He is Ryan Madewell, a heart stoppingly handsome Harvard grad from one of Manhattan’s wealthiest families, who’s on his way to heading up his father’s media empire.
She is Allee Adair, a beautiful but sassy art school grad from the wrong side of the tracks, who dreams of living in Paris.
Despite their many differences, Ryan and Allee are instantly smitten with each other over a Picasso nude. … a Picasso nude. They share a steamy, passionate love that dares to challenge everything –including Ryan’s ruthless father, his revengeful ex-girlfriend, and Allee’s dark secrets. Only, it may end too soon.
Here is an erotic love story that will make you laugh and cry. It will stay in your heart forever. Love means never having to say goodbye.
This 50,000-word novel is intended for mature readers only. While it will have a sequel, it is a self-contained book.
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I really enjoyed this book. We all know that by the title that the ending is not a happy one, but I still liked the story. I loved the fact it was written from the male side of things. This is the 4th book I have read by Nelle and I was not disappointed.
I was reading the last half of this at work on my night shift and I finally finished it at 5 in the morning with tears running down my face, this book surely get your emotions going. Nelle is an amazing writer, the characters each hold their own. There is a lot of steamy sex in this book and it was good to hear it from the male side of things. The whole flow of the book was fabulous and heartbreaking all at once.
Reviewer 4 Cherry0blossoms Promotions
Did I cry at the end, Yes. But it’s more about the thought of what was happening more then having a connection with the characters. I hated her through most the book. He deserved so much more. And yet he just let her treat him like shit. Didn’t like it, won’t read the next.
What’s the first thing you do when you notice the milk smells funny? You shove it under someone else’s nose and ask them if they think it stinks, too, right? It’s human nature. We all do it. So, when one of my Facebook friends said she wanted my opinion on this book because she’d been in the unpopular opinion crew when she didn’t like it, I dove right in. She asked me to smell the milk, and boy did I ever get a nose full of thick, chunky, WAY past its date milk. Blech.
Let me just list out all the crap that didn’t work for me here…
POV:
The entire story is told from Ryan’s (the hero’s) point of view. This would be fine if the hero was super interesting. I mean, Emma Chase and Lauren Blakely have written some AWESOME books from the male POV. But sadly, I’ve had dishwater in my sink that was more interesting than Ryan. He’s a typical rich white dude. He’s not a jerk, but he’s been pampered his whole life, and he comes complete with rich-drunk-mommy and horrible-cheating-daddy-who-never-really-loved me daddy issues. Ryan’s entire backstory is like a checklist for every rich white dude you’ve ever read about or seen on TV. Boooooorrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnggggg…
Allee:
Allee, the heroine, is (I think) supposed to be “refreshingly blunt” and spunky. What she is, in actuality, is a bossy biotch. She first meets the hero when he approaches her as a museum visitor. She’s a tour guide. So, she’s at work, and when he asks her a polite, professional question, she insults his job, his employer, and makes fun of him for obviously having money. Then she spends the rest of the book smirking, bossing him around, jerking him around, and keeping secrets from him. What a gal.
Cartoonish secondary characters:
From Ryan’s parents, to Ryan’s ex, Charlotte, to the best-friend-who-thinks-with-his-dick sidekick, Duffy, the secondary characters in this book are so one-dimensional and cliche that they’re cartoonish. Not that Ryan and Allee are much better, but still, good secondary characters can elevate a good book to a great book. The secondary characters here took this book from crappy to crappier (in my opinion).
The ending:
I won’t give away the ending. I will tell you that this is NOT a romance. Romances can be counted on for HEA endings. This ending is NOT that. It’s not even a HFN. (It’s not a cliffhanger, either, if that’s what you’re thinking) I wasn’t particularly invested in the story by the end because I hated both lead characters, but if I’d been enjoying the story up until that point, I would have been PISSED at that ending. Don’t call your book a romance if you can’t promise a HEA or a HFN ending. You’re lying to yourself (and your readers) if you think your book is a romance and there’s no happy ending. To the author I would suggest re-classifying the book as Women’s Fiction.
Odds and ends:
1. The hero’s last name is Madewell. If you’re going to be that obvious with the name, why not just name him Studly McGiantCock and be done with it?
2. Ryan is a wimp. Not a beta hero, mind you, because I don’t mind beta heroes vs. alphas at all. Ryan is the kind wimp who lets a woman he wants to break up with insult the woman he actually wants to be with, then lets her lead him away by the ear. Then, as if that wasn’t emasculating enough, he stands idly by and watches while she cuts up his clothes and throws things at his head. Sensitive heroes are fine, but I have no tolerance for wimps. He doesn’t even take charge in the bedroom. Allee calls all the shots there.
