Smitten by Books

If you’d like to win a print copy of Hero, make sure to enter my Valentine’s Day Giveaway.

Alexa Holland’s father was her hero—until her shocking discovery that her mother and she weren’t his only family. Ever since, Alexa has worked to turn her life in a different direction and forge her own identity outside of his terrible secrets. But when she meets a man who’s as damaged by her father’s mistakes as she is, Alexa must help him.

Caine Carraway wants nothing to do with Alexa’s efforts at redemption, but it’s not so easy to push her away. Determined to make her hate him, he brings her to the edge of her patience and waits for her to walk away. But his actions only draw them together and, despite the odds, they begin an intense and explosive affair.

Only Caine knows he can never be the white knight that Alexa has always longed for. And when they’re on the precipice of danger, he finds he’ll do anything to protect either one of them from being hurt again….

Young has captivated me before with On Dublin Street and several others in the series. When I learned she was starting a new series,  I had to give Hero a shot. There’s a serious, twisted backstory between the main characters and that definitely put both H/h in a high stakes situation from the get go.

A couple of other things I enjoyed about this book are the smoking hot, sexual tension and the smart ass mouth of the heroine. I love a good female character who gives as well as she gets without caring for the consequences. Too often I’d love to the same, but my empathy meter runs a little on the high side. As for sexual tension. It comes with a big, red bow wrapped around this story. There is plenty of heat between Alexa and Caine. They sizzle between her mouth and his brisk, rude behavior. I couldn’t wait until the walls came down.

When they did, boy were we in for a ride. The majority of this book is all about the relationship— mending bridges, confessing sins, dissolving pre-conceived notions about one another. There are secrets on the hero’s side that I felt played into things too late in the game; like an extra layer that wasn’t really needed. Finally there is a tiny hint of a suspense aspect towards the back quarter of the book. I can’t go into detail because I don’t like spoilers, but needless to say I thought it was over the top. To be honest, I wanted an ending where our hero had to work a hell of a lot harder to be Alexa’s hero, to earn her love.

In ways I think Caine got off easy and I think Alexa was sucker punched. Now secondary characters and other stories —there is so much potential for one of Caine’s friends and Young kind of tied up his storyline at the end. I’m not sure what she has planned, but other secondary contributors from the feisty, pseudo-grandma, Effie to the insane photographer Benito, and even best friend Rachel with her demon-ling, Maisey provide non-stop entertainment and good foils to the main characters.

Alexa as a heroine is charming, mouthy, and down-to-earth. I really liked her and considered her to be a damn strong woman. She refused to be treated like crap and always stood her ground… at least until the end. Caine is that man who bottles everything up, until he explodes, which drives me as crazy as it does Alexa. Yet, like other tortured and brooding heroes, the broodiness is half the fun.

Overall, pacing is done fairly well. I have to keep this rating a 3 and 1/2 because the back quarter didn’t do it for me. Fans of brooding heroes, feisty females, and meddling friends will enjoy this story and get a few laughs. As always this author is still a bit hit and miss for me, but she’s a gem when it comes to building sexual tension in a story.

Reviewed by Landra
Heat Level: Hot