Review: He's jealous, he's growly, he's bossy, and yeah, he's way HOT
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 4, 2012
The overall scorching heat of HEAVY ISSUES and the sheer magnitude of that jealous and gorgeous alpha-male hero kept me glued to this story. Cole was super hot to me, sexy in every way, just the alpha male I love. He's so large and in charge, all jealous and possessive with some real macho-man tendencies. Why do I love a man whose knuckles drag the floor? I don't know, but I do! Cole is one of the Bowen brothers, and he can pretty much have any woman in town. In fact, during the story, the reader and the heroine, Christy, have to put up with vapid women throwing themselves left, right and center at him. But it is Christy who Cole wants, Christy he has been lusting after for the past few months, ever since she came to town. He can't get her off his mind. The man's got major need and desire for her.Cole is an ex-Marine and has that obey-me-or-else thing going on. He's arrogant, has quite the ego and the tough attitude, a little rough in bed and out, and he's a whole lot pushy. Christy really snagged a wild one here. And the girl knows it, and it scares her, a lot. She knows Cole is more than she can handle. Or at least, she thinks that, due to her own issues and hang-ups. He is so not the type of man she's used to: he's so dominant and certainly not the safe, easy kind of man who will take No for an answer, not when Christy's virtually all he can think about. He's only been giving her glowering looks and a wide berth because he didn't think she was available to him, and the horny man resented it big time, but when he sees her throw her cheating ex's engagement ring away while making a vow to have hot, no-strings sex from now on, Cole is very quick to volunteer to help her with that.And so they begin a little hassle-free arrangement, which you know is destined to become tangled with hassles, and with feelings. Cole can do sex, no problem; it's the emotions and feelings he wants to avoid. Like Christy, Cole has his own issues. He has a certain mistrust of women, and because of his past, he has no real faith in the fairer sex at all. This strictly sexual relationship with Christy should be what he wants, what they both want, but Christy soon has him wrapped all around her, no matter how much he resists. And boy, does he resist those feelings. But it was so sexy and so enjoyable seeing him come unglued.At Tate's (the h from book 1More than Meets the Ink) bachelorette party when Cole sees a guy touch Christy's face and chin in a flirty, friendly way and then hears this guy ask her out, Cole just loses it. He tells the guy to back off; then he grabs his woman, drags her up to Tate's old room, pushes her against the door and tells her, <"You are my woman. You belong to me. No one else f's you. No one else touches you. No one else f'ing swipes beer from your chin. Get me?" he all but roared.> My stomach dipped on that, especially with the hot and heavy sex that occurs between them in this scene. So scorching hot, with Cole totally staking his claim and letting that primitive side out, pounding Christy hard against that door. That growly you're-mine stuff gets me every time. Plus, this scene has a pretty good mini-grovel attached to it. It was just dayum good all the way around.I found Christy to be a pretty likable character, maybe because there were many things I could personally relate to about her and her eating and her body issues. Although there were times I thought she sermonized just a little about the emotional eating issue, she did come across as sincere, brave and vulnerable to me. She's soft and curvy, and I could identify with her insecurities about her self-image. Cole was bold in making her see her beauty in the bright light, and there is one scene where he kisses her belly and her stretch-marks. Really sweet and really sexy.One thing that hinders my complete enjoyment of HEAVY ISSUES is the series of big misunderstandings there towards the end of the story. I didn't quite feel those misunderstandings/miscommunications all the way. Maybe there were too many of them in short, swift order. And without giving huge spoilers, maybe I was expecting different behavior from certain characters. I also wanted to see Christy throw down with Rose, and that happened away from the reader. And I so wanted to see that! I felt that Christy had taken quite a bit of abuse from Rose and Cole's other wannabe floozies, and I just wanted to see Christy knock that chick out. Also, I personally feel poor Cole caught some abuse that really should have been directed at another character.Overall, this was a great read for me, a super hot erotic romance that was hard to put down and hard to tear myself away from Cole. I just love how this author wrote him, giving me my exact kind of hero, all possessive and tough but kind of needy and sweet at the same time. Can't wait for more of this series! And if you haven't read book 1, I honestly don't think that should keep you from jumping in here with book 2. Go for it and enjoy this alpha hero. I think you'll love him.