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nbiblioholic's review
4.0
There were so many elements about this story that made it interesting. For one the hero was a priest. Then you add in the fact that he was the convicted rapist of the heroine's sister, a sister who eventually committed suicide. Can you imagine falling in love with someone like that? An abandoned little girl forces these two into close quarters and Hannah is having a hard time being around the man who had a hand in taking her sister from her, no matter the fact that he's now a priest. But things are not always what they seem. There are always three sides to a story. It's just a matter of figuring out the truth behind it all.
Keeping it 100, I didn't have much love for the heroine of the story. I tried to be sympathetic and put myself in her shoes, especially when it came to how she dealt with Declan, but it was hard. Oh so very hard because I've always believed that if you don't know the details of everything it's not the wisest option to jump to conclusions. There were so many questions surrounding the rape. Many things left unsaid. And the victim wasn't around to clear anything up. Not to mention, Hannah was a little girl and most of the details were kept from her. There was no mention of her ever reviewing her sister's case files so why was she so certain that she knew everything??? Many times Declan offered clarity and was rejected by Hannah. I get that she wanted nothing to do with her sister's rapist, but c'mon. You don't know everything. And he's a freaking priest with no complaints or charges. WTF?! When the truth was finally revealed I felt that there wasn't enough remorse or sympathy for what happened to him. Where was his compensation?
Now Declan was a great hero. He was a priest who was conflicted in his faith and his strong belief in God and what he was doing as as a follower of God. He was a man of God, a man of the cloth and he was falling in love with someone, which obviously went against his vows and then left him to question everything. I genuinely felt his conflict. The author did an amazing job of describing it so that it was easy to see and understand. I felt so bad for him because of the position he was in, the thoughts he was having, and his own self recriminations. I felt his guilt, his shame, and his burdens as he fought for balance and against temptation.
I've never read anything from this author, but I admire her chutzpah. She took a topic that might seem a bit hard or difficult for others, a taboo subject that many authors won't even touch upon, but she dove right in and gave us the angst, the pain, and the beauty in order to create such a wonderful story.
Release Date: June 201
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: Dual - 1st person
Heat: 2 out of 5
Book Type: Standalone
Keeping it 100, I didn't have much love for the heroine of the story. I tried to be sympathetic and put myself in her shoes, especially when it came to how she dealt with Declan, but it was hard. Oh so very hard because I've always believed that if you don't know the details of everything it's not the wisest option to jump to conclusions. There were so many questions surrounding the rape. Many things left unsaid. And the victim wasn't around to clear anything up. Not to mention, Hannah was a little girl and most of the details were kept from her. There was no mention of her ever reviewing her sister's case files so why was she so certain that she knew everything??? Many times Declan offered clarity and was rejected by Hannah. I get that she wanted nothing to do with her sister's rapist, but c'mon. You don't know everything. And he's a freaking priest with no complaints or charges. WTF?! When the truth was finally revealed I felt that there wasn't enough remorse or sympathy for what happened to him. Where was his compensation?
Now Declan was a great hero. He was a priest who was conflicted in his faith and his strong belief in God and what he was doing as as a follower of God. He was a man of God, a man of the cloth and he was falling in love with someone, which obviously went against his vows and then left him to question everything. I genuinely felt his conflict. The author did an amazing job of describing it so that it was easy to see and understand. I felt so bad for him because of the position he was in, the thoughts he was having, and his own self recriminations. I felt his guilt, his shame, and his burdens as he fought for balance and against temptation.
I've never read anything from this author, but I admire her chutzpah. She took a topic that might seem a bit hard or difficult for others, a taboo subject that many authors won't even touch upon, but she dove right in and gave us the angst, the pain, and the beauty in order to create such a wonderful story.
Release Date: June 201
Genre: Contemporary Romance
POV: Dual - 1st person
Heat: 2 out of 5
Book Type: Standalone
maleficentknits's review
3.0
I can never turn down a "tempted/fallen priest" story and this sounded interesting. There were a lot of threads in this story especially with Declan's extremely troubled past but I can't seem to avoid stories with...
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SPOILER
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Surprise! you're a baby-daddy or Surprise! you didn't know this but you have a secret kid with an ex-lover. *sigh*...
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SPOILER
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Surprise! you're a baby-daddy or Surprise! you didn't know this but you have a secret kid with an ex-lover. *sigh*...
the_sassy_bookworm's review
5.0
This is a really great cover. Good representation of the story. Great composition. Interesting and eye-catching typography.
There is something about this author's writing that pushes me to step out of my box and read a book I would usually avoid like the plague. Be it a non-traditional HEA or in this case Spoiler
sibling sharing.I enjoyed this one a lot. It was well-written, and I found it well-paced (if a little rushed at the end, but more about that in a bit.) No OW/OM drama. I wouldn't even say it had a lot of angst. It's was also very low on the heat scale with just some kissing and one not very descriptive sex scene. That said, I didn't feel like that took away from the story in the least. There were a few interesting side characters, and both main characters were likable. All wrapped up in an OK ending. I would have liked to have seen some more details about how certain aspects were dealt with primarily concerning Declan.
So back to my issue with the pace. The first 70% of this book was slow relationship wise. I guess not slow, but more there wasn't much romance other than the heroine thinking Declan was hot. Then BAM the story goes from their somewhat friendship to kissing, sex, and "I love you" at the speed of light. I'll admit it was a little bit jarring. From that point on I felt we were rushed towards a conclusion. I would have liked to have seen us reach the kissing part a bit sooner and bit more time used to flesh out the romantic relationship and some of the details that are just glossed over. The church. Retribution...etc
Still, even with that issue, this was still a very enjoyable book, and I can't wait to see what this author has in store for us next. Two thumbs up from yours truly.
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