Wine Club #Review of Strong Enough by M. Leighton

~August Wine Club Review~

Book: 
Strong Enough 

(Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #1)

by M. Leighton

Wine: 
Dark Horse Merlot

Lexi: Anyone else in the hot doldrums of summer? Want to check out a book with us? This month we read Strong Enough by M. Leighton so pull up a chair, pour some wine and let’s get to it.

Crystal: *Pours us each a glass of merlot* 
Mmmm... *sips* Cheers and cheers to a new release from Michelle! 

Lexi: Strong Enough starts out with quite the prologue, wow. Leighton really laid it out there, tugs at your heart and leaves you feeling raw. What a way to introduce the hero, Jasper, and give us his backstory. Maybe this is why Jasper is my favorite character in the book. How about you Crystal?

Crystal: Wow, I have honestly never read a prologue that brutal and heart-rendering before. It actually threw me for a loop at the beginning there but definitely had an instant connection forming between me and Jasper because of it.  

Lexi: The heroine, Muse, is a red wine lover so points there. Beyond that I didn’t get a real sense of her. There was plenty of hot, hot steam between her and Jasper but I didn’t get a solid connection between them, their romance moved pretty fast. What did you think of our wine loving main character?

Crystal: Wasn't that swoony (yeah, that's a word :P) of Jasper to make note of her favorite kind of wine? *dreamy sigh* Muse, whose name I loved, was unfortunately a one dimensional character for me. Besides her need to find her father and her instant attraction to Jasper, she didn't show too much more depth until the end when we got to see her chaotic feelings emerge through her painting. Even then though, I felt a lack of deep emotional connection between her and Jasper. It might have been the pacing of the story that threw that off, as you said their relationship moved fast, but I also found it to be more like a infatuation as opposed to love. I really would have liked to see more of an epilogue with these two to solidify their relationship. 

Lexi: While I didn’t connect with Jasper and Muse much I loved the story line and the mystery; the ‘have to know’ kept the pages turning. I also thought it was interesting to have a dual point of view. It took a few chapters to find the cadence but then the voice of the story flowed. I would say the head jumping helped the story and made you realize how much you thought you knew was wrong. Did you like this POV angle?

Crystal: The suspense kept me turning the pages as well. I was clueless to the going on's a majority of the story. There were hints here and there from the characters as to what their pasts were, what their purpose was, but it doesn't start coming together until well into the second half. I do love when books have both the male and female protagonist's view points though, it gives you a better feel for the story and it's characters. 

Lexi: What was better than the POVs were the lines in this book. Leighton is poetic and shares the characters emotions so well. You really get inside Jasper’s head, you see the monster he believes himself to be, and you see his struggle with wanting/needing Muse but also knowing that he will destroy her. Great stuff huh?

Crystal: M. Leighton's writing is wonderfully descriptive without becoming long-winded. Jasper was a complex character that struggled with several inner demons and you couldn't help but feel for him and what he wrangled with on a daily basis inside his head. His character made the book for me. 

Lexi: Leighton knows how to write bad boys and I was happy to see that Jasper wasn’t a lone wolf. This is a series after all and with the series title being Tall, Dark, and Dangerous you know there had to be some hot friends in the background. I have to check out Rogan’s story next, will you?

Crystal: With a series that follows different characters I would have liked a more in-depth introduction to Rogan and Tag. More then just a, 'hey this is so and so and this is what he does, bye.' Because of the absence of this I never found myself saying, "I must know more about this character!" However, the continuing mystery in the series arc has intrigued me enough to read on. One thing I did like was seeing Cash, Olivia and Gavin from Leighton's Bad Boys series! Though Gavin's purpose left a question mark hanging over my head I still enjoyed the cameos. 

Lexi: Thanks for joining us for another Wine Club Review! If you enjoy hot romantic suspense we think you would enjoy this book and the rest of the series sounds promising! If you check it out stop back and let us know what you think! Till next month, cheers! 

Title: Strong Enough 

Series: Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #1

Author: M. Leighton 

Format: eBook/Paperback, 304 pages

Published :August 4th 2015 by Berkley

ISBN :0425279464 

Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Reviewers: Lexi & Crystal

Source: NetGalley

Rating: 3 out of 5 Wine Glasses

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Bad Boys novels comes the first in a dark, sexy contemporary trilogy. 

Is she strong enough to trust the most dangerous man she’s ever met? And is he strong enough to let her? 

How would I describe myself? Well, I’m Muse Harper. I’m a twenty-something painter who loves red wine, quirky movies, and men with a fatal flaw. But that was before I met Jasper King. He became my fatal flaw. Eight months ago, I had a choice to make—abandon everything I’ve ever known to protect my family, or stay and risk someone getting hurt. I chose the former. My plan was working just fine until I found out my father had gone missing.

That’s when I met Jasper. A bounty hunter with the eyes of a tiger and the nose of a bloodhound, he was supposed to help me find my father. What I didn’t know was that meeting him was no accident. Hunting people isn’t all that Jasper does. And helping me was only part of his plan. I just wish I’d found out sooner, before my heart got involved. But even then, I don’t know if I’d have done things differently.

Now, I have another choice to make—trust the man that I’m falling in love with and hope that he’ll do the right thing, or run as far away from him as I can get.