Book Review — Priceless by Linda Kage

“That boy is completely and irrevocably in love with you. He worships the ground you roll on. And it’s clear as day you love him back.”

• Buy PRICELESS (Kindle)

This was such a beautiful, heartfelt friends-to-lovers romance!! I read it in one sitting and loved it! Originally, I was really drawn to this book because of how different their situation was. Brandt was this amazing swoony, sweet, sexy, charming, protective guy (trust me, he’s heart-melting!!!!!) who’d come from a really bad home but luckily had amazing supportive family, and Sarah was this incredibly smart, witty, fun, sarcastic girl who also had cerebral palsy. I loved how real and honest their romance felt — it was so clear that they loved each other so much and that was something you always felt without a doubt. But they also faced a lot of hurdles both in their lives and in their growing relationship and it was just wonderful to see them become such a strong couple and get through these things together! Their story was loaded with feels, swoon, and sweetness… Definitely new 2016 Favorite!!

You can read this book as a complete standalone romance. It’s also a part of the Forbidden Men series, but all the books in the series are standalones and even though the characters are interconnected, the author has done a fantastic job of separating each story so they can genuinely each be read alone without any confusion. Personally, I’ve read three random ones of them (Price Of A Kiss, Worth It, and now Priceless) and would easily recommend any of them as complete standalones. Or, if you want to read them all, I’ve listed their publication order below for you.

For those of you who do like to place interconnected characters though. Brandt is the younger brother of the hero from To Professor, With Love and Sarah is the younger sister of the hero from Price Of A Kiss.

Anyhooo, seriously, you can totally read this book as a standalone.

Ok, let’s start with the blurb…

Three things in my life were fact.
I needed Sarah to survive.
I needed sex to remain sane.
And I could never mix sex with Sarah.

I just knew—deep in my marrow—that if I did, I’d somehow lose her. All my deepest darkest secrets would crack open, bleed out, and ruin everything between us. I wouldn’t unleash the shit inside me on my worst enemy, let alone her. So she stayed strictly in the friend zone.

People probably thought I never went there with her because of her cerebral palsy, but f*ck them. She knew she was the most important person in my world, and I wasn’t about to risk hurting our relationship just to make my c*ck happy.

Until the moment she begged me to take her virginity.
Now it’s all about to hit the fan, because how the hell do you resist the one person forbidden to you when she says please?

Brandt was born into a live of poverty. He and his siblings lived in a rundown trailer without parents (their mother was a drug addict who was never around and their oldest brother was the one who looked after them). But after one particular incident went too far, their brother took them away and brought them to live with him.

Sarah was a fun, voracious girl whose cerebral palsy kept her largely confined to a wheelchair and her preferred form of communication was through a computer. When Brandt transferred to Sarah’s school, she accidentally friend requested him online and they struck up a friendship. When they met in person on the first day of school, their friendship was forever solidified. All he saw when he looked at her was the awesome girl who she was.

As soon as she knew no one else was around, she shed the shyness and was my Sarah once again.

A part of me was pleased she was this way. No one else knew how fun and smart and sarcastic she really was, so I could hog her all to myself. I didn’t have to share her with anyone. Then again, I also worried about her because I couldn’t always be around, and her timid, withdrawn behavior made her a bigger target for bullies. The idea of people picking on her unnerved me.

I wanted to kick the ass of anyone who even looked at her wrong.

For many reasons (that I was wary about at first, but understanding of as they were explained), they never struck up a romantic relationship over the years because they each thought the other wanted to be friends only… even though they both thought of each other as so much more than friends. I was a little uncomfortable at first with the fact that he was pretty much just sleeping around prior to their relationship, but the reasons behind it were well explained.

Once they started communicating though about their real feelings, things began to heat up between them. Naturally there were a lot of things for them to get through but their journey to becoming an official couple was a joy to read!

“This right here — every single piece of you — is very precious cargo to me. If anyone mistreated it, I’d lose my shit. You’re not just my best friend, you’re my sanity. You’re priceless.”

I absolutely LOVED how loving, caring, and oh-so-deeply protective Brandt was of Sarah. It was heart-warming and totally swoon-worthy. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. She was literally everything to him and it came through so strongly in every one of his actions and everything he said. I love it when the heroes go all Alpha!

You’re his… If you haven’t noticed, the guy’s scarily protective of you.”
I scowled and gritted my teeth. “Yeah, I know he’s protective. But he doesn’t consider —“
“No.” Colton shook his head as if I actually had no clue… “You are HIS.”

I also really loved that this author wrote a character with cerebral palsy who was not defined by it. Her CP was not downplayed at all — the shaking, seizing, everything was there, but it was just a part of her life… it wasn’t who she was. She was a normal girl with hopes, dreams, goals, and who fearlessly went after them!

Both Brandt and Sarah’s families were incredibly accepting and supportive of their relationship (well, Sarah’s big brother took a while to come around, but that’s understandable) and it was hilariously adorable how everyone else knew they were destined for each other before they realized it themselves.

I announced to my family that Sarah and I were together on Saturday morning, and I expected a lot bigger of a response than I got.
“Well, of course you are, dear,” Aspen said, patting my hand with an indulgent smile.
Noel frowned and shook his head. “I’m confused. You’re saying you two weren’t together before?”
I sighed and ground my teeth. “Well, it’s official now.”

Oh, by the way, I know this is a sensitive topic for some readers so you should know that there is sexual abuse in Brandt’s past. It’s not graphically portrayed but you’re definitely aware of it and it naturally was something that had a huge impact on his life and comes up throughout the book as one of the things he has to work through.

The story is told in alternating POVs between Brant and Sarah (first person) and we definitely get both sides of the story. The only thing I might have wished for was an epilogue, but story had a solid ending even without it.

This really was a wonderful romance! Real, honest, and believable. There were moments that made me swoon and laugh-out-loud, and others that made my heart break and almost brought tears to my eyes. And overall, it was just a really great story! I loved the characters, I was rooting for their relationship, and I really enjoyed their book! It’s definitely going to be one of my favorites of the year and I highly recommend it!

Rating: 4.5 stars. Can standalone.

• Buy PRICELESS (Kindle)

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** FULL SERIES OF STANDALONES **
Each book is a standalone about a different couple.
They are slightly interconnected, but written so that
any of these may be read alone, or in any order.
Click covers to purchase.