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Sunday, June 14, 2015

4 1/2 Star Review: Wrong Then Right (Love Happens #2) by Jodi Watters

Hope Coleson is having a doozy of a day. 

Wrongly terminated from her menial waitressing job? Check. 

Abruptly evicted from her run down apartment with prime views of the graffiti painted dumpster? Double check. 

Thoroughly bedded by a smoking hot man with smooth moves and zero communication skills? Triple X check. 

And it doesn't end there. Estranged family members are showing up like bad pennies, her precious savings account has been wiped clean, and she may or may not have a stalker.

So what's a desperate girl to do, but try her hand at love?

Retired Navy SEAL Beckett Smith doesn't make mistakes. 

Yes, he drinks his way to the bottom of a beer bottle or six, on one too many occasions.

Sure, he's a well educated man who prefers to communicate at a level only slighter higher than your average poodle. And yeah, he lost his legendary control and slept with his boss's sister, stripping her of more than just her clothes before making a quick getaway. 

Only it doesn't end there. Isolation isn't providing the peace he's seeking, the boss he considers a friend is ready to hand him a beat down and a pink slip, and the girl he can't stop thinking about is suddenly parked on his doorstep. 

So what's a jaded guy to do, but take a chance on love?





My Review

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 


I never thought I had a type when it comes to book boyfriends, but lately it's been all about the ex-military, brooding, hot guy with a heart of gold. Beckett Smith, please take your place on my book boyfriend list. 


Hope is part of the catering staff working at Ali & Sam's wedding. (Remember them?) She sees Beck and is immediately attracted to him and the feeling is mutual. The two of them end up sleeping together and it doesn't end well. The two of them have no idea who the other is. Beck works with her brother Asher. Hope and Asher aren't very close thanks to a complicated family tree, but if he was to find out about them, it wouldn't be good.   


As the above blurb mentions, Hope is having a bad day. She loses her job, has no place to live and is left alone pretty much immediately after she has sex with Beck. She's also been getting threatening text messages from an unknown stalker. So yeah, things are not going well for Hope Coleson. 


One morning while she sleeping in her car, under her favorite tree in her favorite neighborhood, she is woken up by the man himself. Turns out he lives in the house she has been sleeping in front of...talk about coincidence. Beck offers up his empty guest room for Hope while she is getting back on her feet and she accepts. 


Hope is a very independent woman. She had a horrible childhood and refuses to accept any help from her father. She is determined to make it on her own, but knows that unless a miracle happens, she will continue sleeping in her car. 


Beck is struggling. He is badass, ex-military man who is suffering from a terrible case of survivor's guilt. There is a thin line between drinking and being an alcoholic and for Beck, that line is the unopened bottle of Crown Royale he keeps in his kitchen. 

It's no secret that Beck and Hope are attracted to each other. He tries his hardest to keep things platonic, but that doesn't last very long. These two have amazing chemistry and Beck becomes a different person when he is with her. He is sweet and caring and wants to take care of her when she comes home from a long day at work:
A paper plate sat on the counter next to him, saltine crackers with neatly spread peanut butter covering each square. It was the only food in the house. Hope knew because she’d brought the groceries home herself.
He gestured toward the plate. 
“You made those? For me?” she asked, hopefully. He didn’t say one way or the other, but she knew. Beck had made her dinner. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she moaned, around a mouthful of glorious peanut butter. “I take back the vampire comment. You’re the most wonderful man ever born. I should call your mother right now and thank her profusely.”
“Christ, you really need to up your standards.” He downplayed the thoughtful gesture, as if he’d done it a hundred times, and walked to the refrigerator. By the time he grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to her, she’d inhaled the entire plate. “Better?” When she nodded, he took her hand and headed up the stairs. “There’s more.”
Her stomach dipped at the thought and she followed him, staring at the threadbare denim pockets covering his fine ass, wanting to slip into his arms and then his bed. His pants, for sure. But when he bypassed the bed and guided her into the bathroom, the sob she’d barely swallowed back upon seeing his welcoming house threatened to escape again.
His antique tub, with silver claw feet and tall, curving back to rest your head, was filled with steaming, sweetly scented water, iridescent bubbles floating along the surface, popping randomly in the lilac scented air. He didn’t say anything and Hope didn’t either, a lump of grateful emotion lodged in her throat. She stood there speechless, staring at the water as he gently undressed her, then helped her into the tub. Her tense muscles melted in relief as she sank her tired body into the stinging hot water, stopping when the bubbles brushed her chin.
Beck sat on the tiled floor across from her, leaning back against the wall. “Good?”
She nodded, tasting the bubbles on her lips, but for the life of her, she couldn’t speak. She could only stare at him as he rested his head back, propping a hand loosely on his raised knee. In nothing but a white t-shirt, worn jeans, and tight skin, he looked like walking sin itself.
Closing his eyes, he let out a deep breath. “Me, too.” 
Those were the last words spoken while she soaked and he dozed, up against a bathroom wall of all places. Crickets chirped outside the open window as the gentle splash of hot water and fizzing bubbles engulfed her. When the water grew cold and her skin was sufficiently wrinkled, she stood to reach for the plush, white towel on the vanity and he was there, drying her off and tucking her tightly to him as they crawled into his warm bed. Face to face in the shadowed light, he kissed her slowly, deeply. Again and again, before placing his warm lips against her forehead and pulling her into his strong embrace. 
“Sleep, honey. We can play later.” And if she hadn’t seen it with her own tired eyes, she never would’ve believed it. Like the snuffing of a candle, he was asleep in seconds. Burning red hot one moment, a ghost of dissipating smoke the next.
Come on!! How sweet is he??? Hope quickly becomes everything to him and pretty much the only reason that bottle of Crown Royale stays unopened. Unfortunately for both of them, he doesn't know how to handle these feelings and pushes Hope away. Luckily for Beck, his friends/colleagues are also a bunch of badass ex military dudes and they give him the kick in the ass that he needs. 

I loved that in this book we got to know Asher a little better. While he wasn't very close with Hope, but he definitely cares about her. I hope that he gets his own book because he has is own mysterious past and I need to know that story!

Amazon buy link: http://amzn.com/B00V9OH536

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