A review by grinningcat
Defending Charley by Bella Lane, Bella Lane

3.0

MMC/FMC- Derrick and Charley
POV- 1st person dual
Genre- Contemporary Romance
Sub Genre- Firefighter Romance
Heat- they do the thing and name the parts
Series? Y
Cliffhanger? N
Cheating? N
HEA/HFN? Y
Triggers- detailed descriptions of building and house fires, Workplace harassment, explicit erotic content.
Tropes- Friends to Lovers, Childhood Friends, Firefighter/Cop, Villain Speech.
What I liked- the romance and the fact that they had a solid bond of friendship to start with
What I didn’t- very suddenly, the bad guy is revealed with no hints beforehand. It felt like it almost came out of nowhere. He even does a full on Villain Speech, where he takes credit for being the Root of All Evil in the book. And the jerks who harassed the heroine were not ashamed or regretful at all.
Verdict- this book started out to be really good, and it could have been excellent, but the sudden big reveal did the book a disservice.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.