Cover Image: Keeping Her Close

Keeping Her Close

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A fair romance, but to be honest I struggled to stay interested for long. Tended to skim. Might be my age, over 50, but would be best for a younger reader.

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Keeping her Close is a slow burn read.
Brandon Kuvat is a sexy pilot who is loaded. Being burnt in the past has made him closed off to Happy ever afters, and turned him into a player. Jordan is a fashion designer with a small boutique who has also been burnt by love in the past. When these two meet, their first encounter is quite comical.
Their story is a cute one. It was a bit too slow for me and I found the story dragged for a bit. All in all it was a good read
3.5 Stars

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DNF @10% or something.

Sometimes I can see that the book will not be for me since the beginning. Unfortunately, that is the case here. I was lost after a couple of pages. I didn't feel connected to the characters because the story was too fast paced, it lacked details, it lacked everything for me. I didn't like the writing, therefore, I'm DNFing this book.

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Brandon and Jordan had given up on love. Both of their pasts haunting them and making them fear the inevitable fall of loving someone else again. Since he wanted to keep his distance he accepted her offer to be friends. How could he go wrong right? Jordan positively couldn’t stand the arrogant play boy but he made her feel cherished. Will they both change their minds and accept they were meant to be with one another or live firmly in the past wondering what can be changed. Finding love when you never thought it was possible.

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I have to tell you, I just adored the story between these two very different people. Brandon is a player and a little bit of a cynic when it comes to love and relationships. While Jordan is a woman with no time for the player type of guy. Therefore, there was plenty of tensions between these two at first.

The story between doesn’t take long to change, but it was a slow burn for them. We get to see their fears, their flaws and even some hope for something more. Their interactions were sweet and steamy at times, but that isn’t to say that there weren’t some issues that came up along the way. What would the story be without a little bit of angst?

The ending was a little bit rushed but for as much as I adored these two all throughout, I didn’t let me bother me. It was such a sweet read and just what I was hoping it would be. I think fan of contemporary romances will enjoy this one!

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Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. It was definitely a slow burn and a slow build up even to friendship and any emotions really, so it was hard to keep interest. There is definitely some questionable activity that is cheating in my sense of the word although a quick search shows the author does not believe it qualifies as such. No matter what it is called, it was such a turn off for me.

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This was not a bad read but it was not great for me either. While it does say it is a slow burn romance I was not expecting it to be as slow as it was in places and found my attention wandering at times. While I did not love it it was not horrible either so give it a go you may enjoy it more than I did.

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Plot: Our main characters are Brandon Kuvat and Jordan Artesian. Brandon is a billionaire playboy who's been burned in the past and won't let himself trust any woman again. Jordan has a traumatic past where she has been hurt and won't open her heart for anyone. 

What I loved most about this story was how it did not follow the traditional billionaire playboy model. While Brandon is clearly loaded with lots of money, there is no over-the-top flaunting of his lifestyle or his wealth. Brandon and Jordan meet during a chance encounter in the mall at Jordan's clothing store. They are instantly attracted to one another and spend a good portion of the first half of the book fighting the charge between them and trying to be friends. Since both of have been deeply hurt in the past, they are fearful of allowing themselves to get too close to anyone again. 

Another thing I enjoyed about this story, and must admit I'm starting to realize I prefer these "slow-burn" novels, is that 75% of it is spent leading to build up of them actually getting down and dirty. While there is plenty of interaction and attraction throughout the book, that slow burn working up to the event is pretty magical. 

Characters: Both of the main characters are completely adorable and lovable! The fact that they both carry such traumatic emotional burdens from their past relationships but are able to still find love is heart warming and endearing. It was interesting though that Brandon seems to finally announce his burden in a way that came across as if it was easy to share, even though it had been building throughout the entire book. While, Jordan who has experienced some extremely traumatic events, carried a tremendous burden and the release of her past was overwhelming and moving. 

General Feeling: Once I started this story, I had a really hard time putting it down. There was so much going on between, not just the main characters, but every person in the story had their own little side stories and experiences that helped to support the overall feel and development of the plot. Each character went through an agonizing development stage where they really had to face their own issues and either fall into the fire, or come through in the end. 

There was a significant amount of loss and sadness through events that happen and experiences the characters have, but it all adds to the momentum of everything that is going on and doesn't detract from anything at all. I greatly enjoyed this one and will be telling my romance reading friends all about it!

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I struggled to finish this book. It's really slow paced and mostly focused on the building of the friendship between the hero and heroine.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

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Rating 2/5

I really hate giving bad reviews but this book deserved it. My rating is based solely on the fact that I absolutely hated how the guy kept sleeping with other women after sleeping with "the one" and maybe that's partly due to the fact of HOW SLOW their romance blooms. I mean a turtle would have made friends faster with either of them than they did with each other. The pacing was horrible and the characters were not likable. Not the romance for me.

