Review: Rushed and unclear
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 21, 2013
I have enjoyed the majority of this series.  I thought Rock Me was great.  I thought Unleashed was fair.  I thought Leave Me Breathless was terrific and really hot.  There was a brief short story about Candace and Brain in some Christmas book that was ridiculous.  This story was just flat, but had so much potential.I thought the way Gabby and Ian came together was a bit lame and there could have been a better way to set the stage for the future.  Also, more being said about love at first sight and fate....  The good part of the story is, Cherrie Lynn writes some hot scenes but even here skirted around his quiet dominance and her reluctant submission.Ian's character needed more time.  I wanted to read more about why is was so willing to take everything on.  His inner turmoil would have made a more solid story that went along with his easy going persona out of the bedroom but dominance inside.  He is a man who needed to flee, but we don't know why other than Brian needing help and him sick of Marco and Kara's flirting.  More was there and more needed to be said.Gianna Ross' little speech to Gabriella about being with Ian and being disowned was basically a Silvia Andrews speech to Candace about Brian.  To tell the truth, I was hoping that the story of Gianna and Alexander's story would have been explored as a supportive story line:  I think I remember they got together and after a few weeks and she left Italy and her family for him in a whirlwind to move to America. ( It would have been great to find out Gianna was pregnant with Gabriella right away. ) That the real issue with Gabriella letting Ian in was more of her fear of loving and having him leave as well as him not being forthright in his past.  The big moments of the story were left flat.  And they really could have been great.The resolution was too neat and tidy.  There is no way "I love you" came that quickly without more mention of feelings throughout the day by day.  Only we only read "take it day by day" and then it was a month later.  I just needed more.Also, the end had me puzzled but was indicative of how rushed the book was, where did they live that everyone could be gathered within moments?  Dallas is 3 hours away, but they all arrived quickly.I am a huge fan of Cherrie Lynn's books.  I love the Ross family.  I wish this story would have been given more attention to building a more realistic story with more detail of the characters.  It may be in the editors hand that cut a lot out, because the detail of other character development is great, but others not.  Especially if this is the finale of the series, it deserved more.I recommend reading it to hear all the goodies about Brian and Candace.  It is nice to know Macy and Ghost are together and got 3 sentences.  This is not the book to start with to get hooked on the series.  Sorry