WHEN YOU ARE MINE (THE BENNETTS, BOOK #1) BY KENNEDY RYAN: BOOK REVIEW

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3 Star rating
When You Are Mine
The Bennetts, Book  #1
By Kennedy Ryan
ISBN# 9781455556823)
Author’s Website:   http://kennedyryanwrites.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

SPOILERS!!!

Ryan_WhenYouAreMine_ebook (1)Synopsis:

Forever is a heartbeat away . . .

Kerris Moreton knows how to make things work. Bounced from foster home to foster home as a kid, she adapted; when opportunity arose, she thrived. Now, about to open her own business and accept a marriage proposal, Kerris is ready to build the life she’s always wanted. The only thing missing? A passionate connection with her would-be fiancé, Cam. Kerris wants to believe that sparks are overrated-until Walsh Bennett lights her up like the Fourth of July.

. . . but what about love?

As one of the East Coast’s most eligible bachelors, Walsh enjoys financial independence, fulfilling work with his family’s nonprofit, and plenty of female attention. But lately he’s been distracted by the one woman he can’t have. Lovely to look at and even sweeter to know, Kerris is the soul mate Walsh never thought he would find. The problem is, his best friend found her first . . .

Review:

Romantic…I was caught up in the “sparks” in the opening pages and kept on reading… and reading!  Basically, I did not want to put the book down.

The raw emotion that was brought out in the beginning while Iyani’s story was told added such depth to the character of Walsh.  We find throughout the story that he is not just a pretty, rich boy.  He is the complete package.  I know….hard to find these days…so we get it in our romance novels 🙂

I was racked with emotion as Kerris bared her soul to Walsh with the story of her childhood.  As Walsh put it so well, no child should have to endure that type of atrocity and it is NOT the child’s fault, but the person inflicting the pain.  No child asks to be treated badly.  Okay….I paraphrased his sentiments, but you get the point.  And then later on when Kerris is the only individual Walsh can confide in regarding the horrors of the kidnapping.

I do wonder though…halfway through the book, when an inebriated Walsh comes home from Cam’s bachelor party and he is musing…

”How had he gotten here?  Not just at the guesthouse, but here?  In love with his best friend’s fiancée, soon-to-be wife?” 

I ask myself how believable is it that he is truly in love with Kerris when the interactions between them have been limited to one intense, intimate moment in the hospital when they both learned of Iyani’s passing and shared a kiss and a dance and discussion at Walsh’s mother’s birthday party?

I was disappointed in Walsh for letting himself wallow for a year after Cam’s wedding.  Living with Sofie, partying hard, working hard, not staying true to his inner good self.  I understand that he is heart-broken, but if he let the wedding go through, he should have behaved better after the fact. The self-destructive behaviour will certainly not bring the woman is in love with back.

I must say that the number of plot twists were a bit too much for me.  Dying child at the beginning, kidnapping,  cancer and the inevitable loss from the disease.

But the romantic attraction between Kerris and Walsh did in the end overshadow any negatives to leave me with a desire to continue reading this series.  And isn’t that what a series (and a romance one at that) is all about….wanting more 🙂

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review as part of their ongoing blog tour*

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