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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars
It surprised me that I enjoyed this book so much more than the first book in the series, Finding Our Forever. Not that I didn’t like that story, but this one really had me engaged from the start. I was mistaken when I finished book one, I thought this story wouldn’t have anything to do with the New Horizons Boys Ranch. We don’t actually go to the ranch, but there is a connection and many of the characters from the first book make an appearance in this one.
This story had my stomach in knots! Not just because it was well written, also because I could see this scenario playing out in real life. I know it has in the past and it still does to this day. There are many, many, many good cops in this world. Unfortunately, there are also some bad cops. Those that use their authority for their own gain and to intimidate. Brenda Novak wrote Sly’s crazy very well and convincingly. Like I said…knots in my stomach.
Dawson is such a wonderful person. From the moment Sadie meets him on his front porch I just want to be his friend. The way he’s so careful to keep distance between them and understands her discomfort without judging her about her reactions, that takes quite a man. His will-power and morality as the story progresses just kept sinking him under my skin deeper and deeper. And then there’s his sister, the way he treats Jayden, and his determination to do what is right no matter what. **swoon**
See my full review at https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/no-one-but-you-book-review/
It surprised me that I enjoyed this book so much more than the first book in the series, Finding Our Forever. Not that I didn’t like that story, but this one really had me engaged from the start. I was mistaken when I finished book one, I thought this story wouldn’t have anything to do with the New Horizons Boys Ranch. We don’t actually go to the ranch, but there is a connection and many of the characters from the first book make an appearance in this one.
This story had my stomach in knots! Not just because it was well written, also because I could see this scenario playing out in real life. I know it has in the past and it still does to this day. There are many, many, many good cops in this world. Unfortunately, there are also some bad cops. Those that use their authority for their own gain and to intimidate. Brenda Novak wrote Sly’s crazy very well and convincingly. Like I said…knots in my stomach.
Dawson is such a wonderful person. From the moment Sadie meets him on his front porch I just want to be his friend. The way he’s so careful to keep distance between them and understands her discomfort without judging her about her reactions, that takes quite a man. His will-power and morality as the story progresses just kept sinking him under my skin deeper and deeper. And then there’s his sister, the way he treats Jayden, and his determination to do what is right no matter what. **swoon**
See my full review at https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/no-one-but-you-book-review/
See full review at HarlequinJunkie.com
A misunderstood hero. An emotionally shattered heroine. One seemingly hopeless situation. Author Brenda Novak is known for putting her characters through their paces, but No One But You definitely took it up a few notches. And as a reader, I couldn’t help but get drawn completely into this heart-wrenching story.
As a huge fan of Brenda Novak’s work, I know that I’m in for a roller coaster of a ride when it comes to the emotions she’s going to throw at her characters. And wow was that true for Dawson and Sadie. To say that they both went through hell in this book is putting it mildly. And for me it was reminiscent of Phoenix’s struggle in This Heart of Mine, Whiskey Creek #8 (which is my favorite of all Novak’s books thus far) where an entire community railed against Phoenix after she was falsely accused of a crime. Dawson was similarly falsely accused here, in his case it was of murdering his adoptive parents. But sadly, even after having his name cleared, the town wouldn’t believe he was innocent. Read More
A misunderstood hero. An emotionally shattered heroine. One seemingly hopeless situation. Author Brenda Novak is known for putting her characters through their paces, but No One But You definitely took it up a few notches. And as a reader, I couldn’t help but get drawn completely into this heart-wrenching story.
As a huge fan of Brenda Novak’s work, I know that I’m in for a roller coaster of a ride when it comes to the emotions she’s going to throw at her characters. And wow was that true for Dawson and Sadie. To say that they both went through hell in this book is putting it mildly. And for me it was reminiscent of Phoenix’s struggle in This Heart of Mine, Whiskey Creek #8 (which is my favorite of all Novak’s books thus far) where an entire community railed against Phoenix after she was falsely accused of a crime. Dawson was similarly falsely accused here, in his case it was of murdering his adoptive parents. But sadly, even after having his name cleared, the town wouldn’t believe he was innocent. Read More
And the hits just keep coming! This is another fabulous story in the Silver Springs series and it features Sadie Harris and Dawson Reed. Their attraction seemed like it grew over a period of time but in reality it was only about a week or so. The one person that didn't like Sadie working for Dawson was her soon to be ex-husband, Sly, a police officer in Silver Springs. In everybody's eyes, except Sadie and a few others, Dawson was a murderer, even though he was found innocent by court of law. I can't imagine what he went through losing his parents and spending over a year in jail awaiting trial for their murder, being found innocent but still guilty in the eyes of most of the people in town. TRAGIC!
This is a crazy good story and I can't wait for the next one.
This is a crazy good story and I can't wait for the next one.
