Review: Behind the Scandal

Behind the Scandal by M.A. Stacie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars, ARC by NetGalley, contemporary romance

*warning, I have mixed feelings about this one, so maybe I will confuse you more :)*

**warning: This can be read as a stand alone, but if you are like me and feel the need to understand everything, you should read book 1**

Summary

As we saw on book one of this series, Taylor Reese reached bottom rock when he overdosed. Being part of a very dysfunctional family, Taylor didn't know how to handle the pressure and found a way out through oblivion. Now his family lost all their hope for him and sent to his uncle's ranch in the middle of nowhere.
Libby found a place at Josh's ranch, and that's all she has ever wanted for her and for her son. Not even an ill-tempered relative of Josh's will send her packing, but maybe her past catching up with her will give her no choice than going away.
"Behind the Scandal" is a painful love journey.

likes 4 stars

I like the idea of this book. I finish book one, looking forward to read Taylor's story. I knew it would be painful, and I found truthful his struggles.
The plot is fast-paced and easy to follow, and even though the book is predictable, I knew this would be a love story with not many twists like book 1, and I was ok with it.
The heat in the book was also ok, not as good as book 1, but that is personal preference, the sex here was a lot more vanilla, but exactly what the characters needed it. As I mentioned before, really belivable.
I really liked Josh, Taylor's uncle, much better than his father, in fact he was more of a father figure to him than his own father ever was.
I also enjoyed the father/son, male-bonding-friends between Taylor and Levi, I even had an almost cry moment at the end. :)

M.A. Stacie was true to her story, and I knew this would be a book about screwed-up people. I enjoy a book that has the conflict out-front, and I enjoy a read of internal struggles, of personal growth.

didn't like so much 3 stars

I understood the characters, but I never really connected with them.
I'm not sure if the problem was that I really liked Kyran and Dale in book one, and they overshadow Taylor and Libby too much for me.

One of the problems was, it didn't work for me that Kyran, the only two years older brother, that already raised Taylor his whole life, was guilty at all of Taylor's weakness and his drug addiction. Taylor-the-poor-guy act didn't work for me. I felt for him, with a father like that and a dysfunctional family, but I think he and the book put blame in the wrong place.

Also, I don't care for TSTL people or moments, and this book had for a while a major one. It was the most obvious suspense moment that it could have.


Impressions and Opinion

Like I said in my warning, I have mixed feelings about this book. I like it, but I didn't love it. I read it easily, but it wasn't as satisfying to me as book 1.

I'm not sure if there will be more books in this series, but I will definitely read book 3 if there will be one.
I will also look at other books from this author.

I recommend this book/series if you enjoy contemporary romantic stories



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