Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Overprotected (ARC)






Overprotected 






Author:Jennifer Laurens 

Publisher: Grove Creek Publishing 

Pages: 243

Read Time: One Sitting 

Rating (1-5): 5

Tag Words: Contemporary fiction, Body guards, rich girl, NYC living, falling in love, kidnapping, best friends, living a sheltered life, marriage falling apart, Freedom

My Summary:

Ashlyn wants nothing more than to be free, to walk down the streets by herself, without a body guard hovering just a foot behind. 

When her father, Charles, hires her former neighborhood bully, Colin, to watch her every move Ashlyn knows her heart won’t be able to take it, what she doesn’t know is why. 

He was hired to protect her, not to steal her heart away.

My Review:

I have been hearing great things about this author, Jennifer Laurens, and after reading her latest book, Overprotected, I can see why. Laurens writing is engaging, interesting and provoking. She used a wonderful balance of emotion and physical action to lay the seam work for Overprotected and I was glued to my seat until I finished. 

The characters had such awesome development and depth in every way possible, I was thoroughly impressed by how in-the-moment I was alongside Ashlyn and Colin.

My only issue is relatively nit-picky and silly, but I was unsatisfied by the couples settling their childhood disputes. Colin sounds like he really affected Ash when she was a youngster and I know that if my Colin Brennan showed up I would not feel swept off my feet, in fact, I would probably give him one of these: 


I will be picking up another Laurens very soon! 

Notes on the Names: 

Fiona, Felicity, Fiore and Adair; these names swept me right off my feet! 

Thoughts on the Cover:

I do not like the cover.

The idea is great, having the BG and the model, who does look very much like Ashlyn, behind him, barely peeking over, but the editing leaves something to be desired. The models are very blurry and out of focus, almost as if the pixels had been stretched too far and the highlighter yellow (Yellow?!) brick blends too much with Ash’s hair. This cover is far better: 

Parental Book Review *spoilers*

Sexual Content: 

Moderate. 

Kissing with a longing tone. Dreams of very sensual kissing.

Stuart is in love with Ashlyn and appraises her in a sexual manner; there is a reference to the hour he spends in his bedroom alone, not napping. 

Language: 

Minor/Mild

H- 4
D- 7

Violence:

Moderate/Heavy

Ashlyn is kidnapped by Stuart, tied up and escapes using self defense when he attacks her.

Fiona, Ash’s mother, puts her hand through the glass of a gun cabinet and there is major blood. 

Other Notables: 

A seedy club scene that includes sexual dancing, drugs and the like. 

6 comments:

Mari - Escape In A Book said...

I noticed this book just the other day and just didn't care to look into what it was about because the cover wasn't to my liking at all. I know not to judge a book by the cover but I still do *blush* Anyhow your review was excellent and now I really want to read this one :)

jenniferlaurens said...

Thanks for reading! Yes, you can see why we chose the latter, darker cover. It prints better. :)

jenniferlaurens said...

Thanks for reading! Yes, you can see why we chose the latter cover, it prints better. That's why they call ARCs, ARCs :)

Angela @ Reading Angels said...

I really liked this book too! I think that many will not pick it up because the cover and blurb aren't enough for it!! The cover is really BLAH! I disagree about the childhood thing though. I remember meeting up with someone who picked on me as a child, and being about to get over it quickly as an adult, but only because that person had matured and changed. If that person was still a brat it would have been different...lol.

Juana said...

I've added your book to my Book Wish List. It's a keeper.

jmesparza821(at)gmail(dot)com

A Beautiful Madness said...

It sounds good. I'll have to check it out. To be added to my TBR list!