5 Smooches
Synopsis
Olive has secrets—horrible ones. She’s run from a man that has scarred her in mind, body, and spirit. Safe in the comforts of newfound friends, Olive attempts to live a normal life—free of her past. Things are going great until she meets Brayden Greene and forbidden sparks fly. Bray threatens the safe world she’s come to know.
Bray’s lived with the punishment of his past for six long months. He’s ready to move on with his life. Upon meeting the gorgeous Olive Redding, Bray will stop at nothing to have her. Problem is—Olive is untouchable and the worst possible woman he could go after.
One night, lines are crossed and the two start down a path that others will and do hate. Can this rocky relationship survive despite the disproval of all those around them or will it just add another wound in their already scarred pasts?
Review
Once again K. Webster pulled me into the lives of this group of friends. I have been anxiously awaiting Olive’s story since book one of the Breaking The Rules series, Broken, and when I found out that Olive was pairing up with Brayden I was shocked and unsure of how this would work.
I started this with a preconceived notion of Bray and I can honestly say that I should have known better than to judge a character before I read them. I went into reading this book hating him and came out of it loving him. For me that is the sign of a great book and author!
Olive and Bray’s story is one of trust. In book 1 of the series we find out that Bray cheated on Andi (now Olive’s best friend) ending their engagement. This almost broke Andi and took her to some dark places. Andi has worked on healing herself and with the help of a good therapist and the love of Jackson she is working on forgiving Bray.
Deciding to put the past behind her, Andi invites Bray to her birthday party and it is there that he meets and is captivated by Olive. Olive is unlike anyone he has ever met. She is beautiful and kind but she is timid, weak, and skittish. Olive has a past that haunts her and has her keeping everyone, especially men, at arms length.
Even though Olive feels the connection to Brayden right away her brain tells her to back off. She knows what he did to Andi, plus with her past trust is already difficult. The majority of this book is all about learning that trust can be earned and that everyone makes mistakes.
I really enjoyed this book and found Olive and Bray to be an endearing couple that I was pulling for even with the baggage they both brought. Bray’s constant determination to prove himself worthy of Olive made me really fall in love with him more and more. On top of this being a really sweet romance this book had drama, action, and a ton of steamy scenes. There is something here for everyone.
Although this is part of a series I definitely believe it could be read as a standalone since much of the backstory is explained in the book. That being said, I do think it is even more enjoyable if you have read the whole series and since they are all fun and fast reads why wouldn’t you?
~miranda
