Genres: Romantic Suspense
Published by St. Martin's Publishing
Released on April 22, 2014
Pages: 80
Format: eBook
Break For Me picks up right from where Burn for Me left off, but switches focus from the oldest Bell sibling to the middle child, Jensen, and the man she struggles to maintain a distance from, District Attorney, Dean West.
The story opens with Jensen and her siblings struggling through the day of the anniversary of their mom’s disappearance fifteen years before. But on this night, she finally lets go and spends a night of passion with Dean West, then she runs. Again.
Dean is hopeful when Jensen finally stops pushing him away. He tries to accept her decision that she isn’t interested in him, but then he learns that he’s not the one that put that sad expression on her face. In fact, it is to him she turns to forget her pain. He braces for the fact that it may never be more than that even as he puts himself out there for her. But then a car and a body are found.
Jensen is finally getting answers that she thought she was ready for just like she thought that she had moved on after the family tragedy, but the need to fall to pieces and the fear of letting Dean get close tell her different. It is while tentatively starting something with Dean that she learns that he is no stranger to family tragedy. The answers to her mother’s disappearance lead to something shocking, but Jensen doesn’t have to face it alone if she will let Dean in.
While the first story captured me on all levels, this one didn’t. I didn’t connect with Jensen and couldn’t understand what stopped her from moving on her attraction to Dean or being tough on him. There was this unnamed need for emotional walls to be up and a vague idea that she feared relationships because her folks fought which made no sense because she knew Dean wasn’t like that- in fact, he was a rock of calm and steadiness. So yeah, good story and I was totally into the suspense, but Jensen’s hang-ups not so much. Oh and whew! Based on what was dredged up from the evidence in the car, this story is going somewhere pretty interesting with the next installment.
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Well darn on them not totally capturing you. I read the first novella then jumped to book one so didn’t read this one. I did like the bits of Jensen in the other books though. Shame she wasn’t quite all that in her own.
Oddly, I really liked her in the first novella and the full novels that came later. I think the big reason I couldn’t get on board with her here was that I just couldn’t buy into her commitment issues. It felt so contrived and unnecessary (my parents fought a lot so I don’t want to get emotionally involved with a man? Yeah, no) making her into this wishy-washy gal toying with the poor man who put himself out there.
Yup yup yup. Been there before. There have been a couple who you get to the end and find out the reason behind their behavior like that and I’ve just been left sitting there going dude, really? Really? There was one I think it was a historical and the heroine was just a nightmare all because her mom was disappointed she didn’t want to play violin as a little girl. I mean. That was it. And it “ruined” her life. Gah which book was that now…
LOL! Yes, I actually have several that I’ll call my Contrived Commitophobe Issues list. I love reading reunion romances, but I know that I take a gamble that the reason they parted in the first place was a legit one in my mind. Sometimes, its not the reason so much as the amount of time they stewed about it and still claimed to love the person. I’ve read where two people who supposedly love each other have let a decade pass w/o resolution and only are able to resolve things b/c they ‘happen’ to bump into each other. It’s hard… Read more »