Date: March 2016
Format: Kindle
Pages: 306
Genre: Romance
Source: Thanks to the author.
Rating:
Lane Haviland can’t seem to catch a break. She’s dead broke, barely functioning as an adult, and completely alone in New York City. Her so-called “apartment” is a six-by-nine cell in a Brooklyn basement. And her new boss hasn’t ever met a personal or professional boundary she can’t bulldoze through.
>Still, Lane’s determined to at least attempt to claw her way back to respectability. But she can’t seem to get her mysterious handyman, Viktor, out of her apartment – or her headspace. Maybe that’s a good thing: Viktor’s easy on the eyes, and that deep-voiced Russian accent is beyond sexy. But as he and Lane grow closer, he can no longer hide his connections with a dangerous criminal underworld – where secrets can be deadly.
From the moment I started reading Clean Break, I found myself easily entering the story and wanting to stay with it. The opening interested me as I wanted to find out why the main protagonist was needing a clean break and why she seemed to be really down and out in her luck. A little naive, a sense of 'don't care' and susceptible to being scammed. What was causing it? How was she going to develop as a character - would she grow a spine? Too much of one as it turned out!
Clean Break is told in first person with a writing style that was engaging and easy to read. Sometimes when I pick up a book from an author unknown to me, I am a little unsure - will this be able to hook me, will I like it? Then answer is yes it did hook me, yes I did like it?
Early on I made a prediction that turned out to be correct. So is the story predictable? It could be said that it is. However I don't see that as a fault. As a teacher one of the skills of comprehension I taught was prediction. So ... we can expect readers to make predictions, sometimes correct and sometimes they have to be reworked!
Lane becomes involved with a family - the mother a little needy and her children a little lost and over looked. I liked this aspect of the book and followed the fortunes with interest.The mother especially highlighted the insecurity of so many women today over how they look and how easily they can become derailed by it.
A few times I felt change came for a couple of characters too quickly, but it was a small quibble.
It's a fun story, some romance, some family drama, some suspense and very likeable characters.
If you have a Kindle or use iBooks you can download the first 15 chapters for free. Abby Vegas' website has the links.
I like a predictable book once in a while. I'm sold on this because of the likable characters. Great review.
ReplyDeleteGreat review Kathryn. Clean Break sounds intriguing. I'm going to add tis to my summer reading list.
ReplyDeleteA new-to-me author, but the premise sounds like one I would enjoy. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this one right now!! A third of the way through and loving it so far! Like you siad, it was easy to get into and so entertaining from the start! Great review!
ReplyDeleteGreat review and just because YOU figure something out doesn't necessarily make it predictable it just makes you a genius problem solver :)
ReplyDeleteI don't mind predictable if it's keeping me entertained and if I guess what's going to happen as I'm reading the story. That's way different than being able to guess exactly what's going to happen from the blurb! This sounds like a page turner and a solid read. I hadn't heard of the book or the author but I'll definitely have to give this a try.
ReplyDeleteThe cover is dull...yup
ReplyDeleteHmm, I will take the basement apartment in Brooklyn and the very hot Viktor (just don't tell the Hubs!). ;)
ReplyDeleteI have this one to review and I liked the synopsis. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I hope I will too.
ReplyDelete