Sunday, May 23, 2010

Review: Coming Undone by Lauren Dane

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Title: Coming Undone
Author: Lauren Dane
Genre: Erotica, Contemporary Romance
Found this one at the library!


While reading this book I may have accidentally knocked the keyboard off the computer desk while waiting for a certain facebook app to load-I also may have had to turn the air wayyy down because it suddenly got very hot in my apartment. For all this I have Hanging With Bells to thank for pimping this book out to me. (Be sure to check out her and Twimom227s We Love Gena contest!) When I read it, I had forgotten that it was the second book in the Brown Siblings, and that Laid Bare came beforehand. That being said-I had no problem following the storyline and it worked well as a stand alone book.

Brody Brown is the oldest of the Brown siblings-Erin and Adrian. He's always put others first and taken care of his younger brother and sister.  He owns his own business, house and for the first time in a long time doesn't have anyone to look after-and he's happy that way. Elise Sorenson has moved to Seattle with her young daughter Rennie, to escape a painful past. In her old life she was a principal Ballerina (Thank you Center Stage for letting me know what that meant.)  and loved dancing. Her marriage however wasn't so good. Her husband was in and out of jail, did drugs and abused her.

Brody and Elise meet when Elise moves in across the street. Elise thinks that Brody is super Hawt, but isn't quite sure how to meet him...Brody thinks Elise is beautiful, but isn't sure he wants to deal with the whole single Mom thing. When Brody is hit by a car, Elise jumps into action and saves his life. They become friends, and realize that the passion they feel for each other can't be denied.  Brody realizes that he likes everything about Elise, and finds her daughter Rennie adorable. He'll do anything to protect them.  Elise realizes that her feelings for Brody are deep, but isn't sure she's ready to let him into her and Rennie's life for good. There are of course, forces (like Raven and her in laws) that try to come between the two, but there are just as many people who want them together (Elises daughter, her parents, Brodys brother Adrian, and his sister Erin) but will these two strong minded individuals realize that they are meant for each other?

What I loved most about this book was how beautifully it was written. All the story lines and past characters blended together beautiful with the super hot, and I mean hot, sex scenes. So often the second book in a series gets lost with either information overload on the next book, or focuses too much of characters introduced to us in the first book that the romance and storyline in the book gets lost and forgotten. Such was not the case with this book. I loved how as a new reader to the series, I felt like the past storyline wasn't the entire book, and that the characters were still prevalent enough for me to fall in love with them enough to want to go back in and read their story. I also liked how the touchy story line with Elise's past was done-so often the heroine comes off as unlikable or weak, but that wasn't the case at all. I did wonder why though, Elise just couldn't stand up to Raven for her sake instead of involving her daughter as the reason to finally get all upset. That aside, this was a wonderful book that had me wanting a Brody of my own!
Sigh Meter: High
Crush Meter: High
Sizzle Meter: High
Sleep Meter: Low
Barrons Hero Hotness Meter: High
Challenges Counted toward: Erotica, Contemporary Romance, Support your Local Library