Strong Enough
Series: Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: M. Leighton
Release Date: August 4, 2015
From the author of the New York Times bestselling Bad Boys novels comes the first in a dark, sexy contemporary trilogy.
Is she strong enough to trust the most dangerous man she’s ever met? And is he strong enough to let her?
How would I describe myself? Well, I’m Muse Harper. I’m a twenty-something painter who loves red wine, quirky movies, and men with a fatal flaw. But that was before I met Jasper King. He became my fatal flaw. Eight months ago, I had a choice to make—abandon everything I’ve ever known to protect my family, or stay and risk someone getting hurt. I chose the former. My plan was working just fine until I found out my father had gone missing.
That’s when I met Jasper. A bounty hunter with the eyes of a tiger and the nose of a bloodhound, he was supposed to help me find my father. What I didn’t know was that meeting him was no accident. Hunting people isn’t all that Jasper does. And helping me was only part of his plan. I just wish I’d found out sooner, before my heart got involved. But even then, I don’t know if I’d have done things differently.
Now, I have another choice to make—trust the man that I’m falling in love with and hope that he’ll do the right thing, or run as far away from him as I can get.
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I want her bad. But even when that happens, it will be with the knowledge of what’s to come, of how I’ll betray her. What kind of person could do that?
A monster, that’s who.
And I’m that monster.
If the prologue here doesn’t grip you by the throat and suck you right in, we’re not reading the same book, because HOLY SHIT! Talk about your attention grabber. M. Leighton really doesn’t pull any punches and I knew I was in for a page turner from the first chapter alone. Intense, gritty, erotic, with a dash of mystery and suspense, Strong Enough is the beginning of what’s bound to be yet another winner from this talented author.
Muse Harper left her life to protect someone she loves, but now with her father gone missing, she’s desperate for answers and bounty hunter, Jasper King, may be able to help her with the answers she needs. There’s just one problem; he’s not who he is and has his own agenda that poses a much bigger threat to Muse than the disappearance of her father.
The reader is left to assume Jasper’s history and you’re definitely in the dark about his agenda through most of the book, which just serves to make him even more intense than he already is. Jasper was the perfect enigma. He’s deliciously sexy while exuding a raw danger, all wrapped up in muscled tattooed perfection. The man was pure sex on a stick. The chemistry between him and Muse is instant and burns so hot, the pages practically sizzle with it. Jasper knows that he’s deceiving Muse, he may be helping her find her father, but his end game is not one that she expects. The more he gets to know the woman, the more ridden he is with guilt about his inevitable betrayal. Wanting her is not a question, allowing himself to have her is the ultimate taboo.
While Jasper was a character I fell for right away, Muse took a while to warm up to for me. She’s just a touch away from being almost too naive. She definitely dangles on the very fine edge of it and there’s things she does and says that made me want to shake her. It’s like the woman has absolutely zero self preservation instinct. Jasper may fight his attraction to Muse, but Muse certainly knows what she wants and she’s not as willing to deny herself. She also wants more than she knows Jasper will be able to give her, but that doesn’t stop her from craving.
“It holds you captive, whether you want it to or not. It never lets you go, no matter how much you want to be set free.”
As much as Muse may have frustrated me in parts of the story, I absolutely loved the two of them together. It’s this push pull that exists between them that just makes things even more erotic that they already are. It’s like you’re privy to something that Muse doesn’t know yet and you’re still rooting for Jasper who for all intents and purposes may very well be the bad guy.
Fans of her other books will appreciate the appearance of a certain couple here that made me a little giddy to read about; Cash and Olivia. There’s also the introduction of a few secondary characters that I’m already desperate to read about.
The ending gives you just enough to satisfy while also leaving you practically salivating for the next book. An MMA fighter that’s also special ops? Are you freaking kidding me. I don’t think I’d survive the wait. If you’re looking for an erotic romance with just the right amount of edge, Strong Enough is certainly that. The title of this series is quite appropriate, and that’s exactly what you’ll get. I simply can’t wait for more.
I’m not typically a fan of Domme heroines, but when it’s Cherise Sinclair writing it, it’d be a sin for me not to at least attempt it. Well imagine my shock that I can now say that this may have easily been my favorite Shadowlands book yet. Of course it figures that it would be this author that will not only make fall in love with the story and the characters but also appreciate a strong Domme. If you’re on the fence about reading it, you need to jump off the damn fence and READ IT…or else deVries will come and spank you. Trust me when I tell you that you will to be left disappointed.