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Can we say SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW???

My goodness... the building of the friendship takes forever in this book. I didn't think they'd ever move forward.

But even if I could look past that, the part where he cheats is something that I can't. Yes, I read the author's comment that it technically wasn't cheating as far as she was concerned. But, they had engaged in physical affection and intimacy with one another when the act occurred. I think it would be different if they had talked and decided that despite everything they should just be friends. But that's not the case. They teetered on this line of friends/something more and THEN he went and slept with someone else. Even though the entire time she was on his mind.

Just not for me.

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I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

In a nutshell, Brandon and Jordan are both not ready for relationships, but their feelings for one another are too intense, they can't stay away from each other.

The overall plot of Keeping Her Close reminded me of Fifty Shades of Grey; Brandon was a millionaire and a player, and Jordan was an innocent girl with a hidden wild side.

I felt like this story lacked substance. It completely revolved around the on-and-off love story between Brandon and Jordan. There were specific events which would have added a lot more to the story had they been focused on.

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2484532153?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

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After reading this book I have to say that I wasn’t a fan of how it ended. It made me feel like there is more to the story that hasn’t been said. So hopefully there is another on to this series.

In this book the relationship with Brandon and Jordan does go on for quite a bit even though the chemistry was there, it was all most coming off the pages. I was getting a little frustrated with Jordan and Brandon because I just wanted to yell at them to tell one another how they feel. To me also seemed like they were purposely trying to sabotage their “Relationship” on purpose but when it finally happened I was happy. While I was reading this I did feel a disconnect with Jordan, I did feel a connection more with Brandon.

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I have mixed feelings about this book. These characters frustrated the heck out of me and I wanted to put them in a time out so bad. Both Brandon and Jordan are skeptical about love and relationships because of their pasts. As the story progressed I grew to like them each a bit more but not as much as I thought I should. I did like the background characters and how they all interacted. I kept reading because I had to see how they turned out. Still trying to decide on that outcome. I will certainly be reading more by this author because I did enjoy her previously.

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I received Keeping Her Close for review from Netgalley. I honestly have to give this book a 1/5 stars. I found that I could not connect with either of the main characters. Brandon really bothered me as a character. He constantly was claiming to be into Jordan but it never felt genuine to me, especially when he was not committing to just her. I did, however feel that Jordan had the potential to be a really strong female lead in the story but it always felt like her character was holding back.
I also felt like there were several times through out the story that I was just being told what has happening rather than be drawn a picture.
Overall, I felt that this book was really lacking what I was looking for.

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I have to be honest, I really didn't love this book. The characters were too into their heads, and basically were kept apart for majority of the book. Though Brandon was hot, he was just too much. They hurt each other when all they had to do was just try to see where their relationship could go.... It was just a back and forth that got old for me.

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Just finished Keeping Her Close last night and by the end, I could not put it down!

I'm a huge fan of Casey's other series so I was excited to get my hands on this stand alone. It was definitely a slow burn, I found myself screaming at Brandon and Jordan 90% of the time to just speak their minds!!

My emotions were everywhere, I was happy, sad, and heartbroken for the struggles that both Brandon and Jordan faced in their pasts that made it so hard to love again.

Watching them build up their feelings for each other made the pay off at the end so much sweeter.

This was not your typical romance novel where guy and girl meet and fall in love instantly, que sex scene, end story. It was refreshing seeing the story develop as it did and I can't wait to see what Casey Diam comes out with next!

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I truly adored Casey Diem’s previous two books, and wanted to read this one as well. It wasn’t quite as thought provoking as the ‘Things That Matter’ series, but it was still good in it’s own right, although written in 3rd POV rather than 1st, so we don’t get inside the characters’ heads quite the same. It was a slow burner which I’m not a huge fan of to be honest, but the chemistry between these two held it together. Plenty of angst and tension leading up to them getting together.
But that ending? It truly needed more.

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That was an incredible read. A must read for sure. 5/5 stars
Two broken souls who are attracted at first sight. But only end up friends till it's too much. Jordan is a shy designer wanted to get her designs out there. Brandon is a wealthy man who isn't feeling the same as he did when started his carefree attitude. An outing for Brandon brings him in contact with Jordan, but she's different than the others. Will he get her in more ways than one or not at all?
Jordan is a great character that you'll fall in love with cause she is a shy feisty woman. Brandon on the other hand you'll want to slap or strangle, but in time fall in love with as well. The build of this story was on spot if you'd done it differently it wouldn't have been the same. Casey I totally couldn't put this story down once I started. You had me from the beginning straight to the end. Times you had me laughing and others in tears. I could feel both characters feelings because you delivered them well with your words. The story flowed between the characters point of view.
***Reviewed for Sweet & Spicy Reads, arc provided in return for honest rewiew***

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I really did want to enjoy this book but I just couldn't get into it and gave up. Sorry. Not my kind of book at all

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