Dark Faerie Tales

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: This was a sweet romance filled with lots of sexy moments, and drama.  It was the perfect ending for a wonderful series.

Opening Sentence: Up, down.

The Review:

It’s been three years since Lucy and Jude got engaged.  They just finished their junior year of college and life couldn’t be better.  Jude has just been drafted by the San Diego Chargers and signed a multi-million dollar contract. Now on top of being the happiest couple ever they are totally rich, what could possibly go wrong. But if you know Jude and Lucy you know that their relationship is no walk in the park.  They both have spit fire tempers and sometimes it seems that they fight more than they get along.

Jude is living his dream of being a professional football player, but what about Lucy’s dream.  She wants to be a professional ballet dancer and San Diego isn’t exactly the ideal place to do that.  She also wants to finish school at Julliard which happens to be in New York. Now they have the whole country between them. Can their love survive the distance? Will they be able to compromise and work out their problems? Will Lucy and Jude get their happily ever after?

Lucy is our very independent protagonist.  She definitely has a mind of her own, and doesn’t like to be told what to do.  She has a pretty quick temper, but she has worked on trying to rein it in especially when it comes to Jude.  I loved Lucy in the first book, her spunk and attitude was fun and endearing, but as the books progressed my like for Lucy lessened slightly.  It’s not that I didn’t like her still, but I just had a harder time connecting with her.  She went from strong and independent to being over dramatic and a little irritating.  She didn’t want her life to change, which I understand, but life is full of changes whether you want them or not.  So for a good portion of the book I wasn’t Lucy’s biggest fan, but by the end she once again became the Lucy I loved in the beginning of the series.

Jude Ryder is one sexy sweet man.   He is as gorgeous as ever and he is so cute to Lucy.  She is his reason for existing and he tries so hard to make her happy.  Jude is far from perfect with his raging temper, and jealous streak, but all that makes him more human.  He is respectful and very giving, but he also stubborn.  Him and Lucy clash on a lot of things, but they have amazing hot chemistry.  Watching Jude go from a broken boy in the first book to a grown man is a wonderful process.  I loved his character and I’m sad to see his story end.

I have to start off by saying I really loved this series.  It was so fun, dramatic, sexy, entertaining, and heartfelt.  I love that Jude and Lucy don’t have a perfect relationship.  The fact that they have to work at it every day made it more real.  There were parts there were a little overdone, especially with Lucy’s character, but overall, I still enjoyed this book.  There are a lot more steamy scenes in this book then the previous two books which was a fun change.  As always, I really enjoy Nicole’s writing. It’s engaging and so easy to get lost in.  Her stories are always heartfelt and beautifully done.  This was a perfect ending to a wonderful series.  I would highly recommend it to anyone that wants a good steamy NA contemporary novel.

Notable Scene:

I saw Jude before he saw me. He was spinning circles in place, and his eyes fell on me after a final revolution. His shoulders relaxed when he smiled. “Yo, Lu-cy!” he shouted–Rocky-style—above the noise in the airport, breaking into a run my way.

I didn’t care that we were catching the attention of everyone within hearing and seeing distance; nor did I care about the show we’d be giving them soon.  The only thing I cared about was the guy running at breakneck speed and getting his arms around me.

I wasn’t walking anymore. My bags were bouncing against me as I dodged around people, and the corners of my eyes stung with the tears forming.  You would have thought he’d been deployed to the Middle East for the past year from the way we were charging at each other.

When Jude reached me, he grabbed me up and spun me around. I held on for the ride, wondering how another person could make me feel whole again. When Jude finally set me back down, I let my purse and carry-on fall to the floor. Folding me back into his arms, he pressed into me as tightly as two people could fit together. God, it felt so good.

FTC Advisory: Harper Collins provided me with a copy of Crush. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.