Rowena’s review of Unstoppable (Country Roads #3) by Shannon Richard.
“Funny, sassy, and sexy. Reading Shannon Richard is pure pleasure!” — Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author
Some things you don’t dare let go . . .
Melanie O’Bryan knows life is too short to be afraid of taking chances. And former Air Force sergeant Bennett Hart is certainly worth taking a chance on. He’s agreed to help her students with a school project, but she’s hoping the handsome handyman will offer her a whole lot more. Yet despite his heated glances and teasing touches, Mel senses there’s something holding him back . . .
Bennett Hart is grateful to be alive and back home in Mirabelle, Florida. Peaceful and uncomplicated-that’s all he’s looking for. Until a spunky, sexy-as-hell teacher turns his life upside down. After one smoldering kiss, Bennett feels like he’s falling without a parachute. But with memories of his past threatening to resurface, he’ll have to decide whether to keep playing it safe, or take the biggest risk of all.
This is the third book in the Country Roads series and by far, the one that I enjoyed the most. This book follows Melanie O’Bryan and Bennett Hart as they fumble their way toward true love. Melanie is a high school teacher and Bennett works in construction.
This book takes place a few months after Melanie was shot in a robbery gone wrong (that we saw in the second book, Undeniable). Bennett has been a really great friend to Melanie as she tries to get her life back on track and it doesn’t come as a surprise that she develops a huge crush on the guy. A crush that she’s hell bent on ignoring because Bennett doesn’t seem to be returning the crush. As far as she’s concerned, he’s completely happy with the arrangement they have in place as FRIENDS ONLY. So she lets things ride and then things start getting interesting.
Bennett is always around. He’s hanging out at her house until late at night, watching movies and having dinner with her and then he’s around at work, helping her with a huge construction project that takes a lot of time and energy. When she’s just about had enough of the sexual tension that she thinks is all one sided, Bennett steps up to the plate and things heat up.
I think what I like about this series is that it’s different from the other series out there. There isn’t a huge complicated plot going on here, it’s just two everyday people falling in love with each other. There aren’t any huge monsters to conquer or bad guys to out to get them. It’s just Melanie and Bennett fighting their inner battles standing in the way of something that could be pretty great.
Melanie was a great heroine who had a heart as big as the world and was just an all around good person. I loved the relationships she had with her best friends and the relationship she had with her family, especially her younger brother. She wasn’t overly complicated, she was a simple woman who was content with the life she led. She was real and she was honest and I really liked her. I liked that she wasn’t a pushover and when things got to confusing and when Bennett was being a complete dummy, she let him know. She wasn’t one to suffer in silence and she knew her worth and that was great to read about.
Bennett had more of the internal battle going on and while some of the times, I wanted to shake him up (especially when he pushed her away at the hospital) but when he finally gets his head out of his ass, he made for one sexy stud of a hero that I really came to love.
This was my favorite book in the series and I was so glad to have read it. If you’re looking for a sweet, small town romance than look no further than this one. It’s great, I promise.
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
This book is available from HQN. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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