Reviewer: Tracy Risking It All by JM Stewart
Series: Morgan Family #1
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: September 16th 2014
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She’s everything he wants…
For years, Kyle Morgan has hidden his true feelings from the gorgeous girl next door that he grew up loving and protecting. But when she shows up at his apartment in the middle of the night, desperately needing comfort and support, his iron will begins to waver…
…and the only thing he can’t bear to lose.
Kyle was always the big brother Cecelia Anton never had, but suddenly her goofy best friend has become a sexy man she can’t keep her thoughts—or hands—off of. As their deep connection melts into uncontrollable desire, Ceci is willing to put it all on the line for a shot at true love. Only Kyle is keeping a terrible secret about Ceci’s past that could destroy not only their lifelong friendship but their happily-ever-after…
Tracy’s review of Risking it All (Morgan Family #1) by JM Stewart
Cecilia shows up at her best friend’s house stating she’s pregnant. As the reader I immediately assumed that the baby was Kyle’s but no, it’s another man’s baby. Cecelia needs support and Kyle wants to give it to her but he’s leery to let her lean on him too much as he has non-friendship feelings towards her and has for the past 3 years. It’s been killing him to see Ceci with another man but he’s afraid of losing her friendship if she finds out that he’s in love with her.
Ceci has her own feelings for Kyle but tries to push them down thinking that they’re feelings of comfort and love as a friend. When Kyle kisses her she loves it but again, passes it off as a fluke and nothing more.
Ceci is having issues with being pregnant. The father has taken off and while she knows that she will keep the baby, and Kyle has even said he will be the baby’s father and support her, she has a problem with the fact that she has no idea who she is. In her head her life began when she was 7 years old. She remembers nothing about her childhood before that and she feels the need to know about her past and where she came from. Did her parents not want her, was she adopted, what? Why does she keep having bloody nightmares constantly and are they dreams or memories?
Ceci had asked her grandmother, who adopted her when she was 7, about her past but whenever she spoke of it her grandma would change the subject. Now her grandmother has died and she’s no closer to the truth. Kyle is a cop so she asks him to help her dig up the past. He declines but this is because he already knows the details and has been keeping them from Ceci. He feels they’re too traumatic to share and is afraid that the truth will cause her to get stuck in those memories forever. He promised her grandmother that he’d never tell. Ceci is determined to get answers and when Kyle denies her she goes to his brother who is a PI. What the brother finds and what eventually Ceci realizes is that sometimes what’s in the past needs to remain there.
This was a very slow and at times a bit frustrating story. We were told about all of the good times that Kyle and Ceci had had over the years as best friends but when the book started it almost all entailed them being at odds with each other. We’re never shown any of that truly wonderful camaraderie that is supposedly between the two MC’s.
Kyle wants Ceci so badly and only wants to protect her. He’s torn because he gave her grandmother his word that he wouldn’t tell Ceci. Now I understand a deathbed promise but when it seems to be tearing your best friend apart wouldn’t you at least attempt to test the waters and see how she’ll handle the information? IDK, I was undecided as to whether Kyle was in the right or wrong on this one. His character was more the type to tell her and then be there for her than keep it from her but that didn’t happen. I could tell he truly loved Ceci but I was less sure about Ceci’s feelings.
Ceci was so focused on her life during the course of the book that it was hard to see the emotion she felt for Kyle. Yes, they did have sex, and it was pretty hot, but she seemed to always be pushing him away and that frustrated me. She was pretty self-centered and because of that I found myself thinking that maybe Kyle deserved someone who could focus on someone other than just herself. Yes, in her mind he’d screwed up but after everything they’d been through together I expected her to act differently.
The story was slow for me and the focal point of the book was more Ceci’s past and her trying to decide if having Kyle in her life as a romantic interest was good or bad. Her inner thoughts got tedious after a while and at those points I almost stopped reading. I guess for me I just didn’t see emotional connection between Kyle and Ceci. Because of that I found myself not truly caring whether they got together or not and that’s never a good thing in a romance.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
This title is available from InterMix. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.