Samantha
Connelly has been on the run since she was seven years old. Forced into
Witness Protection after her father saw something he shouldn’t has
caused her to learn to blend in. She’s moved, changed her name, and her
appearance more times than she can count over the last nineteen years
all along wondering if it will ever end. Her handler, Kevin, along with
her parents have assured her that it won’t be forever, but as the years
tick by she’s slowly given up hope that she’ll ever be normal.
Now at 26, Sam has moved to Chicago and is working at the Rusty Nail as a bartender calling herself Mallory. Her father passed away two years before leaving her to finish what he started…put away the ‘bad guys’. Living on the run in hiding has been harder than she ever imagined, and finding love has always been out of the question. Who would want to be with someone they couldn’t be honest with? She’s resigned herself to being alone, until… Brian walks in.
Brian Sellers is everything Sam has been trying to avoid her entire life. He’s clad in leather and torn jeans, donning several tattoos… all-in-all a bad boy. When their eyes connect one evening, everything she’s ever told herself falls to the wayside as an indescribable draw pulls her to him. He’s sexy and domineering, and something about him reminds her of a boy she used to know.
The more time she spends with Brian, the more she wants him, but…Brian is not everything he seems to be. When Sam happens to see the tat on his wrist, the same tat that her father saw all those years ago, she realizes she’s flirting with the enemy. Brian has no idea that he’s hanging out with the one girl his boss wants dead.
Can Sam hide her identity from the first man she’s had real feelings for? What will Brian do when he finds out who she really is? Can love really conquer all?
Being Nobody is the first book in The Witness series.
Now at 26, Sam has moved to Chicago and is working at the Rusty Nail as a bartender calling herself Mallory. Her father passed away two years before leaving her to finish what he started…put away the ‘bad guys’. Living on the run in hiding has been harder than she ever imagined, and finding love has always been out of the question. Who would want to be with someone they couldn’t be honest with? She’s resigned herself to being alone, until… Brian walks in.
Brian Sellers is everything Sam has been trying to avoid her entire life. He’s clad in leather and torn jeans, donning several tattoos… all-in-all a bad boy. When their eyes connect one evening, everything she’s ever told herself falls to the wayside as an indescribable draw pulls her to him. He’s sexy and domineering, and something about him reminds her of a boy she used to know.
The more time she spends with Brian, the more she wants him, but…Brian is not everything he seems to be. When Sam happens to see the tat on his wrist, the same tat that her father saw all those years ago, she realizes she’s flirting with the enemy. Brian has no idea that he’s hanging out with the one girl his boss wants dead.
Can Sam hide her identity from the first man she’s had real feelings for? What will Brian do when he finds out who she really is? Can love really conquer all?
Being Nobody is the first book in The Witness series.
Being
Nobody
started off great. Ms. D’Agostino does an excellent job of setting up
Sam/Mallory’s story. I felt both sadness at the loss of her childhood and
adolescence – so many friends lost, so many opportunities missed, and so much
time gone – and awe for her strength as she continues to survive and live her
life as best as the circumstances allow. And living on the run in the Witness
Protection plan didn’t lend itself to the best of circumstances.
When we meet Sam she is living as
Mallory. She is snarky, confident, a bit of a smarta$$ – everything I like in a
heroine. Her interactions with her coworkers and the bar patrons felt real and
I was sucked right into her story. I loved the dance she and Brian played on
the first night they met – their banter was entertaining, yet she maintained
the distance her WP identity required. The pace of the book was great and the
storyline was moving fluidly … until they had sex. Mind you the sex was hot,
but it supposedly so intense that her entire existence shifted on its axis and
she found herself falling for Brian – not drawn to him, not infatuated, not
lust, but falling in love with him after knowing him for only a couple of days.
I so totally got that she was initially drawn to him because he reminded her of
the only guy she ever loved, but to be so far gone after one night of sex made
no sense. Add to that her getting mad at him for keeping secrets about his
“job” after saying she understood and her constant back and forth on that
subject made me dizzy especially as her WP status made her the Queen of Secrets
(pot meet kettle). As for the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, for
me it was when she recognized Brian’s tattoo as belonging to the gang that was
after her and her mom, yet she decided to stay with him and not only not report
it to her handler, but willingly walked away from her mother forever because
she wanted to see where things were going and if she could convince Brian to
get out – at that point I couldn’t decide if she was stupid or delusional.
Even though I loved the beginning of Being Nobody and found Ms. D’Agostino’s
writing style to be quite enjoyable, I just couldn’t get past Sam/Mallory’s seemingly
never-ending bad choices. As the story progressed I found that connection I had
with her character diminished until I was no longer invested in what happened
to her and the book went from being a great read to just okay. Ultimately I
didn’t like being in her head after the first sexual encounter because she just
kept contradicting herself. Sadly I don’t think I can deal with Sam’s back and
forth, so it is doubtful that I will read the next book in the series. As
always, I recommend you check the book out for yourself because you may not
find Sam as disconcerting as I did. Ms. D’Agostino’s talent is obvious, but
this just wasn’t the book for me.
You can follow Heather at https://www.facebook.com/H.DAgostino.Author or http://hdagostinobooks.weeby.com.
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