Review: Reviewed by Desere Steenberg
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2013
The expression 'Everything happens for a reason" has always been a favourite of mine but never has it been so perfectly depicted as in the new read from Natalie Anderson.The read is about Chelsea, after her fiancée being tragically killed in a car accident and she severely injuring her leg, her life tumbles to the ground and she looses her independence. Letting others help her is the one thing she hates most, so she fights her way back to the top, making sure she can and will do things for herself and she does a truly great job at it.She doesn't count on ending up in the arms of don't-deny-your-attraction-to-me-or-I'll-have-to-prove-it Xander. Soon there is a blazing hot passionate affair between them but this is only sex to the both of them, Xander lives for fun and fun only, and Chelsea does not need some hunky do me every-way  everywhere you want  lifeguard to save her, she does things on her own or not at all.The character of Chelsea was for me as reader was one that showed courage and strength in fighting to get her life back on track, a strong heroine is always remarkable, but at the same time this heroine was something else.  She goes from strong and independent to a complete helpless mess and back to her ready to fight mode and yes back again to complete mess.This might sound like a see -saw character that no doubt will turn you off , but the reasoning behind her actions were so stunningly depicted and explained by the author and it brought me the understanding I needed into her fears, the more I read the more evolved and remarkable she became.The character of Xander was a true hero, not the usual kind a woman dreams of, more the 'I will only be using this sex on legs for a good time' kind. He is hot with a capital H and is guaranteed to bring every female reader to her knees.But at the same time he is the understanding kind, the man is able to draw out pleasure and at the same time he is able to tell what Chelsea needs on a emotional level. That is not something we always see in romance reads, as it goes from meeting each other to the hot sex and then the I love you's comes, with no real depth into the in between and the what he or she is able to do for each other. The fact that author let him be so in tune with Chelsea and her emotions, slowly but surely drawing her out from her shell made him the perfect bad-boy hero, and gave me as reader the true level of depth for this read that most reads completely miss.The backdrop settings were fun and exciting, but mainly very wild and oh so very sexy! From the very wild and controlling 'office sex' scene to the anger overload aquarium scene the entire read was filled with wild, crazy, hot unbridled passion.The author packed so much emotion behind the sex that it brought tears to my eyes it was truly as if I could feel not only the very raw heat between Xander and Chelsea but I could almost touch the emotions of joy, anger, fear, lust and pain.The dialogue was flirty and extremely sexy, you will be squirming in your seat when you hear the things Xander says to Chelsea, and I am willing to bet there isn't a woman alive that would be able to resist. But  the author also gave it her all on the emotional front.She took the characters dialogue from flirting to wild in seconds and to kind and caring in a heartbeat. Yes a few curse words were used here and there, but not to the point of overuse or to the point where the curses were killing off the romance element of the read completely.No more to the point of it being real life depicted, as in certain relationship moments today's couples do actually get to the f@#% you point in their conversations  This to me as reader showed that the author really created remarkable characters that were realistic and that many readers can connect to. Fantastic work Natalie.Now if your thinking that because of the high level of sexual content in this read as I mentioned that this is another 50 shades erotica you would be very wrong,  the difference lies in what the author has done with her characters, giving us a stronger more believable hero and heroine, a better and more powerful message and a more in depth look into the characters, their emotions and ultimately what can save them.I highly recommend this read for lovers of realistic romance with a sexual content that is pushed from vanilla sex to vanilla with sensory overload of drizzled strawberry syrup topped with whipped cream and covered with a blanket true soul-mate found love.I am very much looking forward to the other three books in this series, as the author let me in on the friends of Xander and I can tell that we are in for one heck of a ride with these boys. I fully anticipate this series to hit the best sellers list.The message am taking away from this read is that sometimes you need help and letting others breathe for you will allow you the become stronger that you have ever been before.5/5 star review"Learning how to breathe by giving the kiss of life"