4 stars
“Baby, you’ve fucked with my mind without touching my body.”
Pure escapism. An engaging, entertaining multi-millionaire romance.
It wasn’t a very emotional read for me but it did keep me turning the pages straight through the night till the sun came up 🙂
I definitely got some Fifty Shades/Blackstone vibes off of this book (it was hot, but just straight vanilla, no kinky fuckery), so if you’re a fan of those, you should check this out for sure.
When Laurelyn goes to Australia for 3 months with her best friend, the last thing she was looking for was a relationship.
Meanwhile, Jack was actively searching for one. But… he wasn’t looking for a conventional relationship. He was looking for the right woman to share his bed for no longer than 3 months. A no-strings attached companionship at the end of which both parties would walk away. The moment he sees Laurelynn, he knew she was it.
But… to complicate matters, he insisted on personal secrecy. No names, no connections, no attachments.
“My life is complicated for reasons I won’t discuss. When it comes to dating I need it to be simple and undemanding. Disclosing my identity complicates things, so you wouldn’t know my real name.”
“You’re not joking.”
I can’t read her reaction. I have no idea if she’s on board or freaking out. “When the three months is over, so are we. I’ll move on and you will too. Because you won’t know my name or any identifying information about me, you’ll have no way to contact me. Ever.”
And despite her initial hesitation, Laurelyn agrees and then it really became a question of them being able to get through the 3 months and not stay attached…
I have to say that despite my liking him from the start, Jack’s aloofness and secrecy kept me from fully connecting with him until later in the story. I guess it bothered me a little how detatched he kept trying to be. But the more we found out about him, the more I began to understand his motivations.
The heroine just plain rocked. I connected with her nearly instantly. I loved that she was constantly one upping him, putting little cracks in his facade and not just instantly swooning into his arms.
“The three months we spend together would be the best of your life. You’d never be able to top what you’d experience with me.”
She sits back and laughs. “Well at least you’re not egotistical.”
I liked that the story was told in alternating POVs and I especially found that, given how much of a mystery Jack was, getting to see his train of thought was helpful in understanding the motivations behind his demands, actions and choices.
One thing I really loved about Jack was that, temporary relationship or not, he didn’t tolerate stupid things getting in between them. There was one incident in particular which as soon as it happened, I rolled my eyes expecting chapters of stupidity back and forth but was SO pleased that the moment he understood what was happening, he just made a call that cleared everything up quickly and efficiently and put an end to the drama. I was really impressed with him at that point.
This book built slowly but steadily with no slow spots and kept me engaged throughout.
I liked it all along but it wasn’t until the end that I really fell in love with it. Now, this IS romance so we all know going in that at some point, the hero was going to admit that he was smitten with the heroine but I guess what was holding a part of me back until the end was that, despite knowing that he would eventually get to that point, I wasn’t sure I wanted to give my heart over to falling in love a guy who seemed so willing to walk away. That said, I loved how by the end he really truly realized what he was losing and it was at that point that I began to really fall in love.
“Don’t leave. I want you to be with me.” … I swallow before I say the words that will change this relationship forever. “You’re the one I need.”
I was so happy that they finally reached the point where the pretense of their relationship being temporary was over and now I’m hoping the focus will be on them building something together.
There is a HUGE cliffhanger (but it was one that we saw coming right from the beginning) and I can’t wait to see what book #2 has in store for Jack and Laurelynn!
4 stars
Reading Order:
Casting:
Mary Graef says
Oh my goodness I don’t know who is that you picked for Jack Henry but he is spot on!! So freakin gorgeous!! Great review. I can’t wait until Friday so I can get my hands on Beauty from Surrender.
Myriam Pate says
ok…. where has this book been??? I have loved it from page 1!!! I can’t seem to put it down even when everyone keeps interrupting me in the middle of it. Jack Henry is another name on my “book boyfriend” (insert swoon here)
Lisa Haines says
Wow, I just finished the series,,so awesome!! What a dream! Characters so real,,great writing!