New York lobbyist Michael Davoli feels like he’s been sucker punched when he meets Anne Miller at a concert. When fate leads him to move into same Albany apartment building where Anne lives, Michael falls hard. After all, Anne’s hot, his dog likes her, and she’s catnip to the senses after she picks a lock faster than Sydney Bristow can disarm a nuke.
Always fiercely independent, Anne’s crackerjack reporting skills and keen intellect are no match for the chemical reaction she has to this man with electric blue eyes. But while Mike effortlessly holds her with his gaze, he withholds the embrace she longs for. Why is he so distant? Has Anne misread his signals? When he finally confesses that he suffers from a neurological disorder that he’s learned to disguise from others but could keep him from ever holding her through the night—she makes a choice that changes the rest of her life.
Anne isn’t about to let anything like Tourette’s Syndrome keep her from the man of her dreams. But Mike has a second secret. Will this secret be the one that even a grand passion cannot survive?
When Michael and Anne meet they have an instant connection. Although Anne would liked to talk more to Michael he leaves abruptly. When Anne bumps into Michael a few months later, when he’s actually moving into her apartment building, she thinks that it’s more than good news. But still Michael seems to be a little standoffish. They seem to have a spark of some sort whenever they meet so Anne’s confused and isn’t sure what to think. She finally decides to invite Michael to her place for dinner and their relationship takes off from there.
But Michael’s scared. He normally becomes friends with a woman first and gets to know her in a group setting prior to starting a one on one relationship. That’s not how it is with Anne and it’s thrown him for a loop. When Anne leaves on a trip that was planned before she met Michael things aren’t what she expected when she returns. Michael’s decided that they need to take the relationship slower and just be friends first – but that’s not gonna work for Anne who’s always been the friend. For her it’s all or nothing.
This was a sweet romance of two people that seemed destined for each other from day 1,but life seemed to be dragging them down. The pair had a rocky start to their relationship but worked it out to the point that they were both more than happy. Anne’s job and later the lack thereof, Michael’s Tourette’s, which really wasn’t an issue for Anne, and life in general tried to break them up as well. Through love, trust and faith they stayed together and their relationship thrived.
Hard to Hold is a very sweet book and one I very much enjoyed reading.
Rating: 4 out of 5
I also have one copy of Hard to Hold to give away to one lucky winner (US/Canada only, No PO Boxes). Just leave a comment on this post by 11:59pm (pacific) on October 8, 2010 and I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, October 9.
For more info on the True Vows book tour go here.
