HERO by SAMANTHA YOUNG

“I don’t need your help.”
‘I did not need to be saved by a man who couldn’t even save himself.’

There’s no doubt about it, we’re in love with Samantha Young’s stories and her characters. This author has never failed to deliver stories full of emotion, passion, heat and angst so it goes without saying that we couldn’t wait to jump into her new standalone, Hero, and we weren’t disappointed!

We fell hard for the stubborn, complex, sexy, broody, Led Zepplin lovin’ Mr Caine Carraway. Oh sure, Caine could be a right cock at times. He could be as warm as he could be cold, as cruel as he could be tender and he sure could send out some mixed signals but he won our hearts! Just what is it about these arseholes that have us falling for them time and time again? It’s got to be witnessing the breaking down of their defences and the opening of their hearts to that one woman who can work her way through the cracks and Samantha Young delivered a delicious story in that regard.

‘Sometimes, when Caine remembered to be a normal guy, he was more attractive than ever.’

Not only were we treated to a sexy as sin hero, but also a strong, sassy, witty heroine who tackled the tough Caine Carraway head on. Sure there were a couple of times we wanted to shake some sense into Alexa (Lexie) but on the whole we enjoyed Lexie and her spirited ways.

Lexie and Caine’s lives are woven together through family events in their pasts and it is from these events that Lexie manages to put Caine on the off during their first meeting. Caine is carrying a lot of pain and Lexie brings it all to the forefront but there’s no denying the immediate attraction between Caine and Lexie which is apparent from their first meeting, despite how badly that went.

‘He was the little boy who played victim to my father’s villain.’

There was a sizzling sexual chemistry between these two and let’s just talk about THE SEX for a minute…WOW! Pass the fan because this author sure manages to deliver some super-hot sexy scenes. Thankfully the relationship between the two was allowed to build at a slow pace which allowed us to experience the powerful shift in their feelings.

“This here…it’s the only thing I have. Don’t ruin it.”

We did have a couple of small issues that prevented this being a five star read though they didn’t impact on our overall enjoyment of the story. One lay with the constant back and forth that, although kept us turning the pages, it did somewhat drag a little through the middle but thankfully the author pulled this back before it became too bogged down.

We were taunted and deliciously teased about ‘the secret’ and couldn’t wait to find out what it was especially considering the complexity of their backgrounds. Yes, we were certainly intrigued but the revelation of the secret left us a little underwhelmed; it seemed too easy and a tad predictable.

“Why is Mr Cold Carraway back? What secrets are you hiding?”

The epilogue was perfect, and this hate/love story that pushed and pulled us from start to finish and was one we enjoyed immensely. Hero is filled with sexual tension, witty banter between a sassy heroine and a cold, detached man, there are secrets aplenty and it’s all told with this author’s wonderful flair. An easy to love definite recommend from us!