Review: Sexy road trip!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2013
REVIEWED BY SUNNYKendall Proctor is a 27-year-old whitish-blond angel. Her petite frame holds a large heart and personality. She shares her beautiful smile with everyone. She makes friends instantly with anyone who will allow it. She runs a struggling bed and breakfast with her mom in New York that is their life and finds herself both devastated and excited about a journey she didn't choose to take. I loved how Kendall's character evolved throughout this story, including how she could flip from a giddy young girl to a mature, beyond-her-years woman in a second. Taryn Elliott gave Kendall heartache, charisma, and soul that carried her well through this journey.Shane Justice is a 30-year-old stud! He is a foreman for his father's well-known construction company in California but is a master carpenter at heart. Shane is an antisocial being. He is much more comfortable working with wood than with people and really doesn't come off well to others. But Shane is forced to leave it all behind and start fresh with a woman he hardly knows. Taryn Elliott forces him to take a leap of faith that allows him to grow exponentially in SUSPENDED.Kendall (aka Sunshine) and Shane (aka Oscar - for Oscar the Grouch) meet under a very difficult circumstance and this book revolves around the impact of that circumstance. I loved how the author brought these very different people together and created their journey. Kendall and Shane knew the journey wouldn't be easy, but they were definitely going to make the best of it as they discovered their incredible chemistry together in bed! Wait, did I say bed? A bed is not required for Kendall and Shane! There are some very interesting places where they had sexy time, and even some where they didn't but REALLY wanted to! The sexy time was spicy and well written, but it did seem frivolous at times. In my opinion, not every sex scene had a purpose other than the sex, which is a picky little requirement of mine. The sex scenes where important connections were made and realizations formed were the moments that I loved. Even with their quirks, Kendall and Shane truly did know how to share themselves with each other.There was definitely more to their cross-country journey than sexy time. The sightseeing Shane allowed Kendall to experience was special. Having never seen many of the places described in the book, I would have loved more detail. There were locations that sounded amazing based on Kendall's reaction, but how it was described fell a bit flat for me. However, the ups and downs of traveling led to some of my favorite parts of the book where Kendall and Shane were both allowed to shine. Kendall's personality sparkled when she interacted with others and Shane had an opportunity to show brilliance in his craft.When I read a book, I try to understand how the title was formed and I struggled with this book title a bit, so I looked up the verb suspended on Dictionary.com. Here are the numerous definitions:1. to hang by attachment to something above: to suspend a chandelier from the ceiling.2. to attach so as to allow free movement: to suspend a door on a hinge.3. to keep from falling, sinking, forming a deposit, etc., as if by hanging: to suspend solid particles in a liquid.4. to hold or keep undetermined; refrain from forming or concluding definitely: to suspend one's judgment.5. to defer or postpone: to suspend sentence on a convicted person.I found it ironic that I didn't really latch on to the title until reading these definitions. They don't hang from anything (like in #1), but I could make every other definition work. Now I can't think of a better title and I hope you don't suspend (postpone) reading this book!BOTTOM LINEThe great cross-country journey in SUSPENDED makes me want to put some miles on the car! If you are a traveler that doesn't require a ton of explicit detail about the surroundings, you would enjoy this book. I enjoyed the hot sexy time (even though frivolous at times) and the chemistry Elliott develops for the characters. I also loved how the hero/heroine find a way to make the best out of a difficult situation.RATING: B+Note: I received a review copy of this title courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.