Monday, February 16, 2015

Stinger (A Sign of Love - Scorpio) [Carson & Grace] by Mia Sheridan

This one was really sweet. It's the unlikely love story between the driven law student and plan obsessed Grace Hamilton and the porn performer Carson Stinger who doesn't think more than a day in advance. They meet for the first time in Vegas attending a (different!) convention taking place in the same Hotel. After a somewhat rough start they decide to spend the weekend together - no strings attached. It's not what Grace would have thought she is capable of, yet with Carson it worked, they got closer to one another even if initially it was about the sex it became a lot more than that. They had a HUGE impact on one another yet when the weekend was over they each returned to their lives - the same yet different. 


The book has three parts, each portraying a stage in the Scorpio Astrological Sign and also the stage they are in at the moment starting with the weekend they enjoy with one another. The other part tells us of them apart (4½ years apart!) and how they influenced and motivated one another even if they didn't keep in touch. Grace changed her major in Law school from what people would expect her, the "safe bet" to something she truly wanted but never gave herself the chance to do. Carson left the Porn industry to become a Navy SEAL. The years gone by, they are different yet inside they know one another like no one around them does so when they finally re-meet in the last part of the book it's AT LAST a chance to be with the person they truly desire and not only in the sexual sense. They both waited for one another even if they didn't really admit it to themselves especially since they didn't think they would ever see each other again. 

Most of the story is about the romance and also them growing through the connection they made those three days together, yet the last part also have a certain action or suspense feel to it as Carson is not exactly who he says he is when they re-meet. But as you come to learn who Carson is, I think it's obvious that what he actually DOES isn't something "bad" so to speak, it's him growing into someone who is willing to change the things he believe needs changing. 

I enjoyed the romance between the both of them. I totally got what they found in one another and how they complimented each other. They might look as opposites in the beginning but actually they both needed to be less "extreme" in their decisions in life and meeting one another at that crucial point in time was what they needed and when they meet again they aren't as different as they were back then. I liked both characters, I could understand both their point of view and the lives they chose to live because of their past. I didn't think they were "too damaged" with their past experience, maybe just a bit less naive. Unlike the previous ones this story is told from both their POV, roughly half her and half him which gave us the true feel of the characters and the changes they went through over the years. I also think that Carson specifically was better portrayed then Leo in "Leo's Chance" which I'm not even sure why had a "dry" voice to him while Carson felt very genuine to me when I was reading his POV. Also Leo was too broken from his past while Carson felt much more "real". 

The reason I'm rating this one 4½ and not 5 stars is mostly because, for me, it was a bit too long. Mostly the time when they were apart and what they went through to be together again, even though necessary, was still a little too much for me and also I must admit that at times is was too damn sugary and perfect (even when they were apart thinking of one another) not to mention the ending... It felt a bit too unrealistic in that sense and since I"m not THAT romantic in general I felt as though some of the things were OTT amazing between them past, present and future (epilogue). But all in all a GREAT read! Will be continuing with this series very soon! 

Note - This series is labeled as New Adult / Contemporary Romance and I must say in this one it's a bit hard to decide how to categorize it. When they meet for the first time they are 23 years old yet the book spans over almost 5 years after that point mostly showing how much they grew with the last part being of them as "formed" adults. I think it's more of a New Adult book since it dealt a lot with the "coming of age" concept with specifically the impact they had on one another. 
 

This isn't really a "series" since each book is either a stand alone (like this one) or a 2-parts story (like "Leo" / "Leo's Chance"), each book/s inspired by an astrological sign - this one is by Scorpio. You can see all the books under this "series" under the tag "A Sign of Love".


Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 396 pages, 13-15 February 2015 / On GoodReads

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