Author: Laura Marie Altom
Release Date: September 16th 2014
Synopsis
Laura Marie Altom’s heart-stirring new romance will have you believing in the power of love—and passion—to heal even the most wounded souls.
Never again. Fleeing her hometown to escape an abusive marriage, Ella Patton swears she has surrendered to a man for the last time. But while living under a new name, she meets a kind, handsome stranger who seems different—and will be moving on soon, making Ella reckless enough to break her rules. With a kiss, the stranger opens the door to desires Ella believed she would never know. Then he makes an unexpected proposal.
A dot-com billionaire from humble beginnings, Liam Stone is a man whose past has made him compassionate yet guarded—much like the beautiful, secretive woman he stumbles upon in a remote Southern town. Though he intends only a dalliance, when the time comes to return home to San Francisco, Liam cannot bear the thought of leaving her behind. But when he tries to entice her to join him, he finds the tables turning dizzingly fast. Suddenly a little seduction becomes a huge battle for one thing: control.
About the Author
After college, Laura Marie Altom did a brief stint as an interior designer before becoming a stay-at- home mom to boy/girl twins. Always an avid romance reader, when she found herself replotting the afternoon soaps, she knew it was time to try her hand at writing.
3 ' Heaven and Hell' Stars
Meet Liam Stone and Ella Patton. The Pretty Woman story with a twist.
Liam is the self made dot-com billionaire, of Zoogle. A lifetime of hardships and hardwork has paid off and paved a successful business and with money anything is possible. Slumming it in a small Southern town while his associates handle business deals and his vehicle is being fixed. Liam remains incognito, staying in a shabby Inn and keeping to himself. Harbouring abandonment issues from a tender age, Liam doesn't date and when he does, it's on his own terms. Liam Stone favours his privacy to the point of indulging in contractual "relationships". The purpose of his contracts, is for total Control. He must leave people before they get the chance to leave him. That is until he meets the lovely Ella Patton.
Ella Patton is on the run. She's hiding from an abusive husband, Blaine, under the pseudonym of Julie. Ella's scars run deep, literally and figuratively. Her husband likes Control and is a master of deception. On the outside he's the rich, romantic, loving husband, but when the mask comes off.... he's... Now on the run and working in a small Southern town, Ella is saving to move even further away from her husband. Ella's skittish and is hiding a horrifying secret.
While working the snack bar at Wal-mart, Liam notices her and after a night of partying he can't seem to get Ella out his mind. Ella needs money and Liam wants Ella. What better for each party to obtain their goals, than a contract for fair wages. After considerable persuasion, Ella takes Liam up on his deal.
Now, let's all guess here... we have two individuals, with their own dark pasts, fighting for the one thing, that they will both eventually have to relinquish.
Problems arise from the get go. Liam listens to his friends and decides he's too infatuated with Ella, and leaves her stranded in the penthouse for a week with no communication. Ella, hates all the money Liam is throwing at her and with the feeling that she has no Control over things, Ella leaves. Liam and Ella become estranged for weeks.
One day they finally reunite and Ella decides to bear it all. No more hiding. Even though she builds up her courage to become intimate with Liam, she is still hiding a dark secret, a secret that can make or break her relationship with Liam.
Reliving her past daily when looking into the mirror, Ella feels dead on the inside, an empty capsule. On the underside of her breasts she bears the ugly, possessive marks of a deranged husband.
But all Liam sees is beauty, a lovely young woman fighting hard to survive while fighting to stay in Control. She gave up that control once and it only gave her heartache, pain and fear.
My thoughts: This was a great story line, but poorly portrayed. There were too many contrasting characteristics and situations. The story wanted to take the Pretty Woman concept with a few changes in the overall plot of the story, so whilst there were many statements of scenes that did pull it off, it didn't suit this book at all. Very much overdone and was unnecessary.
As much as I liked the idea of Liam, that's all it was, an "idea". I didn't feel any emotional connections let alone any connections to the hero and heroine. The only character I liked was Willow, the friend (which I didn't include in the review) because she was supposed to add substance to the novel, but again it was lacking. Willow was allowed to literally walk all over Liam and Ella, why?? I have no idea. This aspect should have been played upon more to add development and overall intensity and drama.
*ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept from NetGalley*
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