SULTRY SPRING SATURDAYS: UNTIL I BREAK by M. LEIGHTON

"Spring is here, and pollen is in the air. While you're sneezing your way towards Summer, pop those Claritin and lose yourself in a Sultry Spring Read."

Sexy Saturdays is a weekly post we started to challenge ourselves to read more steamy books and have a lot of fun. Feel free to join in. (let us know so we can add a link to your post).

The Autumn Review
Sim-Sational Books
Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Reviews
Insightful Minds Reviews
My Secret Romance
Globug and Hootie Need a Book


**The books featured on SULTRY SPRING SATURDAYS are for adults. If you are under 18 years of age, or do not like smexy books, please stop here. **


Category/Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense

Publisher: M. Leighton Books

Publication Date: 5/14/13
Format: ARC
Pages: 328
Source: Received from author for review
 

"I’m intrigued. Tempted beyond what I’ve ever been before. To know her, to open her up. To break her."

In love, sometimes what you fear most is exactly what you need.

Laura Drake is an author. She writes bestselling paranormal romances that continue to top the charts. She is sharp. She is confident. She is in control.

And she doesn’t exist.

Samantha Jansen is the woman behind the wig, the woman most of the world doesn’t know exists. She is shy. She is insecure. She is nothing like her main character or her alter ego. She is scarred—deeply scarred—by a past she can’t let go of and a present she can’t make peace with.

Samantha’s dreams are consumed by one man, the broken hero from her books. Mason Strait is both her wildest fantasy and her most terrifying nightmare.

When Samantha meets Alec Brand, a corporate consultant, it is as though Mason has come to life. Alec is handsome to a fault, as elegant as he is arrogant, and more intense than any man has a right to be.

Samantha is soon sucked into a world that mirrors the fiction she writes. Just like her main character, Daire Kirby, Samantha finds herself unable to resist the forbidden lure of Alec. And just like Daire, she also finds that she is faced with taking a chance on a man who could either set her free or destroy her.

The scale tilts toward destruction when Samantha finds out that Alec is as much a work of fiction as Mason. And he has scars of his own, scars that could ruin them both.


**This book may be read as a stand-alone, as the story of Alec and Samantha comes to a conclusion in this book**

 

 

 

ABSOLUTELY COMPELLING... If I had to choose only phrase to describe Until I Break, it would be that. Honestly though, as accurate as it is, the phrase doesn't really do this story justice. I would also say: Unique, Thrilling, Exhilarating, Surprising, Sexy, and Erotic. Yeah, maybe that covers it.

I honestly don't know what I can say about Until I Break without spoiling some very important details in the story. The synopsis is so intriguing, but doesn't spell out what the story essentially entails. I went into Until I Break almost blind, and I'm grateful for that. Leighton did a smart job of writing a story that slowly revealed itself and the characters, piece by fascinating piece.

Until I Break reads like a character study on two really messed up people, and Identity is a huge issue in the story.  Samantha has very deeply rooted issues when it comes to intimacy and physical relationships. She is very guarded about her true identity, and one obviously can't help but wonder "Why?". And Alec Brand...he is a large dose of WTF? hidden inside a gorgeous and compelling man. I, like Samantha, had no idea what was going on with this man, besides the sexy. This man is a completely maddening, yet intoxicating mystery.

Remember when I used the word Erotic to describe Until I Break? Let me just emphasize that point a little bit. The story is the psychological, but also sexual journey between two scarred people. Alec and Samantha both have issues, and sex plays a huge role in those issues. Leighton took those issues and handled them thoughtfully, honestly, and responsibly. And lemme tell ya, she knows how to build some completely insane sexual tension. The build-up of the physical relationship was so brilliantly done, and a true Slow Burn. I won't say that I got overly invested in the sexual tension, but  I will say that I had to remind myself to keep breathing, calm down, and I did kind of want to rip off some clothes and go nuts. (No pun intended. Truly) The level of tension was not frustrating in a bad way, just in a way that felt authentic and built up to a fabulous payoff.

Here's the thing: I feel that Until I Break can be best experienced if a reader can just relax and let the story come to you. I have the luxury of a best friend who'd already read the book, knows exactly what I love in a book,  and could just calmly reminded me that she had complete faith that I would love the story. So I guess that's my message to you, let the Alec and Samantha's story just come to you. Don't ask why, or when, or how, just let them reveal themselves, their motivations, fears, doubts, and wants. Believe me, Alec will not open up until he is ready, so don't even stress about it. Just revel in the mystery and romance and enjoy.


Favorite Quote:

  If I were half the man I should be, I'd stay away from her. I wouldn't show up tonight. I wouldn't call. I wouldn't seek her out. I'd just disappear.
  But I'm not the man I should be. Yet. My weaknesses still get the better of me now and then. And this one will. I know there's no point in even trying to resist. I've already got her scent. She's in my blood and I know there's only one way to get her out.  ~ARC, pg. 37

  "I think about doing things to you. Some of them might scare you. But others...might not."  ~ARC, pg.128

 

About the author:

I was born and raised in the United States, and I’ve lived in several of the fabulous fifty. Though I currently live in the deep South, I spent much of my childhood up North and hope to return there one day. A few other things about me: I believe that sometimes you have to look really, REALLY hard to find the good in people, but it's there. I believe that I'm shrinking (I swear five years ago I was two inches taller). I believe my husband is quite possibly one of the most amazing men in the entire world (I can't be sure because I haven't met all of them). I believe coffee and chocolate, when combined, could be the basis for world peace. I believe that Jesus rocks and communism doesn’t. I believe that white makes me look fat and black collects lint. I believe summer's too hot, winter's too cold and fall was made for football. I like dogs better than cats and the first movie in a trilogy is invariably the best. But most of all, I believe that love conquers all.

Connect with author M. Leighton at:
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