Review: Never read any others, but this was good
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2014
Lately I've been re-acquainting myself with contemporary romance books and this one actually starts out really strong and stays pretty consistent for most of the book. There was a moment or two toward the end where I started to get a little disappointed that Jarod was just not making any headway, and was wondering how much longer the author was going to drag this out when things finally came to a head. Which is ironic given I was firmly on CeCe's side....at first.This is one of those girl meets boy. Girl falls for boy knowing he's a bad boy. And although she knows the score, she thinks they have a connection and that things between them will be different compared to all of the other girls in his past. Girl get hurts when boy takes off to join the military, but not before he sleeps with her. CeCe, like so many girls before her, falls for bad boy Jarod. And although she is sweet and he takes the time to get to know her, after taking her virginity in the back set of his car, he decides to walk away from her and enlist in the marines. No goodbye, no "let's keep in touch", just a cold blow off. This one event, with this one guy shapes the kind of woman she will become in the future. Jump ahead 13 years, and CeCe is attractive, intelligent, confident, and a successful business woman. She's also a woman who knows what she wants sexually and isn't afraid to enjoy the opposite sex, but on her terms. What she doesn't know is that Jarod is back and closer than she thinks. After her store gets broken into, her pseudo-brother Dylan hires a PI to watch over her and to help catch the person who broke in, and begins to stalk her. That PI is none other than Jarod, the last person she wants back in her life.I don't know how I missed not knowing who the stalker was until literally the page before it was revealed, but I did. It isn't that it was obvious, but it just felt that way after it was revealed. The concept of the story is not new, but the way it was written kept it suspenseful while at the same time playing on the history and sexual attraction between Jarod and CeCe. And I'm a romantic. Any man that goes to the extremes he did to fight for her is a good man in my book. Hence why I slowly started to shift allegiance from CeCe to Jarod. And the chemistry was pretty hot. I will say that if you are not a fan of graphic sexual scenes, and lots of them, then you may find this book a little much for you. Cause the sex scenes are pretty heavy. Sex is great, but I definitely wanted to see more of the emotional growth and connection which is why I started to get a little disappointed. Jarod was doing his best to make up for the past and she was just so damned obstinate. I swore the woman was going to break him, and I like my men strong...he was just bordering on sliding off that scale. Any man that can love me that hard and isn't ashamed to show it, hallelujah, but there is a fine line.Given it was an ARC, there were a few spelling / missing words here or there, but it seems to get a little heavier toward the latter half...as long as the author cleans those up, readers who get overly critical of grammar won't be disappointed. There is a little mystery, romance, and the emotional upheaval that a past mistake sometimes isn't very easy to get past especially if it was made with the best of intentions.