional, sometimes even heart-wrenching, but always realistic and believable.Also, Lund's characters are not perfect (although Drake is so very close!!!) but they are also not ridiculously flawed beyond belief. IMHO, of course. Again, realistic and believable and I like that.I loved the setting for Unrestrained. Kate and Drake finally made it to Africa, to begin their life together. Being in Nairobi was so different from the typical contemporary romance books. I liked that Kate was in an unfamiliar city, putting her off-balance. As with all of S.E. Lund's books, I love the use of art and music. And the use of medical terms is always educational. So once again, there is more to S.E. Lund's book than the typical hot and heavy romance. I look forward to her next book because I know it will include a hot Hero, a heroine I want to root for and a great love story with a side of art or history and maybe some suspense. And, I know it won't disappoint!