BOOK REVIEW TOUR: Bold

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Author:  Jennifer Michael

Publication Date: January 17, 2018

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Are you living your life to the fullest?

Do you have regrets?

Noah Mackenzie knows what abandonment feels like, but she’s the girl who dreams big.

Nothing will stand in her way.

Her new world is exciting, and exploring it is the adventure she’s always wished for.

How far would you go for the people you love?

Do you protect the important things in your life with all you’ve got?

Brazen Hale is all heart.
Hard work has gotten him to where he is today, and loyalty runs deep within him.

He’s the perfect catch, but of course, there’s an obstacle for these two . . .

The timing for Noah and Brazen is all wrong.

She’s a temptation that he must find a way to resist.

Will circumstance stand in the way of love, or will these two boldly find their way into one another’s hearts?

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK  |  Amazon CA  |  Goodreads  |

EXCERPT

 

“I don’t want to seem crazy. You don’t owe me anything, Brazen. We’re just getting to know each other. I can’t demand answers or explanations.” My insecurities are higher than normal when I admit this truth.

“Let’s get something straight, Noah. This thing between us is new, and, yeah, we’re still getting to know each other, but it’s anything but casual. I always want you to feel one hundred percent secure in what’s going on between us and comfortable to ask me anything.”

“Do you mean that? All of it?” My pulse beats at double the speed as his tender words wrap around my heart.

“I mean it. All of it. Every word.”

Every part of me knows he’s being honest, and I relax a bit. Brazen always knows exactly how to ease my doubts and settle my uncertainties.

AUTHOR

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As a child, Jennifer Michael dreamed of being an author. Life and adulting pushed that dream down to a mere fantasy. Then, as a reader, she found the indie romance world, and the dream that had been long ago deemed unattainable became a reality.

Writing fulfills pieces of Jennifer she lost. She writes stories that range from sweet and sultry to dark and daring. Behind her computer, she’s constantly dreaming up where she’ll go next, not wanting to be put in a specific romance genre box. Pushing limits and striving to conquer wherever the characters take her is the ultimate methods to her madness.

Jennifer resides in southwest Florida where she wishes she spent much more time at the beach. She’s an avid reader of gritty books with deep emotion or dark, twisty plots and fond of more than a few guilty-pleasure television shows. She gets sucked into the world of characters from all mediums.

MY REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Noah MacKenzie is an 18-year-old trying to find friendship, love and herself for the first time in her life.  As a child of only six, she was abandoned by her mother to an orphanage without notice or care.  Although her physical needs like food, education, housing and clothing were provided, it lacked the emotional needs.  The care was clinical and no real bonds were made.  At school, she felt like an outsider looking in as classmates could not understand why she had no parents while they themselves had loving doting parents.

Now, on her eighteenth birthday, she is trying to fulfill all the things she never had or the things she never experienced.  To keep everything in order, she creates an Orbit List.  This list comprises of everything she would like to do in one year (just like the sun orbits around the earth in on year). 

The first on her list is completed when she moves from her orphanage in Seattle to her new home in Florida.  She moves away to get away from the memories of her mother and to experience life at its fullest.  Here, she meets Madison and Benson who are to be her roommates and who will eventually become wonderful friends.  Madison is open and friendly, whereas Benson is eccentric and loveable.  Although she hits is off with Madison right away, Benson is a little harder to win over.  With Noah’s kindness and understanding, Benson finally relents and they become friends as well. 

Her next task to dive into is to find a job.  She is nervous about this task because although she has a high school diploma, she has absolutely no experience in anything.  While looking through employment ads outside on the porch, she notices a man across the street.  No, that is not exactly correct, she gawks, she stares, she is entranced by the man across the street.  She cannot take her eyes from him.  He notices and comes over.  Immediately there is a pull, an attraction between the two.  He introduces himself as Brazen Hale and he owns his own business flipping houses.  He says he is also looking for an assistant and hires her on the spot!  Noah, relieved that she does not have to go through interviews, time and effort readily agrees.

On her first day on the job, she meets Brazen’s best friend and co-owner Sunday.  Although they get off on the wrong foot, they become fast friends.  Sunday tells Noah that she wants the best for Brazen and she believes Noah can be that for him.  She knows Noah can lighten up Brazen;s burden as he has been watching, protecting and putting his life on hold for so long.  Eventually, Noah learns that Sunday is being abused by her ex-husband.

After this talk, it does not take long for the passion and spark to ignite between Brazen and Noah.  Once it has, it’s beautiful.  What happens when a life so beautiful suddenly isn’t and darkness prevails?  Will Brazen be able to see past the darkness or will he push Noah away so far that she will not come back?

This is an emotional read.  It’s about a girl who wants to enjoy and live life.  Noah’s character is wonderfully written.  She is understanding and caring, bold and bright and a wonderful person.  She brings  a lightness to those in her circle that is needed.  She’s not judgemental as shown by her acceptance of Benson who has OCD and is very unconventional.  She is also so strong to be able to accept what life has given her and move on, not to mention her strength during a time where Brazen needs her most.  She is also bold. The meaning of bold “Necessitating courage or daring” for me, definitely hits the mark in Noah’s character. 

Brazen is a wonderful hero.  He is honest and upfront.  Protective and sweet.  He is also absolutely gorgeous!  He has an immediate attraction to Noah and from there on out, he cannot get her out of his mind.  Although he would like a relationship with Noah, he doesn’t believe he has the time.  He has a duty to protect his friend from harm and he does not want to be sidetracked.  He is so protective and caring of Sunday.  I loved their friendship and their interactions.  I also loved how there was no love triangle nonsense in this book.  All three, Noah, Sunday and Brazen got along wonderfully.  As for the way he treats Noah.  He treats her like she’s everything he’s ever wanted.  How can you not love a guy like this?

Something happens in this book that I did not see coming.  I did not and could not believe it until the end of the book.  I still don’t want to believe it’s true.  I don’t know that I like how it happens or that it happened at all. ☹

Aside from that, the book flowed well and I was immersed in the world that Jennifer Michael created.  The characters were all flawed and human as were their families and were just all around wonderful, quirky loveable characters.  If there is more to read on these characters, I would gobble it up without a doubt.

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