Fearless by Annie Jocoby
(Fearless #1)
(Fearless #1)
Publication date: July 15th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Stars: 4 ****
The Blurb
BOOK ONE OF A PLANNED TRILOGY
BOOK TWO, SECRETS AND LIES, IS AVAILABLE NOW!
*Warning* Strong language and sexual situations. Ends in MAJOR cliffhanger. Not for the faint of heart.
Beautiful heiress Dalilah Gallagher, a former child art prodigy, has lost her way. Harsh criticism in her formative years has left her floundering and without the artistic voice that once centered her life. Now, at the age of 20, she has spent the last nine years trying to reclaim what she lost.
Her struggles lead her to the nude-modeling world in New York City, where she hopes she will find her passion for art again. What she finds is surprising: Her artistic voice isn’t gone, merely misplaced.
Luke Roberts has a different problem. Raised by a solid, working-class fisherman in Maine, Luke is a gifted artist struggling to get a foothold in the busy New York City art scene. His gifts attract the attention of a wealthy benefactor, Blake Nottingham, who finds himself fascinated with Dalilah. Nottingham commissions Luke to provide him with a piece of art: A painting of Dalilah.
As the two young artists fall in love, Dalilah finds her artistic voice once more, so she’ll do anything to help Luke find the prominence he deserves. This leads to a dangerous game of deceit that puts Dalilah in Nottingham’s clutches when she tries to manipulate him into helping Luke.
Nottingham isn’t easily manipulated, though, and things go seriously awry for Dalilah. What happens when the manipulated becomes the manipulator?
This is a New Adult Contemporary Romance. Age groups are 18+. It has some sexually explicit scenes.
My Thoughts
When I first started reading Fearless I began to wonder what I was letting myself in for. As soon as Dalilah, the female protagonist was introduced I took an immediate dislike to her, there was just something about her at the beginning that really made me want to throttle her. However as the story unfolded she did begin to grow on me and by the end of the book I was hoping she wasn't going to make the decision she did. But hey if she didn't make that call then there would be no book 2.
So we have Dalilah Gallagher, an heiress and former child prodigy who has turned her back on her fame as an artist to pose as nude model for other artists. One negative review when she was younger totally knocked her and led to her losing her way as an artist. She has now moved away from her parents and is living in New York and is desperate to find her mojo and hopes that New York surrounded by other artists is the way to do it. As I said at the beginning of the story I just didn't like her, she wasn't committed to anything, she slept around, would wake up places not remembering the night before - perhaps being a mum to two teenage daughters led me to almost judge her through her actions. As the book moves on though I began to see Dalilah for what she really is a poor little rich girl who has truly lost her way and is desperate to find her place in the world.
Then we have Blake Nottingham, who for want of a better word is basically Dalilah's stalker. He is forever turning up where she is and then hires young artist Luke Roberts to paint a picture of Dalilah. Dalilah eager for the cash is more than happy to pose for Luke but this leads to her both falling for Luke and falling into deeper into Blake's manipulative ways. Luke is a struggling artist and Dalilah can see his talent so convinces Blake to arrange for Luke to have a showing in one of New York's high profile galleries. Unfortunately Luke's showing comes at a price and Dalilah has big decisions to make.
I loved Luke as a character and he really helped me to warm to Dalilah, he seemed to bring out the best in her even if they did seem to fall in love ever so fast but hey this is fiction so who cares. On the other hand I loathed Blake. I can see him being compared to Christian Grey but at no point did I warm to him at all, he just didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities at all. It just appeared that he was very used to getting his own way whatever the cost and it didn't matter whose lives were ruined in the process.
Fearless is a simple story with a not so simple love triangle which is filled with both love and deceit and lies. It has some very steamy scenes which are definitely not for the faint hearted and has one of the most horrible characters (Blake) that I have come across in a long time. It does end on a major cliffhanger and despite thinking I was not going to be able to finish it when I first started it I immediately went and bought book two on Amazon as soon as I had finished as I was desperate to know where Dalilah and Luke's story was going to go. Fearless is definitely worth a read and I am eager to get started on Secrets and Lies
About The Author
Annie Jocoby is the author of 8 contemporary romance novels and 3 New Adult
contemporary romance novels. Her motivation to begin writing these novels is
that she was interested in writing about rich men who actually love and respect
their women. Her heroes are alpha and damaged, yet also genuinely good
guys.Ryan, Nick, Luke and Asher are all complicated characters who have experienced plenty of darkness, yet always seek the light. They would all go to the ends of the earth to protect the women they love. And they’re all sexy, enigmatic, magnetic and great in bed.
All of Annie’s books have things in common: they all combine a touch of mystery and intrigue with drama, love, and lots of hot sex. Some of the books have action and even some criminal elements in them. Her current book, in fact, is her first book that would be classified as straight romantic suspense, although it also combines definite elements of the thriller genre! If you’re in the market for a book that is fast-paced, where the heroes are beautiful and wealthy, and the heroines are strong, vulnerable and flawed, then try these books out!
Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)
- $50 Amazon Gift Card
Great review, Sam! This sounds like a very character driven read with realistically flawed personalities. I also like the sounds of the romance - even the triangle sounds intriguing!
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