Wow. This book was bananas.
The cover is so cutesy, with the rain boots and the colorful sky and green grass...I went into this book without reading the summary and I assumed it would be a sweet small-town romance between two people trying to move on from hard pasts. That's what it looks like, right? I mean, rain boots, you guys. But then in the first chapter, a straight up hatchet murder is introduced, and we find out that the heroine's life is like a tragic Lifetime movie, and the combination is borderline traumatizing.
What I liked: Brenda Novak's writing. She does an excellent job of switching POVs and really getting the reader into the head of the characters, Sadie and Dawson (and sometimes the ex). This means there tends to be a lot of description of their thoughts and feelings, which some may view as repetitive, but which I actually enjoy because I like learning more about the character's motivations that way. She also does a really awesome job of creating characters to hate and characters to root for; I literally hated Sly, the heroine's ex-husband, so much that I was yelling at the book every time he did or said something that was abusive and controlling. He made my skin crawl. Meanwhile, I really liked the hero and heroine together; they had great chemistry, and I like how they had to warm up to each other before any romance began.
What I struggled with: it was so hard to get into the romance aspect when so many batshit crazy things were happening in this book. I'm talking stalking, arson fires, accusations of murder, cops abusing their power, and that's not even half of it. It was fun to read, but at times it was a bit much. There's also a sweet, sensitive child and a developmentally delayed adult sister; overall, there's just a lot going on in this book and it made it difficult to focus on the connection between Sadie and Dawson when there was all this other true crime drama happening. So at times the story was a 4 star read, but then it would lower back down as the drama just kept getting piled on. I also hated almost everyone in Sadie's town, as they were straight up enabling Sly's abuse because they thought divorce was bad and they all trusted police officers. They were so frustrating!
I did like how everything resolved, however, and I might read more from this series? It seems like all of the boys from the home where Dawson grew up are getting romances. However, I feel I have to warn whoever else thinks this is a cutesy small-town romance due to the cover; this is not that. It's pretty dark, the small town is full of horrible people, and there's a lot of Lifetime drama that may not be everyone's cup of tea.
The cover is so cutesy, with the rain boots and the colorful sky and green grass...I went into this book without reading the summary and I assumed it would be a sweet small-town romance between two people trying to move on from hard pasts. That's what it looks like, right? I mean, rain boots, you guys. But then in the first chapter, a straight up hatchet murder is introduced, and we find out that the heroine's life is like a tragic Lifetime movie, and the combination is borderline traumatizing.
What I liked: Brenda Novak's writing. She does an excellent job of switching POVs and really getting the reader into the head of the characters, Sadie and Dawson (and sometimes the ex). This means there tends to be a lot of description of their thoughts and feelings, which some may view as repetitive, but which I actually enjoy because I like learning more about the character's motivations that way. She also does a really awesome job of creating characters to hate and characters to root for; I literally hated Sly, the heroine's ex-husband, so much that I was yelling at the book every time he did or said something that was abusive and controlling. He made my skin crawl. Meanwhile, I really liked the hero and heroine together; they had great chemistry, and I like how they had to warm up to each other before any romance began.
What I struggled with: it was so hard to get into the romance aspect when so many batshit crazy things were happening in this book. I'm talking stalking, arson fires, accusations of murder, cops abusing their power, and that's not even half of it. It was fun to read, but at times it was a bit much. There's also a sweet, sensitive child and a developmentally delayed adult sister; overall, there's just a lot going on in this book and it made it difficult to focus on the connection between Sadie and Dawson when there was all this other true crime drama happening. So at times the story was a 4 star read, but then it would lower back down as the drama just kept getting piled on. I also hated almost everyone in Sadie's town, as they were straight up enabling Sly's abuse because they thought divorce was bad and they all trusted police officers. They were so frustrating!
I did like how everything resolved, however, and I might read more from this series? It seems like all of the boys from the home where Dawson grew up are getting romances. However, I feel I have to warn whoever else thinks this is a cutesy small-town romance due to the cover; this is not that. It's pretty dark, the small town is full of horrible people, and there's a lot of Lifetime drama that may not be everyone's cup of tea.
So I needed to read a romance for a reading challenge, and this book came up in my library's digital audiobooks. I decided to give it a go because it seemed a little different than a typical romance... the main male character was found not guilty of murdering his parents. There were a few steamy parts, but also a few romance tropes. Overall it was a fun book to listen to, but it took me until now to think about the fact that the murder was never really solved?! I would probably check out more books by this author if I wanted a light and somewhat steamy read.
This is the second book in this series but they are standalone without cliffhangers. Let me say I loved Dawson as he had a lot of hardship to face but kept true to himself and what he believed was right. Sadie also had a lot of hardships to face without a lot of help till she met Dawson. Was not expecting some of the twist and turns this book took. Loved the back and forth between the main characters and all the bits thrown in that made this story.
