His Ward by Lena Matthews

 Thanks to the generosity of her guardian, Misha Turkovic, Tionne Singleton has lived a life that others only dream of. Everything good in her world, he's provided. She lives in a condo he owns, drives a car he bought, and wears clothes purchased with funds he deposits monthly into her checking account. Misha's done everything in his power to insure she wants for nothing, yet the thing she longs for most is the one thing he'll never give. Himself.

From the moment she became his ward Misha made it his life mission to protect and cherish Tionne; he has no intention of stopping now just because she's no longer a teen. Taking care of her is his pleasure, loving her his secret shame. Misha knows keeping things strictly platonic is best for all concerned, but knowing the right thing to do and doing it are two different things. Especially since Tionne seems hellbent on showing him she's not a little girl anymore.

I found His Ward to gain my attention because of the characters and how they well they were developed personality wise, but I really feel cheated on story content.  So many times I was left with questions that I didn’t feel were completely answered such as Misha’s need for body guards, what danger was he protecting himself and his loved ones from.  I was still curious about his background and that of Tionne and her family.  Things like this, if they had been expanded would have made this an awesome full length novel.  Now I had to consider the fact when giving this rating, I was in love with Misha right away with his alpha, protective, loyal dominance he had over everyone and I adored his cousin Nicholi who made me smile and melt throughout the book.  I was a little perturbed at Tionne in the beginning but she grew on me by the end, once she found her voice and went after what she wanted, which was Misha. So for the character development and the plot idea I was comfortable with a four star rating but because it lacked some pretty important elements for me, I had to downgrade it to a 3 but want to stress I still did enjoy the book.   

We did learn that Misha came to Tionne’s family because her father rescued him when he was a starving orphan.  Before her parent’s death, her father had found Misha’s family in America and made sure he was settled in with them.  This is one area I wished the author would have expanded on.  When Tionne was 14 she lost both of her parents and Misha came back to take care of her.  He arranged the funeral plans and moved her to be with him in the states.  As she got older he gave her a job, doing nothing but pushing a pencil really, a monthly deposit above her salary, an apartment, car and he controlled every aspect of her life in order to keep her safe. Once again, safe from what?

In her mid-twenties now she has decided she is tired of being the debt he is paying back to her deceased father and she is ready to give her virginity away. While dating other men she never could develop the same feelings with them as she had for him.  She has loved Misha since she was a teenager but he never gave her the indication he felt the same.  With the help of Nicholi she gained the confidence to see if Misha would in fact accept her invitation to become intimate with her and possibly see if they have a future together. 

I found a lot of back and forth banter that did crack me up at times, but after a while I was really getting to the point of frustration.  I understand Misha’s reserve in not going after her but really I needed to know more about him if it was going to make sense for that long of a time.  I was frustrated with Tionne for being a “kept woman” for so long and being satisfied in that role.  For me the story didn’t really take off plot wise till about 80% of the book was over.  I would have no problem recommending this book to anyone who just wants a couple of hours escape and enjoyment but if you are looking for suspense and depth you might feel a bit let down.  I can tell you that you will have the chance to fall in love with two very sexy and endearing men for those hours and to me that was well worth the read.  

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