Title: The Space Between Us: a Boxer Romance
Author: Alyne Hart
Publisher: 31 January 2018 by Amazon Digital Services LLC
Pages: 320 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Romance
My Rating: 4 cups
Synopsis:
Love isn’t always simple. And
it’s definitely not as predictable as aspiring ballet dancer Emma Winchester’s
life. Or at least the way her life used to be until Dean King forced his way
into her world and heart – now there’s no turning back.
Emma returned to her hometown of Evansdale after leaving for college when tragedy struck. She and her brother Forrest are now the sole owners of Winchester Estate Orchards – but the apple business has never been Emma’s passion. Dancing is. Until she bumps into Dean King, her older brother’s ex-best friend and the object of her teenage crush and her whole world changes. She knows she’ll hurt her brother if she keeps seeing Dean, but she can’t stay away. He took her virginity, and how he's taken her heart.
Tall, handsome and tattooed boxer Dean King is nothing out of a fairy tale. He’s brooding and moody, and he doesn’t believe in love. But when he runs into Emma at the diner she works at, something ignites inside of him. A fire. A desire that’s all but consuming in a way he doesn’t understand.
Dean’s life has never been simple, and it’s never been predictable. Coming from a poor family and having an alcoholic and neglectful mother left him with scars he’d just as soon forget. He left Evansdale to get away from the memories and reputation that have haunted him – until his grandmother Rose, the only person who’s ever told him they loved him is dying. Dean will do whatever it takes to take care of his Mama Rose. Even if it means selling his soul.
Fate brings them together. Burning passion binds them. When the fires get too hot, can love save them?
This novel is a standalone in the Men of Evansdale County series. No cheating. No cliffhangers and a guaranteed HEA. Contains adult material including, but not limited to: scenes of violence (boxing matches) sex and language.
Emma returned to her hometown of Evansdale after leaving for college when tragedy struck. She and her brother Forrest are now the sole owners of Winchester Estate Orchards – but the apple business has never been Emma’s passion. Dancing is. Until she bumps into Dean King, her older brother’s ex-best friend and the object of her teenage crush and her whole world changes. She knows she’ll hurt her brother if she keeps seeing Dean, but she can’t stay away. He took her virginity, and how he's taken her heart.
Tall, handsome and tattooed boxer Dean King is nothing out of a fairy tale. He’s brooding and moody, and he doesn’t believe in love. But when he runs into Emma at the diner she works at, something ignites inside of him. A fire. A desire that’s all but consuming in a way he doesn’t understand.
Dean’s life has never been simple, and it’s never been predictable. Coming from a poor family and having an alcoholic and neglectful mother left him with scars he’d just as soon forget. He left Evansdale to get away from the memories and reputation that have haunted him – until his grandmother Rose, the only person who’s ever told him they loved him is dying. Dean will do whatever it takes to take care of his Mama Rose. Even if it means selling his soul.
Fate brings them together. Burning passion binds them. When the fires get too hot, can love save them?
This novel is a standalone in the Men of Evansdale County series. No cheating. No cliffhangers and a guaranteed HEA. Contains adult material including, but not limited to: scenes of violence (boxing matches) sex and language.
My Thoughts
There is nothing more satisfying than a second chance
romance, unless, it is a second chance romance between a rough around the
edges, bad boy boxer and a dainty and loving aspiring ballerina. Dean struggles
to keep the demons of his past under control with his fists and by keeping
everyone at a distance with his less than charming personality. Returning to
take care of one of the few people he cares about, his grandmother Mama Rose,
he wants nothing more than to train at his mentor Tony's Gym and fight, hard
and bloody . Then he sees Emma
Winchester again and instead of the scrawny 14 year old with braces and frizzy
hair that he grew up with, she is all grown up, beautiful, dainty and sweet.
The sister of his ex-best friend, innocent and in love with him since she was a
child, Emma is everything that Dean shouldn't want, but he does want her, bad.
Forbidden fruit has never been so tempting and Dean gives in to the allure of
her love even knowing he is selfish to do so.
But of course the road to true love never runs smoothly and they will
have a fight on their hands, both in the ring and out of it.
Alyne Hart's The Space Between us, is a well written
contemporary romance that explores the emotional turmoil that results when two
very different people are drawn to each other, in spite of their perceived
differences. They have so little in
common. Dean is fire and Emma is rain.
He is an emotionally damaged, live in the moment, tattooed
boxer from the wrong side of town, with
a bad attitude, lots of anger, and some seriously well developed distancing
skills, while Emma is the much loved second child of orchard owners, who is
driven to succeed as a dancer, a perfectionist, a life planner, and an innocent
in every sense of the word. I found
this story to be an honest and gritty portrayal of a couple who want so much to
be everything to each other but who struggle to overcome all the things that
are infesting the space between them.
"Maybe I did
grown up a little ... privileged or whatever it is that you think puts a space
between us. But why does it even matter? Because you know that when we're
together, nothing else matters. I've seen your soul, Dean. .....It just made me
love you more".
The support characters of Dean and Emma's best friends Vin
and Siobhan, Dean's brother, restaurateur Flinn, and Emma's brother (and Dean's
ex-best friend) Forrest are engaging and well developed and I am looking
forward to finding out more about them and reading their stories.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the Author in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
I'll have to tell my Mom about this book. This sounds like exactly the kind of book she likes to read!
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