Review: Fantastic book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 28, 2014
I have to tell you, this book sucked me in from the first page. The author’s style of writing is very immediate and very deep in the character’s head. We find the heroine, Anna, in the hospital, injured, and the hero, her ex-husband, Nick, has been called because she’s forgotten to take his name off her passport as next of kin. The fireworks between them are explosive. Despite it being a suspense, it doesn’t start out with action on top of action. The story centers mostly on the romance. So, this is my kind of suspense, where the suspense is woven beautifully with the romance, but it’s a romance first.Now, I have to tell you, I’m in love with the hero. Nick is honestly a bit of a jerk at first (okay, that's not the word I originally used). Keep reading. He redeems himself very quickly. It’s very clear right from the start the two of them have issues. Raised in Britain's foster care system, they’ve been on their own, just the two of them, their whole lives, and it’s hardened both of them. Both have wounds. And despite his attitude toward her, once we get into his point of view, it’s very clear Nick is one of those alphas who doesn’t trust or love easily, that his being such a dick is his coping mechanism, his way of dealing with emotions he can’t handle.It’s also clear he cares very deeply for the heroine, Anna. She’s important to him, and he's very protective of her. Even while telling himself he doesn't care. To the point that despite that he ended their marriage and pushed her out of his life (aka he needs her and it terrifies him), when he finds out she’s injured and might be in trouble, he drops everything to look out for and protect her. Even his complaining about how careless and reckless she is is a front for the fact that he’s scared s***less for her, though he does eventually admit it.Nick is a wounded hero, taken from a childhood he was lucky to have endured, who considers himself as having a black soul. He's positive he has within him the capability to hurt people the way his father hurt him, and he keeps people at a distance, afraid one day he'll crack. Especially Anna. That he needs her so much sits wrong with him, because he doesn’t think he’s good for her anyway. Oh, he’s just yummy.Anna is his match in every way and the only person capable of tearing down his walls. She's vulnerable, but she can handle her own, and his rejection of her five years ago is the wound on her soul, on top of her own lonely childhood. She aches to have a family, to the point that she had herself artificially inseminated. Nick is the one man with the power to hurt her and he has. But she’s not the sit back and take it kind of girl. She tosses his attitude right back at him. I’m not usually fond of verbal sparring. Being a sensitive sort of person, it usually gives me headaches. But theirs is delicious to behold, because there’s an undercurrent of pain and sexual tension and a deep love moving just below the surface. Despite the wounds they've caused each other, the attraction, the love, is still there, hovering beneath the surface. So that I’m sucked in, waiting for this tension to break.Meanwhile, Incy teases us with the threat of danger, she never gives it all away upfront, which ramps up everything else, and I’m speed reading trying to suck it all in. I could not put this book down and only did when forced to because my eyes were tired. Or to do humanly things like eat.The more Incy pulls me into this story, the more of Nick I get. The more Anna begins to break down his walls, and we see why he is the way he is. Then we start to see the soft side of the man, the heart beneath. And we see that he loathes himself, but he loves her. And the more I fall in love with him. And the more I need him to find his happiness. With her.If you're looking for a new author, give this one a try! Nick is seriously sexy.