A Risk Worth Taking

by Brynn Kelly

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Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: HQN (May 29, 2018)

He can’t outrun himself…

Legionnaire Jamie Armstrong lives in the shadows. A medic haunted by his mistakes, he knows better than to hope for redemption. But his latest mission brings a threat he doesn’t see coming—an attraction as irresistible as it is dangerous. Hacker Samira Desta is a woman he swore to forget, but as a key witness to a deadly conspiracy, Samira is his to protect.

But the woman he rescues might be the one who saves him

After a year in hiding, Samira’s worst fears come true when her cover is blown and the unlikeliest of allies comes to her aid—the secretive Scot with whom she shared one unforgettable night. Hunted by lethal forces and losing the battle against their desire, Jamie and Samira make a desperate play to take the fight to their enemy—but those at greatest risk of ruin may be themselves…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

A massive Christmas tree circled up to the dome, so laden with ornaments she could almost hear it groan.

I’m immune to you. I’ve developed antibodies against the virus that is James Armstrong.

I look forward to never seeing you again.

Jamie, if we’re going to judge on stereotypes you’d be grumpy and pasty and miserly and I’d be a kid with a bloated stomach and flies in my eyes.

That had gone so far beyond her expectations she couldn’t recall what she’d expected.

My Review:

I struggled with this book, valiantly I might add. It was laborious work, as I had no knowledge of the characters or experience with the previous installments in this series, which left me frequently at sea as I made my way through this complicated story with a full roster of complex and terse characters. Sigh, don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a badly written book, it just didn’t ring my bell. I enjoyed several of the storylines that I could follow but I couldn’t keep all the balls in the air, which left me feeling dim-witted and exhausted… I freely admit that I would make an extremely poor spy as I am far too lazy and wouldn’t be able to keep all the lies straight.

The main character of Samira had stumbled onto dangerous information through her deceased fiancé, information that had lead to his death and continued to place her life in jeopardy. She had been living in the shadows for over a year, which only heightened her already anxious nature. She was paranoid and prone to panic attacks as well as over thinking every single issue. She also repetitiously looped back to obsessive thoughts. She was not a character I could warm up to, and I really tried but I didn’t find her endearing; I found her tiresome. But of course, I would adore the flawed yet protective male lead of Jamie with his lovely Scottish burr – yummy. Too bad they spent 95% of the book fighting their attraction.

Empress DJ

About Brynn Kelly
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As a journalist, Brynn Kelly once spent her days chasing stranger-than-fiction news reports. Now she spends them writing larger-than-life novels, in a happy bubble of fiendish plots and delicious words. A New Zealander, Brynn is an RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards nominee and a former Golden Heart® nominee and has won the Valerie Parv Award, the Koru, and the Pacific Hearts Award.

Book: A Risk Worth Taking

Author: Heather Hildenbrand

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Book Synopsis:

When 22-year-old Summer Stafford’s parents split halfway through her senior year at college, Summer’s world is rocked. Everything she thought she knew—heck, everything she thought she wanted for her own life—feels like a lie. The truth is love is a risk. And the true kind, the kind that lasts, might even be a fairy tale.
Reeling from the divorce, Summer derails her own future by breaking up with her parent-approved boyfriend and giving up her lifelong plans for a big-city career. She moves back home, business degree in hand. Dad needs her to fill the gaps her mother left behind; Summer needs to find who she is outside of the cookie-cutter life that failed so miserably for her parents.
Ford O’Neal’s future involves one person: himself. He doesn’t have a permanent address and he definitely doesn’t commit. To a place or a person. Raised by hippies, he plans just far enough ahead to secure his next stop, this one landing him at a work-study program at Heritage Plantation where he can grow his own herbal and medicinal creations.
Summer is gorgeous and smart and fun to be with, the perfect way to pass five months. It won’t be love—Ford’s got too many things to accomplish, too many places to go, before he settles down. Yet Summer pulls him in, challenging him to rethink his own philosophy.
When Ford’s five months are up, each of them must decide if love is really worth the risk.

Book Review:

First we meet one of our main characters, Summer, and we learn about how her stable life is suddenly rocked by the sudden split of her parents. Summer’s big dreams of going and continuing her education is put to a stop whenever she finds out that her father needs her help back home, and this is when things begin to change. Among the faces she’s known throughout her life she notices Ford, and from this moment he turns Summer’s planned and structure world upside down. I fell in love with the main characters straight away; their opposite looks on life. Ford how he has just as big as dreams as Summer, but instead he lets life plan his path for him and this is what he teaches Summer that you can’t always be in control. When reading this book you’re getting onboard of an emotional journey, watching someone’s life slowly open up like a flower. We watch Summer change from being trapped within herself, the anger towards her mother because of the divorce and her feelings towards Ford. Reading this book I felt my heart strings being pulled for Summer because she is finally opening herself up and drops her barriers to feel love, whenever she knows soon her world is going to come crashing down in five short months. Through this book you will want cry, you’ll laugh and with some of Ford’s comments you might even squirm! Reading this book I think really give you two different outlooks on life how we can plan things right down but sometimes we should let go and take the risks just as Summer did despite the outcome. But was the risk really worth taking for Summer?

Favourite Quotes:

It just means we'll have to change our mode of transportation, because you are most definitely not taking that dress off. Well, not yet”

"You should never settle. Life's too short. Do things that make you happy."

"You're not living unless you're risking."

"I thought you said love is a risk,"

All in All: I honestly loved this book, and I feel it did a perfect job at taking my heart on one bump journey. I wouldn’t give this a book pick it up as soon you as you can! I wish this wasn’t a one standing book because I fell in love with it, the character and their lives and I suppose that’s a good thing *sighhh*!

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