Review: Pretty good start to the series :)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
**This was an ARC copy given by Netgalley for a honest review**3.5-4 starsThis was a pretty good story. I liked Chrissy and Jack and their story wasn't perfect but it was very enjoyable. This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked this enough that I plan to read the next in the series when it comes out.Chrissy is a doctor that has been all over, travelling to third world countries to help people. She grew up in a small town in Florida with her dad and brother (Slade) after her mom died when she was 2 years old. Her brother was always protective (if not real loving) as they grew up but a rift caused by the events around their dad's death has caused them to speak rarely. Some of the few times Chrissy and Slade would speak is when he'd call her to bail him out of jail when he got in trouble. It's an instance like this that has Chrissy heading to her home town as the story begins.Jack is a cop and an MMA fighter in his off-time. He's also been best friends with Slade since they were kids and grew up with Chrissy trailing after them. Jack was always protective of her (maybe sometimes too much so) and treated her like a younger (annoying) sister. Jack found he missed her when she left for college and always kept track of her through Slade as much as possible.Chrissy is having a really crappy day (a break up text, a flat tire, a broken heal and a brother in jail just to name a few issues) when she's pulled over by a cop (Jack, but she doesn't know it) for speeding. She was called in to town by her brother to bail him out and she rushed there only to find out that his arraignment isn't until the next day so she just wants to get to his house and get some rest. There is accidental contact between her hand and his groin that has him doubling over and that's when Chrissy realizes that the cop is Jack. Jack is astounded to find his best friend's little sister looking all beautiful and grown up but since they haven't seen each other for over 10 years it's not surprising he didn't recognize her at first. Jack's all for getting to know the grown up Chrissy and escorts her back to Slade's house (which he just happens to live next door to). There's a palatable attraction between them as they talk about old times and Jack introduces Chrissy to his Chihuahua (who he insists is 1/4 pit bull) which he named Drogo after his favorite character in the show Game of Thrones (I loved his reasoning behind it). They end up sharing a kiss and it almost goes further, however Chrissy also finds out that Jack is an MMA fighter (which she didn't realize he still did) and it dampens things a bit as Chrissy has issues with violent men (due to an unfortunate incident in her past).They manage to get Slade out on bail but the charges are still pending. Slade has another fight and since it's an underground fight (which Jack doesn't take part in because he's a cop) it would violate his parole to do it. Against Chrissy and Jack's efforts to persuade him not to fight, Slade does anyways. Chrissy is worried about Slade and gets Jack to take her to the fight to try to watch out for Slade with mixed results. The issues about the fighting and Slade cause some problems between Chrissy and Jack. Jack is all for exploring the attraction between them but he wasn't ready to settle down and the thing with Chrissy seems like something he wont want to end, ever. This makes him a little leery but it doesn't stop him from pursuing Chrissy. Chrissy has a job offer at a hospital in Miami and had planned to take it. She likes Jack and has thoughts of staying but it's tough because she's freaked by his violent past time and also she doesn't know how serious he is or if he even wants her to stick around to explore things further. They have a few hot encounters before they finally consummate their relationship and things seem like they're going well between Jack and Chrissy. Unfortunately, Jack was caught between his budding relationship with Chrissy and his best friend and made a decisions that had him lying to Chrissy. He lied to protect her but when she found out it made everything look very bad and caused a major rift between her and Jack. There is some drama as Jack and Slade try to make things right with Chrissy and she ends up in unexpected danger. Things work out pretty well though and Chrissy and Jack are able to come together and start their HEA.I found this story to be very enjoyable. I liked both Jack and Chrissy and the secondary characters as well. There were a few editing mistakes but since this is an ARC copy, hopefully they'll be fixed when it's published. I liked the story and found it to be interesting and had a couple of plot twists that I wasn't expecting. There were a few points where the dialogue wasn't always perfect or things didn't seem to read as smoothly as it could have but overall it wasn't enough to take down my overall enjoyment of the story. I plan to keep an eye out for the next book in the series...I hope it's between Slade and Jessica. I'd recommend this story. :D