It feels great to have gotten back into my reading habit again. I miss reading when I don’t take time for it. But no more of that! I decided Sundays are for reading…and maybe reviews on the blog? I’m not promising every Sunday, but I’ll try to write—and post—more reviews because I want to. Sound good?
Today, I’m gonna gush about For a Reason by Jessie G. It’s part two of the Sizzling Miami-series, but this book is standalone (I haven’t read part one and had no problem following along.)
Former Marine and full time big brother, Bull Connor spends his days helping those in need of a second chance and his nights fighting the inner demons that won’t let go. During a routine tow he comes face to face with the only person who refuses to need him and the one man he wishes would.
As a throw away, Ian Jones is used to being alternately overlooked or ridiculed but hasn’t given up on the idea that with just one chance he could turn it all around. Rescued by the one person who neither overlooks nor ridicules him, he longs to be seen as more than just a man in need.
Ian isn’t pining for the family he’s never known but when they descend, unwanted and uninvited, Bull must prove that he’s the man who will protect Ian’s long neglected heart by sharing the demons that torment his wounded soul.
I love stories where the main characters connect early on and really want to make a relationship work. So many books out there are about people not looking for relationships or not having time to fall in love, and I guess those kind of stories are trying to tell us that because the MCs fall in love despite these conditions, their love must be very special and unstoppable. And as true as that might be, my favorite kind of story is the one where the guys meet, like each other and decide they want to take a chance on being together, and then they spend the rest of the book working on the relationship.
For a Reason is exactly that. It is also a story about courage, about being brave, and about making your own family when the one you were given at birth is found lacking. It’s about loyalty and friendship, and about having each other’s backs, no matter what. But most of all it’s about love. A beautiful kind of love that wild and passionate, but at the same time tender and romantic. It’s about two people that come to trust each other implicitly, who will fight tooth and nail for each other and work hard on their relationship by talking, communicating, and trusting.
Both MCs are fabulous characters. I love that even though Ian has had a really tough life, he isn’t broken. And I love that Bull is everybody’s protector and caretaker, but has no one to take care of him…until Ian. I love the way they accept each other completely and how they both pour their hearts and souls into making life better for each other.
I have a minor complaint and that’s not even about the story. Bull’s real name is Jon Connor, and every time I read his real name I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger saying John Connor with his Austrian Terminator-accent in my head and I giggled loudly to myself. But that’s just my twisted brain playing tricks on me – can’t be helped 😁
This is going on my re-read shelf, for books to read when I need a big hit of romance or for those dark gloomy days when I need something that makes me feel better, that fills my stomach with happy, fluttering this-book-is-so-darned-good-butterflies.
Highly recommended.
Nell Iris 