Review: 5 STARS from THE SASSY BOOKISTA
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 22, 2014
The man your attracted to - Youhave a strong dislike for.The woman you want isn't likethe others - But you want to make herlike the others.Some say there's a fine line betweenanger and passion.5 SOLID STEELE ***** from The Sassy Bookista!!!This is a full-length, standalone novel.  The story finishes with a HEA.  There is no cheating in this book.This book is a New Adult Romance GOLDMINE!!  It was a really good length, had great characters with depth, and the story line rocked my socks off!!  I'll be honest - this blurb really didn't do it for me - and I didn't HAVE to have it from my first glance at the cover.  However, after a second glance at that cover... There is something about the way he's looking right at you.  But it's almost a disgusted look or confusion maybe?  Anyway the point is that I was intrigued enough that I then did HAVE to have it.  I'm SO glad I took that second glance my book people!!"The last piece of my damaged soul is lost, held out of reach by the angel who has no idea she's shattered the heart that I didn't know existed into a million splintering shards, leaving me bleeding and broken.  The destruction has begun and I can't walk away."Emma Jones is many things.  She's a preachers daughter.  She's from a very small town.  She's an artist.  She's a virgin.  Emma has this quiet strength about her that speaks volumes.  She's someone I admire.  There are really so many layers to her - but she's not complicated.  I felt as though she needed to prove herself.  As all those things.  But in an easy way - not slamming it down the throats of everyone she meets.  In the first few pages I found myself heartbroken for her.  I'm already loving her and I only just started the book.  Emma has this whole life her in her small town.  What will happen when she's an insignificant in a huge city?  Everything about her is predictable - yet not.  She's a contradiction and as I read more into the book - I saw her emerge to this whole other self.  As if she found herself - when really the ingredients were all there in the first place.  So when she meets Breck Steele - she's unsure.  Unsure of why he makes her feel almost every emotion with one look.  Unsure as to why this incredibly hot man is looking at her.  He's everything she's not.  I felt like she was having this incredibly difficult time with the internal struggling of how he makes her feel and her moral code.  I could feel all the emotions reading their first meeting and the other encounters.  As she and Breck form a friendship - and more - I almost felt like a fly on the wall.  Breck could make everyone's panties drop.  And meeting Emma, I felt changed him immediately.  He didn't push and push to get her in the back room - so to speak.  But I could tell something about her got to him.  The book is written with dual POV, so it was great to feel that tangible connection that they both felt - and then read both sides as to how they were really feeling.  Breck. like Emma, has many layers and he's not so easy when it comes to sharing them.  I was in the dark with his past up until about 78-80%.  But that didn't deter me from having this love/hate relationship with him.  With Emma, she was almost transparent.  I could see and feel what she was.  But Breck... oh man!  He was confusing as hell!  Even reading his POV.  I knew what he was thinking and feeling - but no clue as to why.  Why was he trying NOT to like her when every bone in his body wanted her?  Why was he so sarcastic and rude yet caring, protective and thoughtful?  He was brutally honest at times - which was refreshing yet I hated him for it.  But he could be incredibly abrasive one minute and fiercely protective the next.  He's cultured, and suave - smooth at times without being cheesy.  Breck is a fixer.  If there is a problem, especially with the ones he cares about, he must fix it!  I saw that a good and bad thing.  There was actually a point in the book that I wondered if he wanted to fix a problem that Emma was having because that's what he does - it's who he is - or if he really cared about her.  I did get my answer, boys and girls!  Watching two characters, who couldn't be more different, fall in love was really amazing.  I know we've seen this story line before.  Bad, alpha-male, player, rich (but not millionaire status), runs his business - VS the shy, yet independent, virgin.  He makes her want to be bad and she is one naughty gal for him, with him.  BUT... Please believe me when I tell you... This is nothing like any of them!"I know what you're doing; you are trying to scare me so I'll leave, but I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!  No matter how right or wrong it is, or how much I've tried to fight it, I belong to you; I'm yours!  You own and control what I feel, who I am, and if you lose yourself tonight, I get lost with you, and you won't let that happen."The writing was excellent and the scenes came forth bursting from the pages. The way the characters developed was priceless!  Even the secondary characters.  I would love to read more about Jess and Jason.  And, like seriously, Gavin needs a girl!!!  Know that with this book - every emotion is tangible.  I felt like I could touch, taste every moment.  This is not a light beach read!  This is one that takes you where the characters are.  Where they've been and where they are going.  And beware... The complexity of the end...will blow. Your. Mind!  Oh, yeah...When Emma has the 'conversation' with the art gallery owner... EPIC!Thank you Karen-Anne Stewart!!  For giving me a priceless journey!!!