USA Today BestsellerBrady… myself that I can’t fall for someone when we don’t have a future. But telling myself this lie and believing it are two different things.
Katherine…
When Brady shows up on a Harley, looking like an avenging angel—six feet, three inches of chiseled muscle, eyes the color of wild sage, and sun-kissed skin emblazoned with tattoos—I’m not sure if I should fall at his feet or run like hell. Because if I tell him what happened the night his family died, he might hate me.
What I don’t count on are the nights we spend together trying to forget the heartache that brought us here. I promise him it won’t mean anything, that I won’t fall in love.
I shouldn’t make promises I can’t keep.
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Shameless by Lex Martin is an emotional, contemporary romance told in dual POV. Although it is a spin-off from Finding Dandelion the second book in Martin’s Dearest Series, it’s not necessary to have read the previous books because this is a standalone. As a fan of the Dearest Series, I’m pleased to say that Shameless did not disappoint.
I really liked Brady in Finding Dandelion, so I enjoyed getting a much deeper understanding of his character in Shameless. He’s such a great guy who puts the needs of his family above his own, almost to his detriment. Katherine is a new character, but also very loveable. She’s a smart, sassy, hard-working, Latina with a heart of gold.
After an unexpected tragedy, Brady arrives in Texas to take care of his brother Cal’s estate and is instantly thrust into the role of being a father and farmer. This is another stressor on top of everything he’s already been dealing with having recently quit the job he loved as a tattoo artist in order to try to keep his parents’ Boston landscaping business afloat.
Katherine had been living on the farm, helping her friends, Mel and Cal, with babysitting, farm work, and their lavender business while sorting out some personal issues and life decisions. When an accident takes their lives, she stays to help Brady with his niece, Isabella, and the farm.
Brady and Kat form a fast friendship as they both grieve and work together to take care of Izzy and the farm. Their attraction grows and feelings develop leaving Brady confused about what to do. He wants to do right by everyone – his parents, Cal and Mel, Izzy, and Kat – but he’s not sure if that’s even possible. Should he sell the farm and take Izzy with him to Boston? Or should he stay in Texas and make a real go of it at the farm and with Kat?
I absolutely loved this story! Despite the heavy subject matter of dealing with the grief of loss, it did not have a dark or depressing feel. There was so much humor and wit that made the overall tone much lighter than one would expect. Full of so much sweetness and emotion mixed with steamy moments, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and highly recommend it.
So freaking good! This was my first book by this author (in anticipation for the ARC I received of Reckless), and it definitely won’t be my last. I’m giving this 5 out of 5 stars.
I listened to the audiobook, and really liked the narrators overall. Especially the female narrator’s interpretation of Brady’s voice. That Boston accent she did for him was wicked awesome! I absolutely adored both Katherine and Brady, along with a lot of the other minor characters. And Izzy was super cute!
So this book is kind of emotionally heavy, which you can probably tell from the summary. I didn’t cry while reading, but my heart kind of broke at spots. Brady and his family, and even Katherine, are going through a tough time after losing loved ones, along with some other setbacks life throws their way. And if anyone’s life is completely turned upside down, it’s Brady. I feel bad for the poor guy, and everything that’s dumped on his plate. But everything works out in the end; I’m so glad he gets a happy ending!
I loved how the connection between these two characters unfolded, how Brady was with his niece, and the raw emotions we got a glimpse of here and there. And the epilogue was so good. I can’t wait to see a little more from these characters in Reckless…which I need to devour ASAP! I highly recommend checking out this book if you’re a romance lover. I can’t wait to go back and read the other books this author has written when I have a little free time.
This was a fabulous book that had me hooked from the very start. This is a story of two people being thrust together under the worst of circumstances and finding solace in each other’s company. Both are in a point in their lives where they feel stuck, at a crossroads of sorts, and not knowing which direction to take their lives, and whether or not that includes each other… which is most realistically not.
Brady and Kat are so different from each other yet fit so perfectly together. The connection between the two characters is electric and and tantalizing. I couldn’t put this book down! I highly recommend you read this story for yourselves and see what happens as this non-relationship grows and deepens into something else while both their unspoken pasts hang over their heads…
How did I miss this book? I am so angry with myself for not reading it sooner! What an amazing read!
What can I say that will do this book justice? I laughed at the great banter and smart remarks! I cried right along with the characters! I swooned and fell in love with Brady right along with Katherine! What a powerful and beautiful love story!
Katherine is an amazing heroine. She is beautiful, strong, extremely hardworking, very smart, she graduated with honors from high school and college. She is loving and kind, but boy does she have a temper and isn’t afraid to show it! She also grew up very poor. She and her sister Victoria are daughters of migrant workers, so they had a hard life growing up. That certainly didn’t keep Katherine down then or now. She is now taking care of her two best friends’ daughter after they were killed in a flash flood during a rain storm. She feels responsible for their deaths. She is waiting for Cal’s brother from Boston to come down to bury his brother and his wife along with all the legal mess that must be dealt with. How is Katherine going to part with Isabelle? She loves that little girl. She also loves the lavender farm that she has called home for the last 6 months, she doesn’t want to go home to Corpus or back to Austin. She was trying to get a handle on her life before the accident, now she is in limbo.
Brady is now in the Texas Hill Country that is so different from Boston. He is here to bury his brother and to go over legal matters. He had to leave his job as a tattoo artist. He was going to quit anyway for a while because he was taking over his fathers landscaping business after he suffered a heart attack. The business is in trouble and his parents may lose everything. He couldn’t keep up that pace of working two jobs. Brady is exhausted. He is also feeling guilty because he was so angry at his brother for not coming back home to help with the family business. He was too busy playing house in Texas. He feels guilty because the night his brother died, he didn’t answer his phone call and he didn’t call him back. Then his phone rang in the middle of the night and his mother gave him the news that his brother and his new wife were dead. He had no idea what he was walking into.
Brady is amazed not only with Katherines beauty but what a hard worker she is. She takes care of the chores on the farm, takes care of the house and baby. She goes nonstop. Katherine thought Brady was a biker that was lost when he first pulled up to the farm. She was not too nice to him and gave him a bit of an attitude, which Brady found very attractive. They both knew they could not give in to the attraction and electric current that surrounded them. There was just too much at stake. Brady was going to get things settled and then return to Boston. They couldn’t get involved, or could they?
This book took an emotional toll on me. I cried and felt every emotion they felt. I laughed at their banter and the crazy animals on the farm. And oh, the love scenes! HOT!!! I was frustrated with how they wouldn’t acknowledge their feelings, but I totally understood why they didn’t. I don’t want to give away too much of the story, it is just too good to share! I am jealous that I can’t read it again for the first time and experience all the feels, and what great feels they are. This was told in dual POV, so I was actively involved. I flew through this book. It is one of those that you just don’t want to put down.
If you want an amazing love story with great feels, give this book a try. I promise you won’t regret it!
Sweet book. Good story.
I loved it. I could not put it down. Can’t wait for book two!
A very sweet and sexy love story!