Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Gun In My Hand - Lori's Review of BETTER WHEN HE'S BRAVE by Jay Crownover


Title: Better When He's Brave
Author: Jay Crownover
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: 8/11/2015
Source: ARC from the publisher through Edelweiss


Synopsis:
In New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jay Crownover’s third novel in her sexy, thrilling Welcome to the Point series, a woman’s search for repentance leads her to the one man from her past she can’t forget as they join forces to save their city—and the explosive love neither can live without.

Titus King has always seen his world in black and white. There is a firm right and wrong in his mind, which is why as a teenager he left behind the only family he’d ever known to make a better life for himself. Now a police detective in one of the worst cities in the country, he can’t deny his life has turned into a million different shades of gray.

The new criminal element in The Point has brought vengeance and destruction right to Titus’s front door, and walking the straight and narrow seems far less important now. The difference between right and wrong is nothing compared to keeping those he loves alive. To add to his already strained moral compass, the beautiful and mysterious Reeve Black has made her way back to town. This girl might be as dangerous to Titus as the guy trying to destroy the Point but he can’t walk away because he needs her—in more ways than one.

Reeve knows all about the threat trying to destroy The Point. She knows how ruthless, how vicious, and how cruel this new danger can be… and instead of running away, she wants to help. Reeve knows that she has a lot to repent for and saving the city, plus the hot cop that she hasn’t been able to forget might just be the only way she can finally find some inner peace.

With an entire city poised on the brink of war, Titus and Reeve stand in the crossfire—and it will take two brave souls to fight for the ultimate love.



And don’t miss the previous books in The Point Series!

BETTER WHEN HE’S BAD

Amazon ** Barnes and Noble ** iTunes

BETTER WHEN HE’S BOLD

Amazon ** Barnes and Noble ** iTunes




About Jay Crownover:
Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men and The Point series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.

Links:
Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter


Prove it.
Those odd, dark blue eyes flashed the challenge at me and I couldn’t resist it. Not the challenge or the girl. I didn’t like that she got under my skin. I hated that she was right at the center of this mess with Roark, and it really, really grated across my already taut nerves that even with no makeup on and looking like she hadn’t slept a wink, she was still the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen. I didn’t want to notice that. I didn’t want my dick to twitch when she touched me, but it did, which was going to make pretending to be infatuated with her easy and so much harder at the same time. She knew it too.
Prove it.
Okay. I would prove the shit out of the fact that I could do what I had to do in order to make this scheme of mine work. I could pretend to like her, which really was the only thing that would be fake. I couldn’t reconcile the way my pulse leaped every time she turned that midnight-blue gaze on me with the fact that she had orchestrated a man’s murder. She was beautiful but she was also deadly. She was just as hard as this place we came from, and I’d had enough of the city hammering against my foundation, as it was. Lusting after a woman who had it in her to be just as cold, and just as calculating, as any other criminal I locked up on a day-to-day basis was nowhere for my head to be while I was on the brink of war with her deranged ex-lover.
I was pissed off when I bent my head toward her. I was mad at myself. I was mad at her. More than all of that, though, I was furious that either one of us had to be in this situation in the first place. Every time I turned around, another bad thing or bad person was nipping at my heels. It was getting harder and harder to stay a step ahead. Eventually I was going to trip up and go down and there would no one left with any kind of conscience in this place, no one left that cared about justice and righteousness.
That anger had my hands shaking as I reached up and used my thumbs to tilt her head back so her mouth was pointed up at me. I didn’t have much time to date, didn’t have the patience for a woman who didn’t understand that I was trying to save an entire city from itself and that this took up most of my attention and energy. The ones I did date were never just the right height, just the right size, and they sure as hell never looked as perfect and as tempting as this woman did. None of them had ever fit me the way she did and that pissed me off even more.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


This review will likely contain spoilers for the previous books in the series. Be ye warned.

Once again, Jay has wowed me. I am not usually one for reading books with suspense, violence, or general badassery. I am boring and like my sweet romance with swoony boys and grand gestures. For me, this whole series is a bit like an out of body experience, and I just can't keep myself from coming back for more and more and more.

Titus King is absolutely not what you would expect from a cop, but he is exactly the guy you would want protecting your city. While his methods may not always be by the book, his heart is definitely in the right place. He would sacrifice his soul in order to save The Point and often feels like that is exactly what he is doing.

When Reeve Black left town after brokering a deal to testify against The Point's ultimate bad guy, she left behind a stack of people looking to end her permanently. No one was more surprised than she was when Reeve decided to come back to The Point to help Titus capture the suspect in the latest murders, but the hot cop definitely came in at a close second.

While trying to keep his brother from tearing Reeve apart, Titus and Reeve agree to a fake relationship, hoping to bring out Roark, Reeve's ex and the man orchestrating all of the trouble going down for Race and Bax. In the mean time, Roark is sending rather strong messages to Reeve, leaving another trail of bodies, some who bear a mighty close resemblance to the bold beauty.

Even though Titus acts like he can barely stand Reeve, it is all for show. He has been interested in her from the time he brought her in for her part in Dovie's kidnapping back in Better When He's Bad. It's tough for him to admit it, but he admires Reeve and the way she has always stepped up to take care of herself. He makes it a point to show her that she doesn't have to do it alone.

Reeve has made many questionable and some downright awful decisions, but she owns up to the consequences. She doesn't back down. I love that even when it's a horrible choice, once it's made, Reeve goes for it full force. Her and the hot cop have a lot to offer each other, but even more that they can learn from the other. At the core, they both have a deep admiration for the other that outweighs all of the obstacles that try to keep them apart.



This series is a wild ride from the start. Even if suspense isn't your usual cup of tea, I suggest that you give it a shot, but first, strap on your seat belt and hold on tight.

4 out of 5 stars



Dorothy - Gun In My Hand

1 comment: