I’m shocked that for a romance novel featuring a movie star falling for a nobody, there’s actually some sense of realism to it! Not to mention a pretty big F-You to the media!
What’s it About?
After surviving a traumatic event at age fifteen and the ensuing estrangement from her family, Natalie Bryant has worked for years to reinvent herself into the woman she is today—a happy teacher fresh out of college and enjoying her first winter in New York City with her faithful dog, Fluff, by her side. Natalie isn’t expecting her life to change completely during a routine stroll through Greenwich Village on a blustery January day. But when Fluff breaks loose and charges into a park, Natalie gives chase and crashes into her destiny. Only after Fluff bites and draws blood from the man who accidentally knocked Natalie down does she realize Fluff has bitten the biggest movie star in the world.
He has no business being enthralled by the gorgeous, young, innocent teacher…Natalie captivates Flynn Godfrey from the first moment their eyes meet while she is lying on the ground and he’s fighting off her ferocious little beast of a dog. The only thing Flynn knows for certain is if he lets Natalie get away, he’ll regret it for the rest of his life. After only a short time in her presence, Flynn is prepared to change who he is to be what she needs. He knows he’s in big trouble when she says she won’t sleep with him and he doesn’t care if it means he gets to keep her in his life. But can he turn his back on the lifestyle that has defined him? Can he deny the desires that drive him to give Natalie the introduction to love and romance she so deserves? And most of all, can he keep his truth hidden from her long enough to have forever with her?
First Impressions
At the end of book one, the entire world found out about Natalie’s past, and we sort of hold our breath speculating how everyone will react. Turns out, pretty much everyone in the entire USA is supportive of her, and they bash the media for prying into her private life. Gotta love the joys of Twitter! I also enjoyed how in this novel there was sort of a sense of realism in that Natalie’s past was front page news for a hot second, before some other celebrity gossip took everyone’s attention away. It seems like in most celebrity romance novels our female lead is constantly being chased by the dreaded paparazzi, and splashed all over the gossip mags, even though she’s not in showbiz. In this book however, Natalie and Flynn are able to move on with their lives rather quickly after the dust settles.
Fallout
Most of this novel deals with the fallout of Natalie’s rape story being released to the public. You can’t help but appreciate all of the support which the community gives her for surviving such a tragic incident. I must say though, when it came to Natalie and Flynn dealing with the aftermath of the news release, they are so supportive and sickeningly sweet to each other it almost gave me a toothache.
Throughout the entire novel, we basically hear on continual repeat how she doesn’t want him to blame himself for the story coming out, and he still sees her as a beautiful woman whom he will love no matter what. Over and over and over again. While reading you can almost picture birds chirping and squirrels dancing from all their terms of endearment. Absolutely adore the love and support in the air, but it could’ve been taken down a notch or two.
The Truth Comes Out
My favorite part of this novel was the ending. Nat is an unbelievably strong character, and she’s not afraid to call out Flynn for keeping secrets from her while she’s been completely open and honest with him. She gave him a chance to tell the truth, and acknowledges how she understands he’s trying to protect her from his BDSM tendencies considering her past. What I loved though is that Natalie makes it clear she won’t stand for his lies. By keeping the truth from her, he is in a way implying she’s not strong enough to deal with the consequences. And she won’t stand for that. Boom baby!
*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review*
Series: Quantum series, book 2. I enjoyed this one five thousand times more than book 1.
Should you read it? The beginning and end of this novel was fantastic. From the public’s support of Natalie, to her standing up to Flynn for keeping secrets. The in between dragged a bit for me, as there wasn’t as much story going on. Just a bunch of lovey dovey-ness between Flynn and Natalie.
Smut Level: Definitely getting more comfortable with each other, which translates into more dirty talk.
Get it on Amazon: Click Here. $3.99 Kindle Price. HTJB, Inc. 258 Pages.
Romance Novels for the Beach 
Good review — but now I want to go find out why you loathed book 1 so much!
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Haha! Book 1 was sort of lacking in plot for me. It’s also kind of challenging to like the male lead
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Without your review I wouldn’t even consider this book, mainly because the book blurb needs work. She mentions the dog’s name of Fluff four times in the first paragraph. Anything past mentioning it once is overkill in my opinion. If you’re that repetitive in your blurb, what’s the rest of the book going to be like? The does sound interesting through and because of your review I may give it a chance. ** If you’re reading this Marie Force, please drop a few Fluffs and try “her dog” instead. I think it will flow SO much better and you’ll sell more books.
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