5 Smooches
Synopsis
Ignite Trilogy, Volume 2: DJ & Phina
I wear my scars like a scarlet letter, reminding myself that I’m not worth the trouble.
I’ve spent seventeen years pushing men away, never allowing myself to believe in the fairytale…then, he walked back in.
Just like before, we explode when we’re together. I hate him for what he did to me, but I can’t stay away.
Eighteen days filled with passion and promises.
Nineteen letters filled with threats and foreboding.
It only takes twenty minutes for the numbers to all add up.
One thousand, two hundred seconds until everything changes and there’s no going back.
This is my story, and it’s going to leave a scar.
Review
“She branded her name on my heart and I know I’ll never be the same.”
I have read A LOT of Tara Sivec books and loved them all so when I say that Branded is undoubtedly my absolute favorite book of hers so far that is saying a ton! Branded was angsty, dramatic and so very sexy! I fell in love with DJ and my heart felt so deeply for Phina. I highly encourage any fan of Tara’s comedic books to give her Romantic Suspense books a try because you will definitely not be disappointed.
“My name is Seraphina Rosalia Giordano, and I like to Brand myself.”
Phina has been dealt an impossible hand in life, a mom who walked out, a dad who resented her and took his anger out on her with the help of a cigarette to her skin. Years of abuse have left her so emotionally damaged that now as an adult her way to deal with stress is to burn herself. It’s her secret and she will never let anyone know.
“I want the pain. I deserve the pain. I can’t breathe without the pain.”
DJ has loved Phina since high school and now that she is back in his life he is not going to let something as simple as her hating him stop him from making her his. But nothing is ever that easy because Phina is in danger and as much as he tries DJ cannot seem to keep her completely safe.
There are way too many things in this book I loved to mention them all but I will go over a few highlights for me. First there is Tara’s writing, she is an amazing story teller who knows how to mix drama and wit into a story you just cannot put down.
“Luckily, I’ve become a master at Phina-speak. I’ve learned that every time she says she hates me, it really means she loves me,”
Then there is the dynamic between DJ and Phina, she hates him but loves him and cannot stay away. Having her tell him how much she hates him while running her hands all over him makes for supreme sexiness mixed with wit that makes you want to text your friend so they can enjoy it too!
“I want to see him again. I want to touch him again. And I fucking hate that I want all of these things I have no business craving.”
Branded much like Burned was a book I just could not put down and now I am completely dying for the next book in the series because if the trend continues each book just seems to get better and better.
~miranda
“I want that man’s anger. I want to feel it like a living, breathing thing, slamming into me, want to take it away from him and into myself. I fucking hate him for making me feel like this.”
