Under Her Skin

A surprising story and my first from Adriana Anders.

I really like it and the story had several unexpected turns. It's not every day a romance author surprises me. From the larger than life hero to the heroine he's running from a past and ex-boyfriend so damn awful, this book had a bunch of elements I don't often see in stories. I want to call this book a fractured painting where some chapters were beautiful and some parts were haunting and dark but came together so well. I think that Uma is beautifully broken and Ivan is every woman's favorite kind of book boyfriend. I will be continuing the series.

Wow. Can you just slap me with my kindle next time, it will be more entertaining for me.

Uma is on the run from her abusive ex, and she answers a strange ad, which calls for someone to be a live in housemate who can take abuse from an “old hag” and its not kinky. Right. Ms. Lloyd is a jerk from what I read. Demanding, never leaves the house, throws fits. Uma meets Ivan when she is trying to knock on her door for the first time, and she is trying to put on a brave face. Sure, I can believe that. Shortly after Uma tries to stand up for herself, she goes to doctor appointments to get some “scars” removed, and takes some self defense classes.

Then, she mentions freaking Dr. Oz. Thats when it starts to go downhill to me. Mehmet Oz? Really? You couldn't makeup a name for your doctor in your book? You had to use a quack who uses his influence to sell his own brand of whackadoodle cures and treatments while denouncing scientific consensus? Ugh! Anyways...

Then, big scary Ivan goes from being “scary to trustworthy in less than a week...in less than a day.” For being abused by a man she is real quick to trust Ivan. I am not a victim of abuse, but I feel like she would be more guarded around him. Maybe I am wrong. I don't know. I will admit that.

And then Ivan, hes already ready to kill for her. He doesn't know her. All he knows is she was hurt. And he goes right to kill? WTF is wrong with people? Yes, she was hurt, but killing her ex is not the only way to protect her. Sheesh. It seems like that would be a pretty good way to leave her unprotected, right? Who knows. I DNF'd this right after he thought that, at 42%.