Review: COMING UNDONE by Lauren Dane

*Squeeeee* This is the sound you get if you leave me near this book!

First of all i want to thank Lauren Dane for offering me a Digital Arc of  Coming Undone, i was super SUPER excited about this book (yes that much) and was actually bouncing on my bed when i received the email. I read it in 2 days, which is amazingly fast since i was supposed to work on my assignments this weekend ;) I have my priorities as you can see (and I'll be paying the price soon enough Muahahah, but definitely worth it).

I know I've already posted the book synopsis in my last post but it can’t hurt to post it again. ;)

KEEPING IT TOGETHER

Brody Brown has always been responsible for others. After his parents’ death, he gave up a promising artistic career to care for his younger brother and sister. Now, with his siblings grown, Brody owns his own business, has a nice house, makes a nice living, and for the first time in years he’s on his own.

Elise Sorenson has come to Seattle with her young daughter to find peace. After years as a world-famous ballerina—(and just as many years in a marriage-gone-bad)—she’s looking for neither love nor attention. But she finds both in the handsome, honest man who befriends her with no strings attached.

More than friends, Brody and Elise discover in each other what they need—wild, physical passion without commitment. But it’ll take a shadow from Elise’s past to make them look beyond what they need—to what they truly desire.

My two-cents:

Reasons to love this book:

• 
  
  Our Beloved Characters:  I read and loved Laid bare, and COMING UNDONE is focusing on Brody who is Erin’s brother from Laid Bare…that means that we get to meet again all the characters we came to love.  I’m always torn when there is to be another book with a different POV, when you’ve  loved a character and got your HEA you want it to stay that way. And reading a book where you know you’ll see them through someone else’s eyes is scary, it can ruin a character for you…well it can for me. This is not the case here, i was SO happy to see Erin, Ben, Todd and Adrian again it was a pleasure to see what happened to them after the end of Laid Bare. (And there was an ‘extra pleasure’ but it get its own point a bit later in my review ;) ) If you haven’t read Laid Bare get out of here!….errr no i mean it’s not a problem it can be read as a stand-alone (but who would want that?!)
  
  
  
• 
  
  Brody: That character alone would be reason enough to read this book. Sexy, sweet, funny, Big Tattooed Brody…Hot indeed, Brody is teh smex on a stick seriously…well It might help that i love tattoos and muscles lol (this is hardly ever a bad combination) . Brody is the neighbor every woman dreams to have. I just love how responsible he is and he’s always been there for his family and those he loves in general. And what a lover! Oh yes ladies that man knows what he’s doing…
  
  
  
• 
  
  A strong heroine: Elise is a very loveable character, i loved how dedicated she was to her daughter. She’s suffered a lot but she’s strong and doesn’t need someone to save her. Elise is haunted by the traumatic events from her past. I was a bit annoyed at the fact that she wanted to ‘survive’ by herself and did not want to burden the people around her, which made her very stubborn sometimes…but she cannot  bear to be controlled again, which i understand. (I know I'm contradicting myself  here, but you know sometimes you have to learn to lean on someone else).
  
  
  
• 
  
   Family: This book is filled with great characters and one of them is Rennie (aka Irene). Elise’s daughter is an amazing child. I was afraid when i read that the heroine already had a child…Children in romances, particularly when from a previous marriage, are often a baggage, a burden…not here…Rennie is as much the heroine as Elise. The relationship between Brody and the child was so sweet my cheeks ached from smiling.  Also family is important for all the characters, Brody’s relationship with his siblings is fantastic, I'm an only child and i would have loved to have this kind of relationship with siblings.
  
  
  
• 
  
  The Smex: I left the best for the end, the smex! I have to say the smex is sizzling between Elise and Brody, Holy Cow i had to sit on ice to cool down a bit!  Don’t you forget that our heroine is a Ballerina….how flexible is she? lol well you’ll have to read it to know the answer ;)
  
  
  
• 
  
  The BONUS Smex: Lauren Dane is getting cookie points for chapter 16….Oh my, chapter 16! I won’t tell you what this one is about I'll just quote you the beginning of the scene:
  

  ‘She unlocked her front door and put her coat in the closet and
  her bag on the table. Moments later she heard the groan and she ran
  hot, knowing just exactly what that sound meant. She undressed
  quickly and quietly, then headed up to the master bedroom and
  stopped at the entrance.’
  

  That’s when things get real hot i tell you! I think I've read this chapter 4 times already. You can’t blame the girl! (Dirty minded much? oh yes!)  Warning you might burst into flames while reading this chapter. You might want to leave a fire-extinguisher near just in case.
  
  
  

What didn’t really work for me:

• 
  
  A sense of Déjà-vu: The story is a bit too similar to the one in Laid Bare, the heroine is going through nearly the same thing : her past haunting her and coming back to bite her in the ass/trial/resolution. Don’t get me wrong it works perfectly for the story and i enjoyed every moment of it but i did get a sense of déjà-vu sometimes. (well i had to find something negative to say, hadn’t i?)
  
  
  

Now that we got the story for Erin and Brody i can only hope we’ll get Adrian’s book?(last of the siblings)  Well a girl can hope, can’t she? Adrian is verra drool-worthy , and a Rock Star is bound to have lived a few smexy things of his own ;)  There are so many amazing characters is this ‘series’ that I'm sad to part with them. I felt a bit  sorry for Raven and i was hoping to see her get some kind of HEA too.

I’ll be pre-ordering COMING UNDONE soon because this book is definitely  going on my keeper-shelf as soon as it’s released. COMING UNDONE doesn’t disappoint, both Hot and Sweet you won’t be able to stop once started. I will be rereading it  that’s for sure. Thank you Lauren Dane for delivering once again an amazing book.

COMING UNDONE is coming out January 5th