DNF 30%

Based on the reviews for this book, I realize that this will be an unpopular opinion. I was really excited for the book based on the premise, however, it quickly took a turn for the ridiculous. I won't bother retelling the plot, but I do want to point out one issue that really clinched my unfavorable opinion of this book.

***MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*****

Anna has experienced some absolutely heartbreaking trauma. 3 years after the trauma takes place, she is assigned a new bodyguard (Ashton). In a week's time, they are supposed to pose as BF/GF, so Ashton wants to initiate some hand-holding in order to give their cover story some credibility. I should note: Anna can't stand to be touched by anyone, even her parents.

On day 1, Ashton holds her hand. Anna is okay with this.
Day 2: Anna asks Ashton to sleep in her bed (she has night terrors and his presence in her room relaxes her). They wake up with Ashton spooning her.
Day 3: they have sex.

I'm no expert on physical and emotional trauma, but COME ON. She can't stand to be touched for 3+ years, but this stranger comes into her life and completely turns it around?? In 3 days, no less???

No. Just, no.

How did this book get such a high rating?
This felt as if this had been written by a very naive, self indulgent and misinformed teenage girl.
When authors set the parameters of their novel l'm usually happy to go ahead with what they are asking you to believe. This book got ridiculous however and I just couldn't accept certain reasonings and events.
We are asked to believe that Anna's father would not have contacted the press during his daughter's disappearance for nearly a year. I just cannot believe that the parents would have done that. They would have surely been desperate to get their child back and for me it just doesn't seem possible that they could have kept her kidnapping quiet. The press would have certainly dug up the dirt on Anna in a real situation as her father is a senator and running for president.
The other huge issue I have is that Anna is extremely damaged after what has happened to her and despite the fact there are references to her having had therapy, during the whole course of the book she doesn't once go to and therapy session.
The most irritating problem with this book is that I am fairly certain that the author has never owned a thesaurus. If Anna "gulped" one more time or Ashton "got excited" I was ready to throw my kindle out the window.
I am very impressed that I managed to finish the book as it is overly long.
Ultimately it felt as if this had been written by a very naive, self indulgent and misinformed teenage girl.

Of the thousands of books I have read, this is defanatly in the top 5.

Where to start? I enjoyed the overall story. I didn't enjoy the Britishisms or the lack of understanding of the American political system and the American media or that SWAT isn't the same as the FBI or CIA. Ashton should have at least been FBI for most of the story to make sense. Making Anna the daughter of a Senator

Spoiler

and then President

was unnecessary and further complicated some of the facts. And I don't care who you are, you can't travel under a different name since 9/11.

About 250 pages of this story was unnecessary.

Spoiler

Having Anna touch Ashton in the beginning was believable. Having what occurs 4 days after their meeting is not. At all. After what Anna went through there's no way in hell that would have happened that fast. Would it have happened? Yes, eventually. There's no such thing as instant trust that would have allowed that to happen. Trust for a kiss, maybe. But there needed to be more connection for that to have been realistic.

This story needs some serious editing. Get rid of the Britishisms. Americans call a lounge a living room, a vest is a tank top or muscle shirt or even a sleeveless T, a waistcoat is a vest, especially when we are talking about the bulletproof kind. While one does get treatment at a hospital you wouldn't tell a person to go get their treatment. Go see a doctor would suffice. You couldn't just pop into a university in the middle of a term, a year, yes, but not the term. And it's your major, not your course. Is this Denny's in LA a one spot restaurant? If not the chain of Denny's is crappy food you go eat when you are drunk in the middle of the night. Not sure they even have a hot dog on the menu and if they did it would be gross.

Spoiler

The Las Vegas wedding thing...not gonna happen. You have to go to the courthouse in Las Vegas to get a marriage license, you have to walk in and show birth certificates and divorce decrees, etc. I know because I got married there.

Lose anything that talks about Twilight. Immediately your story feels like fanfic when that's done. I couldn't find evidence that that was what this is, but a lot of it felt like it. There were even lines from Twilight tweaked a bit in this but still there.

Even with all of the above, I did like this story. With some tweaks to some of the plot to make it more believable it has potential to be great. I read Enjoying the Chase first and really enjoyed that story, but also had problems with the British terms. I'd be happy to edit any story to rid it of them. If a story takes place in America with American characters then all the language should be American. Otherwise it's distracting.

I greatly enjoyed this story. There were some typos, added words, and sometimes the conversation flow was off that caused a little confusion but it didn't subtract from the story.

Ashton and Anna's story had a slight Twilight feel at the end but I loved Twilight so that didn't bother me any. Ashton is the one person that makes Anna feel whole and understood. They are wonderful together and he understands her situation and her reluctance to open her heart up again. It's a great book and was free!! I would happily pay for this book and am looking forward to reading it again.

This book was very good at keeping my interest. There was only one part i didn't really care for, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the book. I really liked the main characters Ashton and Anna. Poor Anna and everything she went through, it was great seeing her improvement through the book.

It started off strong and had my attention. The next thing I know I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over. Anna began to get on my nerves but I do have to remember what it was like to be her age and doubt men. Add all the heartache and torture she went through. However it took me months to finish this book. I could only take so much of the characters and the plot began to drag on. I do not recommend this unless you really don't have any thing else to read.

3.5 stars -- this one left me torn. It's apparently possible for me to simultaneously love and hate the *same* aspect of a book. I LOVE how perfect Ashton is. But I also got tired of it after awhile. I guess that was the main thing about this book. IT was really LONG and it didn't have a whole lot happening in it that wasn't quite repetitive. While I love reading about awesome good times between a couple, I kept waiting for the bad thing to happen, and when it kept not happening I started lose steam b/c the good stuff seemed to be the same.

I LOVED when they went to LA and hung out with Nate and the boys. I actually really enjoyed the few scenes with the new friends at ASU. I could have used a bit more of this variety through the rest of the story.

Now, I know this doesn't sound like a great review, but I honestly in general enjoy this style of story. It just wasn't quite up there with her other books, and I found the little things started to niggle at me. It's not big stuff, and normally I can gloss over that stuff, but there wasn't enough to keep me engaged in the story and not pulled out. So what little stuff? Well, silly things like obviously European phrases and terms. Like calling a tank top a vest, or a vest a waistcoat. It's not a big deal, but it's the kind of thing that in the future perhaps Ms. Moseley's editor can look for to give the fact that the story is set in North America a bit more credence. And quite honestly, the believability of Anna being the president elect's daughter and keeping all that shit a secret? That was just too much to swallow. Perhaps if she was just a politician's daughter, but...yeah....no. I'm not even American and I found that just too far off in left field.

So yeah, this one just didn't work as well for me.

I love this story... if you love great writing and an epic love story of falling in love and overcoming fears/demons, this is for you. if I could find my own real life Ashton Taylor, I would be the happiest person on earth. I don't know how else to describe my love for this story.