Beautiful Chances, by Alicia Rae

After losing her parents and sister in a tragic car accident, Lily distances herself from those still around her. As she solely focuses on her work, she refuses to form any emotional attachments in fear of struggling through another unbearable loss.

…until Kyle enters her life with his possessive and overbearing personality. Instead of running, Lily finds herself drawn to him. Helping her on a path to healing, Kyle stands by her side and lends her his strength.

A bond is formed, but it is tested when the unthinkable happens.

Can taking a chance on love conquer all?

 

I had seen this book on Amazon quite a bit (did ya see that cover?  Colin Wayne…Yum-O!) and I jumped at the chance to read it for myself.  I’m a sucker for stories with troubled heroines and overbearing men, but I’ve also come to learn that there’s a fine line between alpha male and creepy stalker dude. 

Lily has left Colorado to escape tragic events.  She lost her family and is plagued by nightmares and has a fear of forming any emotional attachments.  Then, Kyle…appears.  And he changes everything for her.

Part of what I like about the alpha male character in general is his ability to make the heroine face her fears.  He’s overbearing because he has to be, and helps her through.  Kyle embodies this, and I did like this about him.  However, he really toed that line and veered into creepy stalker for me a few times.  I mean, in the beginning, Lily falls asleep on the beach and she wakes up with Kyle, whom she doesn’t know, carrying her away.  As a woman who has fallen asleep on a beach, and I can say without a doubt that one of my first thoughts upon waking in a strangers arms would not be to wax philosophical about how good he smells.  Yeah.  And, Lily is a virgin.  She’s never even had an orgasm.  Yet, she gives it up to Kyle in 5 days.  Maybe she was ready just to get it over with, but I wasn’t sold on the insta-love in this book.  It felt a bit manufactured and rushed.  I could tell that Kyle cared for Lily, but all-in-all, it all happened way too fast for me.  There was no romantic tension, and that’s a must-have in a book like this for me.

As I said, I really believed that Kyle cared for Lily and that was what kept me going.  It was pretty clear to me where the story was going to go early on, but the writing kept me engaged in the story.  Not a bad book, overall, but not one of my favorites either.  I do think that this is one of those books that some people will really love, so check it out!  You may think I’ve been on one of my crack binges again (Blog Mama, you know I don’t smoke crack!).  3 stars for me!

    

 

Click HERE to read Sara's review of My Beautiful!