Review: A must read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2014
Wow, I was taken by surprise with this one.  When I felt I knew what was going to happen Shelly Pratt took me to a whole new level of twisted and the ending was not only original but it justified the means for the actions that had been done.  I was seriously looking at my kindle once I had finished asking myself, how did the author come up with this ending?  Brilliant.Evie dreamed of those romances she read about as a teenager, where her Prince Charming would come and sweep her off her feet, marry her and their passion would be ever present in each day of their marriage.  What she got instead was a controlling man who couldn’t separate power and abuse with love.  Alex knew what love was, he knew he would like to have a loving relationship, but not over having a woman he could beat, abuse and control.When Alex found a way to “buy” Evie from her parents, he took it.  Not only would he have a beautiful woman to do as he pleased with, he would control her family and his power would be even greater in the world.  Laying out every detail of Evie’s day, even what she was going to wear, he fed his ego with ideas of how he could control her even more.  Believing he had broken her down to be his slave, he wasn’t prepared for Evie to find out the truth and start searching for her own freedom.What started out as a simple escape for a cup of coffee and the pastries Alex would love, turned into a situation where she found a man who would show her what love really was.  Grayson was no stranger to heartache and disappointment, but with the help of Jean, he had found his foundation and was trying to make his art career take off.  Until the money started coming in from his art, he was content to pour coffee and help Jean at the store.An instant attraction begins between Evie and Grayson but she couldn’t risk his life by becoming attached.  Grayson couldn’t risk is sanity by not having Evie in his life.  We follow these two as the friendship begins and Evie finally confides in Grayson about her home life and what she has to endure.  He is determined to save his Princess from this abuse and his life would mean nothing without her in it.  Evie begs him to forget about her, Alex will kill them both if he ever finds out, but she isn’t sure if Grayson can ever let go of her and his dreams for the two of them.As I stated earlier, the ending was awesome.  How this all played out left me on the edge of my seat needing to read more and more till I was at the end.  The plotting and planning for how this story would be concluded blew me away.  Grayson showed he was much more than an artist and country boy, he was intelligent and determined.  To see Evie allow herself to trust Grayson after the betrayal she had experienced was captivating.  She had to let go of so much to free herself and allow herself to survive.  What I loved most was the point Alex realized what he had done.  In this case, revenge is better served cold, warm or hot, as long as it was served and I loved it.While this could be called a dark and twisted story, it had a great balance of light and love as well.  I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to reading more of Shelly’s books.  She brings such a unique insight to her stories and does it in ways that blow me away in how she thinks and presents her ideas.  Highly recommend this book.Reviewed by Tbird for Crystal’s Many Reviewers*Copy provided for honest review*