Review: NOTHING BEATS THE BELLA ANDRE MAGIC….
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
“Who would choose money over love?”“Someone who knows just how hard it is not to have money. Someone who knows just how unpredictable love is, that it isn’t all roses and sunsets. Someone who can see the rhyme and reason to making money, but knows there isn’t any whatsoever to love.”There are not many authors I always trust my heart with unconditionally and irrevocably, but Bella Andre’s stories not only never disappoint, they seem to leave me in a blissful state of day-dreaminess for days to come. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – The Sullivans series is my personal brand of poison when it comes to romances that are ‘good for the heart’, and there is nothing like the ‘Bella magic’ when your heart is in need of some tender loving care.“Do you think one teeny-tiny little kiss would be that big a deal?“With you, I’m certain that no kiss could ever be teeny. Or tiny. Or little.”Ian Sullivan is a self-made millionaire, a man who has always put his professional interests before his personal ones, and whose dedication to his business empire is only matched by his devotion to his family. Tatiana Landon is a movie star, a young woman whose kind and down-to-earth personality stands in stark contrast to her worldwide fame, as she has managed to preserve her innocence and naiveté despite the attention she receives wherever she goes. But while Tatiana grew up believing in fairy tales and ended up in a business where she is creating fairy tales for a living, Ian’s failed marriage acts as a daily reminder that he would never be able to give a woman the fairy tale she deserves.“Marriage was the only thing that Ian had ever failed at, so badly that he’d come out of it one hundred percent certain that a wife would never—and should never—be in his future again.”They meet at a beautiful vineyard, in the midst of a wedding, surrounded by family and friends. But they only have eyes for one another. Their attraction is immediate, their connection palpable, but their resolve to do something about it is very different. So they part ways and don’t see each other again until, some months later, Tatiana walks into Ian’s office asking for his help – two weeks of shadowing him at his work as research for an upcoming role. A simple request, one that any other man in his position would kill for, and yet the mere idea of spending time with his greatest temptation, the only woman who makes him lose his composure, proves to be his greatest challenge.“… while he was normally known for his self-control, from the first time they’d met, nothing about his reaction to Tatiana had been anywhere close to normal.”Tatiana is like no other woman Ian has ever met, she is uncomplicated, naturally open and demonstrative, and she does not play games when it comes to expressing her emotions. Her genuine belief in love everlasting is contagious, even for a pragmatist like Ian, but while Tatiana believes to have found her Prince Charming in him, Ian is convinced that he could never make a woman truly happy, especially someone as deserving as Tatiana.It all starts with an innocent kiss, but the fireworks that follow could light up the sky on a moonless night. They complement each other in every way, their every touch reveals what lies in their hearts, but only one of them is willing to admit their feelings for the other. They get a unique taste of what their happily-ever-after would be like if they both allowed it to happen, but it all ends too soon and what is left in its aftermath tastes sourly of heartbreak and regret.“One day, she hoped, she’d be the one glowing from being loved so well.”This is a story about a man who never believed in love and the woman who gave him a reason to start believing in it. Ian is a man whose loyalty and sense of responsibility towards his family have affected every single decision he has ever made in his adult life, his professional drive always overriding all matters of the heart, but then a beautiful woman walks into his life, one who wears her heart on her sleeve, who chooses him to give herself to body and soul, and who never gives up on him, no matter how many times he pushes her away. Tatiana is perhaps my favourite Bella Andre leading lady to date, her fearless determination and willingness to risk breaking her own heart for what she believes to be true, makes her a true heroine in my eyes. She never loses her child-like innocence and even soul-wrenching heartbreak never hardens her – she simply keeps loving and believing in love.I adored this story, it made me feel so many different emotions, it made me love the characters and every one of their traits, and it left me smiling ear to ear. Very few authors know how to warm my heart time after time, but when it comes to Bella Andre, it’s always a sure thing.“I wasn’t looking for you, Tatiana. I didn’t see you coming. I didn’t expect you to burst into my life and turn it upside down.”