Carina McGinnis knows Josh Graham is trouble. Being attracted to a man who most likely has a turnstile at the entrance of his bedroom can only end in heartache, something Carina never wants to experience again. If she doesn’t want a repeat of what happened last summer, it’s best Carina keep what’s left of her heart safely out of Josh’s reach. Josh Graham doesn’t do sweet. He goes for one kind of … one kind of woman. The kind who never ask for more than he can give. Sex without strings, feelings and emotional baggage is safe. But from the moment Josh meets Carina his number one rule is quickly forgotten, forcing him to face his past and take a leap of faith for that one woman who will always want more.
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I’ll admit that this book had a big strike against it from the beginning – I am NOT a fan of manwhores, redeemable or not. But Keating definitely shows her skill because Josh is pretty darn appealing regardless of his … racy history. He’s decided that it is a good coping mechanism for his tragic past. It makes sense but in the hands of a less skilled writer he might have still been off-putting for me. Instead I understood how his awful parents and a devastating loss created the man he is today. But he also has a loving grandmother and awesome friends who provide him the support he needs, especially when he reaches the point that he starts looking at things differently.
Carina is coming out of a disastrous relationship, only to discover that her ex is also her new boss. And the man is truly horrible – threatening and obsessed. When she asks a guy she just met to pretend to be her boyfriend, it kicks off a series of events that she could never have expected. Even as she recognizes that Josh is not for her, and vice versa, the attraction between them proves hard to resist.
I would have expected the back and forth between the two to get old after a while – Carina is not a one night stand kind of girl and Josh isn’t into relationships – but it works here. Their conflicting emotions are very real and their struggle feels true. And while Carina’s ex is an awful, awful person, he wasn’t too mustache-twirly as a villain. Instead he’s a good catalyst for some of the interactions between Carina and Josh, and definitely amps up the ending.
Wanting More is an emotional roller-coaster, with wonderfully addictive characters and a storyline that will keep you reading late into the night.
(Note: This is my first time with this series and I think that Keating does a really good job of explaining how everyone relates to each other. There are some references to what happened in the first two stories that would make more sense to returning readers but they don’t really impact the enjoyment of this story … I’m just curious enough to add her other stories to my TBR pile 🙂 )
*** I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s. ***
The moment that Josh Graham came to her rescue Carina McGinnis couldn’t help but fall just a little for him, he saw the fear and indecision on her face and just stepped up and acted like they were madly in love, when in reality they didn’t know a single detail about one another. He just stood there, with his hand on the small of her back, and stared down the man who left her completely broken, and not only put him in his place, but also put her completely at ease… where in the world did this man come from? Not only did his kind gesture save her from her from dealing with worthless ex alone, but also saved her from being humiliated in front of her friends, he is seriously a knight in shining armor. And little do they both know this one little gesture is about to change the course of both of their lives…
Josh Graham has been living with an unimaginable grief for so long that it has taken over a good portion of his life, and kept him from really living. He buries himself in his schoolwork, and various women to keep the haunting memories at bay, and keeps himself distanced from anything that involves attachments, feelings, or love for fear of having it ripped away from him. But then he meets a wounded angel that needs protection and he can’t help but get attached to her, they have this connection that he has never known, and he isn’t ready to let it go, he wants to embrace it and see where it goes… even though he knows he isn’t the right man for her, or is he?
Wanting More will take you on an unforgettable literary journey, with it’s gut-wrenching story line, and exquisitely crafted characters you can’t help but get completely wrapped up in this one! The moment my eyes landed onto the page I was drawn into these characters worlds and almost instantaneously I found myself being completely woven into their troubled lives, both having endured unimaginable tragedies, and both struggling to find their way out of the darkness they were currently living in. Neither one wanted to admit that they were struggling, even though their friends could see it, it took meeting one another for them to finally admit that maybe they needed a little help, and few interactions to follow to realize that they could provide that help for one another. This was such a wonderful story, it had emotional depth that got the feelings swirling, the steamy interactions that lead to some blushing, and moments of bravery and personal growth that left me inspired… and in my book it doesn’t get much better than that! Highly recommend you make time to read this one, it’s sure to tug on the heartstrings and curl your toes!!