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JACKED UP (BOWEN BOYS SERIES)
ELLE AYCART
ISBN # 978-1-68252-081-9
March 8, 2016
Loose Id LLC
www.loose-id.com
E-Book
$6.99
283 Pages
Contemporary, Suspense
Rating: 5 Cups
Elle is a carefree, party girl, loving life young woman who spends every minute of every day keeping herself busy. She works at her family’s restaurant, helps her pregnant sister, takes various classes at a gym, teaches Zumba at a retirement community, spends nights at bars and even takes part in flash mobs. She is outspoken, independent, sassy and refuses to take orders from anyone. What no one realizes is that she keeps herself so busy so hide the fact that she is really alone and has not dealt with the grief after losing her brother and her father.
Jack is the complete opposite of Elle; he is a private security officer hired by the government to handles the jobs that no one else wants. By definition he is your typical military man: built, incredibly fit, follows all the rules and needs to be in control at all times. His path crossed with Elle’s when his best friend married Elle’s sister and he has not been able to get her out of his mind since. While he is away on a mission, Elle sends him daily emails, often with pictures, to keep him updated on their friends and family members. Despite his attraction to Elle, he knows that she is not what he needs. He cannot be with someone who is so carefree, who enjoys partying so much….someone who reminds him of his past.
When Elle tries to help out a friend at work, her life changes forever and brings Jack right back to her doorstep. What Elle thought was going to be something as simple as helping a friend out, turns into the worst thing she ever could have done. Elle becomes a key witness to a crime committed by a known drug lord; one who makes witnesses disappear before they have the chance to testify against him. The same drug lord that Jack has been hunting down for the last several years, but who has evaded every move Jack makes and remains at large. When Jack gets a tip that there may have been a break in the case, he immediately flies to Miami and is shocked when he learns that Elle is the break in the case. His protective instincts take over and he quickly takes charge of the situation, knowing that he needs to do whatever it takes to keep her safe. With Jack living with Elle, neither can deny their attraction and early on agree to a friends with benefits arrangement while Jack is providing protection detail over her. The last thing either of them expects though is to become emotionally attached to one another while fighting to stay alive.
I have not read any other books in this series and while this book can be read as a standalone, I think I would have enjoyed it even more had I known the back story of some of the other characters. Regardless, I absolutely loved this book! I loved the chemistry between Jack and Elle; loved that he pushed her just as much as she pushed him. Jack was able to recognize what Elle was doing with her life even though no one else, not even her sister, saw what she was doing. Elle got under Jack’s skin like no one else ever has; she has him telling her secrets about his childhood that he has never told anyone else. Their constant banter had me in stitches at times, while their stubbornness also had me yelling at them. The author gave all of the characters incredible depth, not ignoring even the smallest character in this story. There was one point towards the end of the book where I thought there was no way the author would solve the situation the way she did; if that had been the true ending I would have rated this book very differently. There were so many times that I could not put this book down; I needed to know what happened to Elle and Jack just as much as I needed to know what happened to the drug lord and his partner.
Heather
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance and More
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