Beyond What is Given
Series: Flight & Glory #3
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 28, 2015
Entangled Embrace
Lt. Grayson Masters is focused on graduating the Apache helicopter course, and the last thing he needs is his gorgeous new roommate Samantha Fitzgerald distracting him. While her smart mouth and free spirit are irresistibly irritating, he can’t deny their off-the-charts chemistry, no matter how hard he tries.
Having just been expelled from college, Sam has no business digging for Grayson’s secrets while she’s hiding her own, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to tear down his walls. Each barrier she busts through drops one of her own, though, and she’s not prepared for the truth: another woman laid claim to Grayson’s heart long ago.
Falling in love is something neither Grayson nor Sam can afford, and when that line is crossed and secrets are exposed, they’ll learn that sometimes it’s the answered prayers that will put you through hell.
I shrieked as the mixer whirred a shrill pitchand batter exploded, hitting the walls, the cabinets, my face…everything. I sputtered as some landed in my mouth, and slammed my hand against the lever to turn it off.
This was going to be a bitch to clean up.
“Are you okay?” Grayson ran in, hair damp from the shower. His eyes widened as he took in the state of his precious kitchen. “You weren’t kidding about the mess.”
“Oh this?” I smiled. “It’s a new aeration technique. I totally meant to do this.” My awesome excuse died as a glob of brownie mix fell off the tip of my nose.
“Is that so?” he asked, walking over to me slowly, consuming my vision. My breath hitched as he swiped his finger across my cheek, and then licked the brownie mix off the digit. Holy hot. “Hmm… I think there’s something to be said for this method. Maybe a little more air in the batter?”
My mouth popped open. “Are you making fun of me?”
He smirked, which must have had a direct link to my panties, because they unanimously voted to drop. Now. There was sexy, and there was Grayson’s tongue sweeping across his lower lip, which was a step beyond hedonistic. His eyes took on a mischievous glint but kept the same signature intensity that held me captive, unable to look anywhere else as he lowered his face toward mine. What…what was he
doing?
Do you even care? Nope. Not one bit.
“Maybe another taste to be sure?” he asked, his voice low as his lips skimmed across my jawline. “Mmm. Definitely more.” Shivers coursed down my body. Holy shit. His mouth was actually on me, and I was awake.
He flipped the switch on the mixer and chocolate flew.
“You did not!” I let my knees buckle so I slipped to the floor, leaving Grayson to be splattered by the flying confection.
“I most certainly did!” He lifted me up like I weighed nothing, and batter smacked the back of my tank top. “Man, you’re slippery.” He mock-dropped me.
I yelped, locking my ankles around his waist and my hands around his neck. He turned off the mixer and chuckled low in his throat. “You can laugh?” I asked, yanking my head back to look at him.
“I have been known to on occasion,” he answered, that stupid, crazy-sexy smirk in play despite the chocolate on his cheeks and forehead. How the hell could someone look so hot while literally dripping brownie batter?
“I like it,” I admitted.
His smirk disappeared, and his grip tightened on my bare thighs as his gaze dropped to my lips. They parted as if he’d freaking asked them to. We weren’t just stepping out of the friend-zone here, we were on a damn missile into let- me-jump-you-ville.
“I do, too,” he whispered.
Orbit. That was the word for it. She was the Earth, full of life, raging rivers, erupting volcanoes, mysterious oceans, and breathtaking views. I was a satellite in her orbit, witnessing from a distance while she bloomed.
Rebecca Yarros and her Flight & Glory series has been on my radar for a while. In my usual way of doing things backasswards, when I got the chance to read Beyond What Is Given, I jumped on it, even before I read the previous books. With that said, I never found myself lost and had no problems getting into the story. BUT, I do wish I read the previous two books simply because I completely adored those characters in this book and found myself curious about their story. So I plan on going back and reading the previous books immediately.
I love a book that will tug at my heart strings and really make me feel; truly capture my interest in not just the romance but both the characters’ individual growth. Considering the baggage both Sam and Grayson carried around, I certainly didn’t expect anything less than I got, even if it was incredibly frustrating at times.
Sam essentially ran away from her home in Colorado after a mistake cost her everything; a mistake that still continues to haunt her today. Moving in with 3 male roommates to a different town, she’s hoping for a fresh start. But then she meets Grayson, her new roommate that’s less than thrilled to see her since he was expecting a guy Sam. Grayson is temperamental, broody, too gorgeous for his own good, and hiding scars that may run much deeper than Sam ever imagined.
Grayson’s secret begins to come to light little by little, and you soon realized that the baggage that this man carries may be too much for even self-assured Sam. But you also can’t help but fall for him completely. The push and pull dynamic between them grabbed me from the beginning. Grayson clearly wants Sam, but he knows he can’t have her. His secret prevent him from giving himself fully even when Sam is quickly falling for him.
As much as I love angst in my books, and the angst here was thick. At the same time, I prefer the angst to come from the couple and not added from outside influences. What am I talking about? Grayson’s family. Sweet mother of all that’s holy but the last time I hated a hero’s sister this much I was reading an Abbi Glines book. I absolutely HATED Parker. And the further the book progressed, the more strongly I began to hate her. And that only got so much worse when the whole truth was revealed. In addition to her sticking her nose into Grayson’s business there was also his father. All of it combined with the already heavy subject of Grayson’s secret and Sam’s past and it was almost too much. Don’t get me wrong, the author did make it work, but for me it was just a little too much.
I loved the romance between Sam and Grayson, even if it was filled with enough bumps and turns to make for a hell of a rollercoaster ride. I’ve been thinking on my rating for a few days now and what I can definitely say is that I loved the writing and I truly enjoyed the story as a whole, minus a few minor quibbles (Parker being the biggest). Ultimately I liked how everything was dealt with in the end, and I absolutely adored the ending for the couple. While it may have been bumpy, it was all wrapped together without being too cliche or predictable and that’s always a plus for me. Rebecca Yarros is definitely now an author I will gladly read in the future.
Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and lover of all things chocolate, coffee, and Paleo. In addition to being a mom, military wife, and blogger, she can never choose between Young Adult and New Adult fiction, so she writes both. She’s a graduate of Troy University, where she studied European history and English, but still holds out hope for an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Her blog, The Only Girl Among Boys, has been voted the Top Military Mom Blog the last two years, and celebrates the complex issues surrounding the military life she adores.
When she’s not writing, she’s tying on hockey skates for her kids, or sneaking in some guitar time. She is madly in love with her army-aviator husband of eleven years, and they’re currently stationed in Upstate NY with their gaggle of rambunctious kiddos and snoring English Bulldog, but she would always rather be home in Colorado.
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