The Closer You Come
(The Original Heartbreakers, #1)
By: Gena Showalter
Publisher: HQN
Published: March 31, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 
Just released from prison, Jase Hollister has a dark and twisted past. And now, he has only one goal: stay out of trouble. Strawberry Valley, Oklahoma, sounds like the perfect place for him and his two brothers-by-circumstance to settle down and live a nice, simple life. But model citizen isn’t exactly this rugged bachelor’s default setting—especially when it comes to a certain hot-blooded Southern beauty…
Brook Lynn Dillon has always been responsible. Not that it’s done her much good. The down-on-her-luck waitress is broke, single and fun-deprived. Until Jase comes along. He is dangerous, stunningly protective, breathtakingly sexy and as tempting as sin, and the passion sizzling between them is undeniable. But can it melt her resistance? After all, the right kind of trouble might be just what they both need.
The Closer You Come is a romance that revolves around an ex-con and the town sweetheart. I was really excited to read this story because I’m a fan of the authors paranormal romance series. However, I had some issues with this story. You see, Brook Lynn walks in on her sister and Jase post-coitus. What’s Brook Lynn’s first thought? It’s about how utterly sexy Jase is and how bad she wants to do him. I kid you not. It was really hard to get over the fact that these two were lusting after each other right after the fact that he slept with her sister. Not to mention that while things were happening between them, she would be thinking about how he slept with her sister and picturing the scene that she’d originally walked in on. Then she’s wonder if he was comparing her to her sister, and it was just too much.
Aside from the constant reminder of Jase’s previous conquest, the story was pretty good. The characters were great. Brook Lynn was a strong character who had pretty much took care of her older sister. She is loyal to a fault, and when she is knocked down she bounces right back. Then you had Jase who was an interesting character. He spent 9 years in prison. He was only 18 years old when he went in and he had to learn to survive while in there. He kind of has PTSD from his time in there. Let’s just say that he endured a lot of awful things while in there. These two made for great reading.
Regardless of my immediate hang-up, I did enjoy this story. It was light, sweet, and had its steamy moments. However, I think I will stick with her paranormal stuff instead.
“You have made me more frustrated than a zombie at a salad bar.”
Oh weird! I seriously doubt after walking in on my sister with some hot guy that I’d be lusting after him. At least the rest of the story was good.
Yeah. That really took away from the story for me. It would have been great if maybe she caught them just flirting? Even still, there’s a line and it was definitely crossed.
I uhhhh *blinks* That sister thing is weird.
Yes… it was. Tough to get past.
Yikes on the sister thing. That’s something I wouldn’t want to see on page. Maybe if she’d just known it had happen and not walked in on it? Idk that’s not something I would want to focus on at all. :shudders:
HaHa Yeah. It almost ruined the whole thing for me. As it was, it was really REALLY hard to look past.
I think I will enjoy this one. I haven’t tried Showalter before, do you think I should try this or do her PNRs instead?
I personally enjoy pnr over contemporary but even for her, this storyline just didn’t work for me given the whole sister thing. If it’s not something that would bother you then go for it. However, I’m pretty sure her Lords of the Underworld series is easily found in libraries.
Wow, how traumatic for him. I really want to read this one.