Craves The Angst: NEW REVIEW! CRAVING (Steel Brothers #1) by Helen Hardt:

"... I enjoyed the mystery and I liked the sexy scenes but overall, I didn’t connect with the story and I found it hard to like the characters ..." - Craves the Angst

TITLE: Craving
SERIES: Steel Brothers #1
AUTHOR: Helen Hardt
AGE GROUP: Adult
GENRE: Erotic Romance
RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2016
PUBLISHER: Waterhouse Press
PAGES: Approx. 288

COPY PROVIDED BY: FREE at Amazon
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 2.5 Stars!
CLIFFHANGER: YES!

BOOK BLURB:

After being left at the altar, Jade Roberts seeks solace at her best friend’s ranch on the Colorado western slope. Her humiliation still ripe, she doesn't expect to be attracted to her friend’s reticent brother, but when the gorgeous cowboy kisses her, all bets are off.

Talon Steel is broken. Having never fully healed from a horrific childhood trauma, he simply exists, taking from women what is offered and giving nothing in return... until Jade Roberts catapults into his life. She is beautiful, sweet, and giving, and his desire for her becomes a craving he fears he'll never be able to satisfy.

Passion sizzles between the two lovers... but long-buried secrets haunt them both and may eventually tear them apart.

2.5 Stars!

The Review:

This was an okay read for me. I enjoyed the mystery and I liked the sexy scenes but overall, I didn’t connect with the story and I found it hard to like the characters sometimes.

Jade Roberts was left at the altar and moving to Steel Ranch in Colorado at the insistence of her best friend, for a little bit of peace and quiet and maybe a new start, was just what she needed. But one look at the middle brother, Talon Steel, and all good thoughts get overruled by the dirty thoughts she can’t help but think whenever he’s around.

Talon is quiet, reserved ... and tortured by a mysterious past he’s never talked about. He keeps walls in place to hold everyone at a distance, taking comfort in one night stands to satiate his needs, but one look at Jade and he finds he might want more than he thinks he deserves.

I liked the initial sexual tension between Talon and Jade. The moment they were in a room together, fireworks exploded and their chemistry was undeniable. And there is a mystery and traumatic pain surrounding Talon that drew me to him immediately, but soon, I lost interest. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of story going on. There wasn’t much in the way of character development and though the sex scenes were seriously hot, soon the dirty talk started to feel a little cheesy and over the top. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE dirty talking alpha men who can be total arseholes, but there was a disconnect with Talon I can’t quit pinpoint. All I know is I didn’t really like him and I really didn’t care for Jade either.

Talon has a lot of buried secrets and though we get snippets during this first book, I was disappointed more wasn’t revealed. In fact, so little was revealed, I wasn’t hooked enough to move on to the next book to find out what happens next. I didn’t grow to really care about what happened to him in his past or what obstacles were being set up for his future.

The writing was good and the author knows how to throw sexy, meaning for pros but other than the sexual tension between Jade and Talon, there weren’t many “get to know you” moments or anything to connect the characters together for them to feel so passionately about one another so quickly. I mean, they were down right NEEDY for one another within a few short chapters and it felt forced.

And that ending came out of nowhere ... and not in a good way. There didn’t feel like much of a lead up to it and it really didn’t make much sense. It felt thrown in just for dramatic effect and what’s worse was I didn’t realize there was a huge cliffy. But that was my own fault. I should have done more research. I just didn’t care for the way it ended. If it had made more sense, if there had been a build up to it, I could go with the flow, but much like the rest of the book, it just didn’t grip me.

Overall, I wasn’t a huge fan of this read but I liked the author's style. I’d love to try another book by her and see if maybe this one was just a one off for me.