As far as Anne goes, well it doesn’t get more kick-ass than her. A fugitive recovery agent by day, this is a woman that knows how to throw a punch to fall a man twice her size. This is not only a woman that makes men shrivel in fear in the dungeon, she certainly handles her own outside of it. What I really loved about her is the vulnerability that was so evident about her. I think that’s what truly made her as endearing as she was. And the fact that Ben saw it and did everything to try and shelter her made me fall for him even more.
I’ll admit, I was a little apprehensive reading this book after not quite loving the first book in this series. But then Beck O’ckley was the hero that really captivated me in 
First of all, if you haven’t read the first book in the series, don’t worry, because you can easily read this one as a standalone. However, 
The push and pull between her and Beck had me going back and forth between wanting to pull my hair out and icing my ovaries, because holy lady blue balls! The tension was almost unbearable at times. But at the same time it was oh so delicious.
This was the perfect contemporary romance to spend a weekend with. It had it all; the laughs, the swoons, the sexy…did I mention the laughs?
Whenever I see a new series come out by Lauren Layne, I don’t even bother reading the synopsis before adding. I don’t need to because I already know that the chances are 99.9% that I’ll love it. But I was an extra shot of excited when I read the blurb for this book because…HOT COPS! What? Like you didn’t? Don’t judge me! Although admittedly, I could have done with a different cover *cringes*. I know, I know, don’t judge a book by the cover and all that, and this was certainly a huge case of that. My inner cover cover whore just shut her eyes and dove in hoping against hope that the hero looks nothing like what the cover implied…and he didn’t! (thank jebus)
So let’s see here; we have friends-to-lovers, second chance romance and GFY all mixed in with sizzling chemistry and humor. If that’s not enough to justify my 5 star rating, I dunno what is. Maybe I haven’t read an MM in a while, maybe I was exactly in the mood for a feel good and sexy MM romance? Whatever the reason may be, I loved this book to pieces. There was not one part of it I read where I didn’t either have a goofy grin on my face or felt like I needed to ice my ovaries. It was fabulous!
Ryan was such a fantastic hero as well. He’s such a tender heart, but it totally works for him. Together they just made a certain kind of sense. These are two guys that you’ll be rooting for from beginning to finish. I absolutely loved the way that Ryan is with his family and their quirkiness. Considering the cold detachment of Wes’s family, it was wonderful to have such a warm family dynamic on the other end.
I was first hooked on this series and this author when I read 
This book had some of the best sexual tension I’ve read in a very long while. It was utterly delicious. I loved the way Chanel Cleeton handled their attraction and ultimate giving into it. I couldn’t get enough of these two.
There is no other trope out there that I love more than hate-to-love. And I think I may have found my favorite hate-to-love romance book to date. Even the Score was full of sexual chemistry, humor, all wrapped around a fantastic story that was utterly delicious. Delicious I tells ya! If this book isn’t on your TBR, you are seriously missing out because what a perfect gam this turned out to be.
Kate Meader devised the perfect formula of hate+lust to make this book absolutely unputdownable. I couldn’t get enough of it. There’s none of that typical and tiring back and forth that you’d normally find in books like this. It just felt like natural progression here.
So here’s the thing, when it comes to my romantic suspense, I’m one picky girl. It’s the first genre that originally got me into reading and I read a lot of it. So suffice it to say it takes quite a bit to impress me. What? I said I was picky. Having had a bit of a taste of Brooke Blaine’s awesome in 
After finishing Flash Point I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Brooke Blaine has definitely got a new fan in me. I can’t wait to see what else the woman has up her sleeve with her future books.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not really a trilogy girl. I have never really read a trilogy where the main couple consumed me in such a way that I was itching for more of them, and yet somehow these two authors have managed that feat. Not only did I enjoy Release Me, I loved it even more than the first. Yeah. I’ll give you a moment to absorb that.
If second chance romance is your thing, this trilogy will deliver it in spades. I gobbled it right up like the starved addict that I am and it was absolutely delicious. The angst, the secrets, and of course the absolutely scorching hot sex all combined guaranteed for a page turner.
Allow me to preface my review by saying had I read this book immediately after 
