Author: Season Vining

Guest Review: Chaos and Control by Season Vining

Posted December 12, 2017 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Guest Review: Chaos and Control by Season ViningReviewer: Tracy
Chaos and Control by Season Vining
Publisher: Entangled Embrace
Publication Date: December 11th 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance
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four-stars

When Wren Hart returns to her sleepy little Midwest town after years on the road, she finds the last thing she’d ever expect—a reason to stay. And that reason has a hard body, a knowledge of vinyl, and a crooked smile that sends her reeling.

Preston is a gorgeous, mysterious man, whose life is ruled by routine and order. Yet somehow, he finds Wren and her wild ways captivating. While their relationship grows in a delicate dance of chaos and control, the danger Wren thought she'd left behind during her travels is inching ever closer…and just may destroy them both.

Running from an abusive boyfriend, Wren heads back to her hometown in Kansas.  When she returns she fins her much older sister still running her record store, but she also finds Preston, a gorgeous man who seems to have a few control issues.

Wren has been traveling for the past 3 years and hasn’t kept in touch all that much with her sister, Bennie.  Bennie was the one who raised her when her parents didn’t want much to do with Wren, their very late addition to their family.  Bennie has always been there for Wren and she is once again when Wren needs her.

Wren can’t seem to keep away from Preston, even though she knows she might not be the best one for him.  She doesn’t plan on staying in town and Preston’s OCD forces him to be on a rigid schedule at all times.  Despite their differences Wren and Preston start to make things work.  Unfortunately, life throws Wren some serious curve balls and she finds that her life changes whether she wants it to or not.

This was a sweet story that I really enjoyed reading.

Wren was definitely a free spirit but I thought that she was perfect for Preston – even with all of his OCD issues.  I loved that Vining wrote her hero with OCD and did such a great job at portraying this disorder.  I know from experience that it can be very stressful on friends and family of those with OCD but in Wren’s case she found it endearing and actually pretty hot.  Go Wren. 🙂  Preston was a great hero and I enjoyed him so much.  I loved that he found Wren a calming effect rather than seeing her a too chaotic.

Bennie, Wren’s sister, played a large role in the story and I liked her a lot as well. I don’t even really want to call her a secondary character because she was so central to the story.  She was a great person and loved her sister to pieces.

Overall I really liked this story and liked Vining’s writing. I definitely recommend this great contemporary romance.

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars


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Guest Review: Held Against You by Season Vining

Posted January 6, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Held Against You by Season ViningReviewer: Tracy
Held Against You by Season Vining
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: January 13th 2015
Genres: New Adult
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four-stars

A gorgeous bounty hunter. A wanted woman. A passion they can't deny.

Accused of a horrific crime and on the run, Kat has been rejected by everyone she loves. She's a fugitive from her past, flitting from town to town with nothing but the clothes on her back—until she meets a man who literally stops her in her tracks.

A notorious bounty hunter with powerful instincts, he never fails to capture his prey. But there's something about Kat that gets under his skin–and it's not just the naked innocence he sees in her pretty eyes. Behind his ice cold demeanor, he has his own darkness... and now his lively, vulnerable mark is about to crack him wide open.As they travel across the country together, both captor and captive are unable to deny the spark of attraction between them. Will their journey bring them together...or will their dangerous secrets tear them apart?

Tracy’s review of Held Against You by Season Vining

Kat is on the run. She’s been running from the law for the past 4 weeks and she hates the person she’s had to become – a liar and a thief – but it beats life in prison.

She’s finally apprehended in Seattle by a bounty hunter who is determined to get her back to San Antonio. He’s attracted to her but tries to ignore it. The problem seems to be that Kat keeps getting under his skin and he can’t find a way to get her out. No matter how he tries to keep the emotional walls he’s built up and strong, Kat seems to keep tearing them down.

Between running from a guy that the bounty hunter says is a hit man and fighting their own attraction, Kat and the man that she has named Steel (as he won’t give her his true name) end up on a journey that will change both of their lives forever.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book when I read the blurb. I knew it sounded incredibly interesting and I loved the cover but beyond that I didn’t have a clue what would happen. In the end it was so much more than I anticipated.

Kat is a woman who would do just about anything for those she loves. We find that she’s accused of murdering her step-father but when we found out the reasons behind it all – and that it was an accident – I couldn’t hate the girl too much. Kat was trying to save her mother and ended up screwing up her own life. Once she’s caught, she wants away from Steel, yet…there’s something about the man that draws her and she can’t seem to make herself hate him. I loved how their relationship wasn’t smooth sailing and ebbed and flowed as I thought it should. I mean, hello, the guy is there to turn her in so she can serve time in prison. There are ISSUES!

Steel (we do eventually learn his first name) is a man who has all he’s ever wanted and is the best in his business – but he’s not happy. He wanted what his mentor had – money and notoriety – and he got it to a certain extent but he was lonely. I loved how he didn’t just open up to Kat – in fact she annoyed the crap outta him at first. He was a hard nut to crack but once he cracked he was a good guy that I thought was perfect for strong-willed Kat.

The story took us places I never thought we’d go when the story began and I was glued to the pages from the minute I started. This is SO not your typical romance! It was a love story, however, just with a rougher and grittier twist to it that I really enjoyed reading.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

This title is available from St. Martin’s Griffin. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars


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