If you have read and enjoyed A Reason To Breathe by C.P. Smith, Breathe (Colorado Mountain, #4) by Kristen Ashley, and The Look of Love (The Sullivans, #1) by Bella Andre then you will LOVE this book!!!
Basic
Summary
Lovers to friends to lovers…could it get any more
complicated?
One
thing Carissa Brandt knows: spontaneity
always gets her in trouble. Still, she’s
gone and jumped head first into an impulsive renovation project with her
fingers crossed. When her contractor
turns out to be a cheat, it seems her only lifeline is the proffered hand of
Josh Hudson—the sexy Marine who left her aching for more than their single
night together three years ago.
Josh has two hard and fast rules:
never mix with business with pleasure and don’t look twice at women his friends
have dated, much less loved. It makes
life in a small town simple—or it would, if he wasn’t harboring a secret with
the potential to destroy his good name and the reputation of a woman he can’t
get out of his head.
When Carissa finds herself in a bind,
Josh’s integrity—both personal and professional—won’t let her fail. Will working together finally extinguish the
attraction lingering between them? Or
will the smoldering embers of their passionate rendezvous ignite all over again
and set aflame the friendship they cherish the most?
First
Impressions
I am
totally pleasantly surprised by this book.
I really love the premise of the story so far, and I absolutely love
Josh Hudson! Right off the bat you can
almost feel how hot he is and my heart just goes pitter patter whenever he is
around. I like the point of view of
changing throughout the story so it gives you more of a rounded view on the
story.
The
chemistry between Carissa and Josh is very overwhelming even from the very
beginning and I like that a certain point you get to go back in time for a
little while and see when they first met each other three years prior to when
the book takes place.
I love
small town books because you don’t just get involved with the main character’s
lives but the supporting characters as well and this book definitely falls into
that category. Even though I’m only
about 25% of the way through I already want to learn more about some of the
supporting characters and their lives.
What I
Loved
Well I don’t even know where to begin because there
was so much that I loved about this story.
I guess the place to start is the best part of the book which is Josh
Hudson and the amazingness of this character.
Words cannot describe just how incredibly sexy he is and the love scenes
between him and Carissa are very detailed and very steamy and I wouldn't have
it any other way! I definitely have a weakness
for a man in uniform and who wouldn't love a hot marine who owns his own
business and works with his hands every single day? Then on top of that he tons
of beautiful tattoos and they just so happen to be my Achilles heals in real
life and in books. Josh Hudson is one awesome characters and he
has me wanting to find out more about River Bend Nebraska immediately!
I
really like Carissa’s backstory and her reasons for leaving things behind and
moving to a new town to start over. I
love that she even though she a fashionable sexy woman she likes to work with
her hands and create things of her very own.
I like when female leads aren't these helpless innocent heroines that
complain the whole time and expect men to save them. Carissa is a strong independent woman who has
her feet on the ground and has the means to save herself. I love that she took it upon herself to buy a
house, fix it up and then flip it all on her own not waiting till she is
married or has a boyfriend to depend on to help.
I
really enjoyed that there was a lot going on in this story as well, and that
there was a little bit of a mystery involved in the plot as well. It added an element of excitement to the
story and I like when stories can keep you on your toes trying to guess who done
it.
Not So
Much
I
really enjoyed this story a lot but there were times where I wished there was
more depth to the plot and the characters.
It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me why Carissa’s friend Maddie
was negative towards Josh, I get that she sees him as a little brother but the
way she acted towards him was what a teenager would do not a grown woman who is
about to marry into his family. There
was no real explanation for her being so rude all the time.
I also
wished there was more depth in meeting Carissa’s dad and brother. You learned a lot about their past and why
she kind of split from her family for a while but when they come back on the
scene her brother has no lines at all in the book and the father only has a
couple. There should’ve been more scenes
involving her family reunion so you don’t just get to know about Carissa you
delve more into her brother’s thinking as well as her father.
Also I
felt that the mystery storyline was kind of anti-climactic. More attention should have been paid to the
vandalism and when everything finally comes to a head it all just happens very
quickly and then is swept under the rug like it’s no big deal. There were no real explanations other than
maybe one or two paragraphs devoted to all this crazy stuff happening
throughout the book and then nothing.
There was no real follow up and it was never it just all summed up way
to fast. I don’t like when important
plots are wrapped up to quickly and are just let go.
This
book was…
Really great!!
I really loved the story line, it was very reminiscent of a Kristen Ashley book
and since she is one of my favorite authors that are a big compliment from
me. I liked the switching of the point
of views and I loved that there were just tons of really great characters in
the story. I really like the start of
this book series and I can’t wait to see who the next book is about. Like I said before I love small town stories
because they can lead to tons of funny moments and it gives you opportunity to
not just fall in love with the main characters but the all the people that make
up the small town as well.
I really like
Carissa and Josh starting off this series and the sexual tension between the
two was just off the charts. The sex
scenes between the two were freaking awesome and you instantly want more! I do wish there were more details in the book
as far as what Carissa’s apartment looked like, what the flip ended up looking
like and more of what Josh’s house was like.
This story could’ve been about fifty pages more to just add more depth
to the characters as well as the stories.
All in all though the book was pretty good and definitely a series I
want to get more into.
Click here to go to the Can't Shake You Goodreads page
Click here to go buy Can't Shake You on Amazon
