I'd like to share a review from Long and Short Reviews for my new release.
This was a fun, sweet book full of good times and love… and not just between our H/h.
Madison was an interesting, realistic character. Honestly, she reminded me a little of me: driven, fueled by caffeine, seldom slowing down to relax and consider life. This catches up to her as the story opens, and we meet her as she’s slowly coming to after fainting. Her rescuer is guru Brandon, there to try to talk her into slowing down before she kills herself.
Through a series of events, Madison (Maddie) is convinced to take part in his reality show and become his next student project. Here’s where things slowed down a little for me. I get that his job is to teach her his life practices, but a lot of the time it read more like a yoga or meditation textbook than a romance. While I understood the point of it, it felt a bit preachy at times. Thankfully, Madison lightened things up with her jokes, cheeseburger references and hidden cell phone.
Over time, they actual ended up teaching each other and learning lessons they didn’t expect. I gotta say, having hidden cameras every freaking place but the bathroom would drive me batty. Madison wasn’t a huge fan either, but she dealt with it better than I would have.
Although the heat level is technically spicy. the presence of cameras everywhere and Brandon’s determination not to get involved with a student means they don’t even kiss for the first couple hundred pages. There’s tension, to be sure, and their attraction is clear, but don’t grab this book expecting lots of smexy times. Even the heat between the sheets is very tastefully described, clear but more emotionally than physically. This is not a complaint from me at all… I tend to skip the sex in books unless it forwards the plot somehow, so I enjoyed it. Give me tension any day!
The secondary characters here were a lot of fun, too, from the folks on Brandon’s crew, to Maddie’s crazy family. The author skillfully created a whole pack of people who were interesting, entertaining and unique. Speaking of the author and her writing, it was smooth, easy to read and I never tripped over anything that made my experience stutter or stopped me in my tracks. Well done!
All in all a pretty solid story. Yes, it’s a romance, but it’s almost more women’s fiction or contemporary fiction with romantic elements. Lots of soul searching and life changes here. A good, solid read with well written characters and a solid, believeable plot. What more could a reader want? Recommended.