Alexa Holland’s father was her hero—until her shocking discovery that she and her mother 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…
Our Review:
**ARC Received for honest review**
Reviewed by Donna ~ 4 Stars
“…sometimes you’ve got to let yourself be vulnerable even when it’s the scariest thing in the world…”
I forgot just how much I enjoy Samantha Young’s writing, it seems ages since I have dived into one of her books and being that this was a standalone I couldn’t help myself. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Once I began Alexa and Caine’s story, I couldn’t stop, I read it in one sitting and at the end I wanted more, even though their story was complete and came full circle, I felt bereft, I wasn’t willing to let them go just yet.
Alexa Holland was a PA to a top photographer and was excellent at her job. Her personal life though was not so great and she had let things get on top of her and after making a few mistakes her boss sends her on a well deserved holiday. Her first day back at work though undoes all the benefits of her holiday as she comes face to face with someone from her past. His name brings up bad memories for her but finally seeing him in the flesh brings all new thoughts to her mind. He was easy to deal with when he was just a name, but coming face to face brings all those emotions to a head and their meeting is less than civil. This leads to a chain of events resulting in Alexa getting fired, not the best meeting in the world.
“…only having just discovered he was the little boy who played victim to my father’s villain.”
Caine Carraway had not had the best start in life either, but he had made the most of the shitty hand he had been dealt. Despite all the obstacles and circumstances that life had thrown at him he started with nothing and ended up with everything. A self made billionaire he lived for work and a string of meaningless relationships that just served a purpose until they were no longer required. Closed off from love and feeling he lived and breathed his job and not even a woman could detract him from his end goals.
“You seem dangerous because you are dangerous. You walk among them like a surly tiger, and they’re all just prey caught in your paws. They’re so busy looking up at you, oohing and aahing over how beautiful you are, they have no idea that you’re mere seconds from eating them. That you’re just going to chew them up and spit them out.”
Alexa tries to make amends with Caine but with an ulterior motive, she wants him to get her job back. Things don’t go according to plan and Caine showing a little bit of heart ends up offering her a job as his own PA. Alexa knows that this is going to be hard as he sees her as the enemy so is he doing this just to get kicks out of making her life a misery? Alexa, needing the money has no choice, looks like Caine Carraway has a new PA.
I absolutely adored Caine, even though he was cocky, arrogant and oozed confidence if you looked beneath that façade you could see the glimmers of the man underneath and I loved what I saw. Even though he treated Lexie like crap at times you could sense that underlying sexual tension that I believed was the reason behind his actions. He knew that he shouldn’t have these feelings for her so he did everything in his power to keep her at arms length.
“A man like me isn’t capable of being your fucking white knight.”
I also adored Lexie, her no-nonsense attitude was just what Caine needed. She took no shit and gave Caine sass and snarky come backs, she gave as good as she got. While this may have annoyed most Caine actually relished their altercations, no woman had ever challenged him and while he should have been peeved, it had the opposite effect…it turned him on.
Underlying sexual chemistry that radiated off the pages, a forbidden romance and office romance at that gave this book all the ingredients to be a fab read and I was not disappointed. With a great plot to keep you guessing and two characters that made you want to bash their heads together at times, this book certainly gets you going and keeps you fully invested in the push and pull of their mating ritual. With outside influences intent on destroying the both of them, these two have a battle but I really did feel their connection and while they didn’t have the best start you just knew that these two were so well suited and I was championing them the whole way through.
“…what secrets are you hiding?”
With some fantastic side characters this book had a bit of everything and I loved Effie especially. Her no-nonsense attitude and constant meddling had me in hysterics and I loved the way she brought out Caine’s softer side. His relationship with his old-aged neighbour had me swooning.
As you can tell, I loved this book and my sole reason for only a 4 star were a couple of things that happened or were revealed in the last 20%, one didn’t sit right with the character for me and the other was a tad convenient and I just wished that it was something more. Even though it wasn’t what I had wanted or hoped it didn’t detract from what was a fun and romantic read. I will admit to shedding a few tears at times which totally caught me unawares but goes to show just how emotionally invested I was in this couple. When they hurt I hurt.
“I’m not looking for a hero.”
Once again another winner for Samantha Young and I cannot wait to read what comes next.
Buy Links:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1x9cLGS
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/196qNny
Hero by Samantha Young is published by Piatkus in paperback and eBook. You can find of all Samantha Young’s titles in the Kobo website here:
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