Review: Has the potential for a really good story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2014
Complimentary copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.Lucy has landed herself in New York, running away from an abusive relationship with her longtime boyfriend Drake. She has a good job working the cosmetics counter at a major, upscale department store, Armstrong’s, and has a dependable roommate turned best friend named Megan. Lucy has been living her new life for six months; focusing on her career, not ready to even consider pursuing a relationship with a member of the opposite sex when Knox Taylor, a business consultant and self-made man shows up at Armstrong’s. He is immediately enamored with Lucy and begins his pursuit of her. She is quick to rebuff his advances but finds herself slowly tearing down the emotional walls that keep her from connecting with him.Knox Taylor is one of New York’s most eligible bachelors and has many women lusting after him, including one of Lucy’s co-workers. He’s not big on relationships until he meets Lucy. She sees him for more than just his money, something most other women can’t seem to do. He understands that she is hiding secrets from her past and is willing to help her fight those demons. He is sweet, but definitely an alpha male. I honestly was a little surprised, that given Lucy’s history of domestic abuse that he would come across as alpha as he did, and even more surprised that Lucy would let him get away with it.The story is primarily told in the first person from Lucy’s point of view, but about halfway in, there is a shift to a third person POV from a secondary character. While I understand what Ms. Dunaway was trying to achieve with this shift, it comes as a very important turning point in the plot, it comes off as strange and out of place. Maintaining first person narrative with this new character would have been more appropriate.Discovering Lucy was a quick, easy read. It has the makings of becoming a really good book, Ms. Dunaway is certainly a capable writer, however it just seemed as though it was a little too predictable. There are a lot of books out there that feature a heroine running from domestic violence storyline but in order to really stand out, there needs to be something that makes it “different”, unfortunately that is where Discovering Lucy falls short. There was little development in the characters of both Lucy & Knox and I got very little feeling of heat or chemistry between the two of them. I would give this 3 to 3  stars. I feel like Ms. Dunaway is capable of a more fascinating storyline, including characters with far more depth. As it is, I feel like this is a book that I have read before.