3. Ryan and Allee meet once, see each other the next day, and she offers to go with him to his apartment to give him a massage. I’m side-eyeing Allee pretty hard at this point. Does she have no concern for her personal safety? What if Ryan was a sicko serial killer who wanted to lock her in his basement pit? A single gal’s gotta think about those kinds of things these days.
4. On date one, in plain view (with an old lady watching), Allee gives Ryan a blowjob under the table in a restaurant. But afterwards, Ryan thinks it’d be “rushing things” to invite her home with him. Really? So, public blowjobs are appropriate date 1 behavior, but having her sleep over would just be taking it too far? If this is how the young people are operating these days, I’m glad I’m an old married lady.
5. I won’t give too much of the plot away, but Allee is keeping several secrets from Ryan. One such secret SHOULD have made her insist on practicing safe sex. She was perfectly willing to go without a condom because he “couldn’t get her pregnant.” Well, what about STDs, sister? Those are still an issue for both of you.
6. Weird language. Ryan’s mother drools a line of dialogue at one point in the story. Ryan “pummels” into Allee during a sex scene. And after the pummeling, Allee berates Ryan because she’d told him to f*uck her, not make love to her. Yeah, because pummeling is just so, so romantic.
7. The plot “twists” are visible from space, just like the Great Wall of China.
8. At one point, Allee gets a dream opportunity to study in Paris. Ryan’s first words to her? “What about me?” Way to be supportive, dude. Then, so that she doesn’t get away and achieve her dreams, he slaps the matrimonial leg shackles on her. That’d be a great story to tell the grandkids. “Well, you see kids, daddy was afraid mommy would get away and leave daddy by himself, so daddy proposed.” Yuck.
Overall, this one missed the mark on so many levels that I struggled to even give it one star. But because offering a 0 star or 0.5-star rating isn’t an option on Goodreads, I gave it a full 1. What can I say? I’m lazy like that.
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Make sure to have a box of tissue ready! Ryan and Allee were one of the greatest couples! They met, they fell in love. She was keeping a secret from him. When he found out about it he was devastated. He had a psycho ex-girlfriend that took great pleasure in giving him the news of her deception. Ryan and Allee get through this drama to eventually get married. But that is not where their story ends. They are living their lives together, happy and loving one another. Until bad things happen to good people.
This book made me cry… and I mean CRY with having to wipe my eyes and blow my nose and everything. I am now looking forward to reading the follow up to this book so that I can continue on with finding the happy ending!
Great book
This book will make you laugh and cry, not a book I would normally read but had a hard time putting down!
super love it, I wept a river while reading this,
Beautiful. Fast read. Couldn’t put it down. Read it in 1 day. Bring a tissue. It’s a tear jerker!!!
I couldn’t connect with the characters – the writing was choppy and just difficult to get into the story.
Beautiful!!!
This book made me ugly cry for an hour. Not used to feeling this way at the end of a romance novel. Worth the read but be warned…broke my heart.
Not what I expected. Great characters!
Can’t wait to read the next book in the series
Warning: Cliffhanger ending.
A media mogul’s son and the artsy girl from the wrong side of the tracks prove that love and chemistry can be explosive even when you have nothing in common. New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nelle L’Amour brings us a memorable love story with Undying Love.
Ryan Madewell is a Harvard graduate and comes from one of Manhattan’s wealthiest families. He is set to follow in his father’s footsteps as the head of a media enterprise. While at the Met he connects with the beautiful Allee Adair over a painting. She’s an art grad and couldn’t be more opposite him, but their connection is strong. They begin a whirlwind relationship, but Allee has secrets that could tear them apart.
“You’re the air I need to breathe.”
This story is from Ryan’s POV and that leaves me wanting a little. I enjoyed getting to know him and learning about his life. I’m not sure if I would have like Ryan as much if I had another perspective to view him from. But I like Ryan very much, the thing that I was left wanting was a better connection and understanding of Allee. She was mysterious and intriguing to me, more so because of the limited view we get from Ryan’s eyes.
“It’s not what you look at that matters; it’s what you see.”
This was a beautifully told love story. Bring the tissues because you are going to need them, and I don’t say that lightly. I rarely cry while reading, sure I feel the heartbreak and the sadness, but actual tears doesn’t happen often. So, come prepared is all I can say.
“You, Ryan Madewell, are my Superman.”
The end is heartbreaking, and I am eager to get my hands on book two to see what comes next. This was an enjoyable and much like Ryan and Allee’s love fast paced read. This one is for the hopeless romantics, much like myself, the ones that believe love transcends all. FOUR stars.
Great book. Very moving.