I don't know how to account for the lack of negative reviews except that I guess everyone but me knew better than to read it in the first place. This is really bad, guys. Like "how do I politely tell my friend that she's not a good writer" bad.
It over-explains everything, always telling and never showing. The characters are one-dimensional and constantly tell each other things they already know for the sake of exposition. Dependent characters (a kid, a mentally disabled sister) are used to signify that the person taking care of them is a Good Character. The dirty ex-husband, who could not be more Abusive and Evil, is literally named Sly. And this is all in the first three chapters.
I'm sorry, I almost never give up on books that I win for review, but life is too darn short.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
It over-explains everything, always telling and never showing. The characters are one-dimensional and constantly tell each other things they already know for the sake of exposition. Dependent characters (a kid, a mentally disabled sister) are used to signify that the person taking care of them is a Good Character. The dirty ex-husband, who could not be more Abusive and Evil, is literally named Sly. And this is all in the first three chapters.
I'm sorry, I almost never give up on books that I win for review, but life is too darn short.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
No One But You had all the romance, the suspense and the strong characters I've come to know and love when I pick up a Novak novel.
Jayden and Dawson weren't very likely to become romantically involved, and that just made their romance better in my opinion! No One But You showed that the one person who may seem respectable on the outside may be far from it, while the one other people think badly on have mostly good qualities and can be both loyal and trustworthy. Dawson had been through more than just a rough patch, accused of killing his adoptive parents, he was finally judged not guilty by a court and the jury, however, his townspeople weren't so sure about him being innocent.
No One But You also showed how difficult life had been for Jayden, but for completely different reasons than the difficulties Dawson had faced. A cop with anger issues, and who didn't take no for an answer, Jayden's soon-to-be ex-husband was not only scary, he also had the police force behind him to back him up - even when he treated Jayden and his son horribly.
The character development in No One But You was tremendous, both Dawson and Jayden grew a lot during the span of the story, and I enjoyed how they managed to be open-minded even when the odds were thoroughly against them. They both had a lot to lose, but they still fought for love and what they felt was right.
Written in third person point of view, past tense, the story was nicely paced, not too fast, but not slow either. The suspense was well done and kept me wondering. There were some sightings of characters from Finding Our Forever, and I enjoyed both Silver Spring and the characters that inhabit it. While No One But You is the second book in a series, it can be read as a stand alone.
The prospect of maintaining her freedom brought such relief, such exhilaration. Finally she had something to be happy about. She'd struck a deal with Dawson in spite of Sly. That single act of defiance felt good, as if she was taking another leap forward in regaining control of her life.
But what did she know? She'd barely met him. Maybe she was letting his gorgeous face and jawdropping body get in the way of her good judgement.
Why wouldn't he let her go? What good was having her come back if she didn't love him? And how could he even pretend ot love her? A man didn't treat a woman he cared about the way Sly treated her.
No One But You had all the romance, the suspense and the strong characters I've come to know and love when I pick up a Novak novel.
Jayden and Dawson weren't very likely to become romantically involved, and that just made their romance better in my opinion! No One But You showed that the one person who may seem respectable on the outside may be far from it, while the one other people think badly on have mostly good qualities and can be both loyal and trustworthy. Dawson had been through more than just a rough patch, accused of killing his adoptive parents, he was finally judged not guilty by a court and the jury, however, his townspeople weren't so sure about him being innocent.
No One But You also showed how difficult life had been for Jayden, but for completely different reasons than the difficulties Dawson had faced. A cop with anger issues, and who didn't take no for an answer, Jayden's soon-to-be ex-husband was not only scary, he also had the police force behind him to back him up - even when he treated Jayden and his son horribly.
The character development in No One But You was tremendous, both Dawson and Jayden grew a lot during the span of the story, and I enjoyed how they managed to be open-minded even when the odds were thoroughly against them. They both had a lot to lose, but they still fought for love and what they felt was right.
Written in third person point of view, past tense, the story was nicely paced, not too fast, but not slow either. The suspense was well done and kept me wondering. There were some sightings of characters from Finding Our Forever, and I enjoyed both Silver Spring and the characters that inhabit it. While No One But You is the second book in a series, it can be read as a stand alone.
The prospect of maintaining her freedom brought such relief, such exhilaration. Finally she had something to be happy about. She'd struck a deal with Dawson in spite of Sly. That single act of defiance felt good, as if she was taking another leap forward in regaining control of her life.
But what did she know? She'd barely met him. Maybe she was letting his gorgeous face and jawdropping body get in the way of her good judgement.
Why wouldn't he let her go? What good was having her come back if she didn't love him? And how could he even pretend ot love her? A man didn't treat a woman he cared about the way Sly treated her.