Falling in love with serious danger lurking around the corner

Synopsis

Nathan Bartholomew comes from old money. One of the city’s most respected families. He is at the top of his game, both in London and New York. Good-looking, very intelligent and worth a mint. His father John asks him to give a girl named Elisa Brodie the position as his temporary PA.

Elisa arrives from York to be PA to Nathan in Westminster. Three months of working with him and still Elisa hasn’t found the files in her stepsister’s house to prove her innocence and now Melanie is abusing her. Elisa leaves, but she has nowhere to go, until Nathan announces he needs a dog-sitter while he visits his brother in Paris. Elisa stays at Nathan’s fantastic Chelsea address unbeknown to him. 

Nathan’s trip finishes a day early; on his return, he finds Elisa soaking in his bath. Astonished, he realises she has been staying without permission. And then he discovers why, she is covered in cuts and bruises. However, Elisa is still trying to find out where the documents are to prove her innocence but comes away from Melanie’s licking her wounds. In the meantime Nathan believes this is his chance handed on a plate for him to pursue her and they start a relationship. There’s just one problem, Nathan has forbidden her to go back to Melanie’s house to prove her innocence and yet Elisa knows she has to try.

Melanie is out to ruin Elisa’s life and possibly even kill her, but when Melanie finds out Elisa is pregnant with Nathan’s child all hell is let loose, and Melanie is the one who puts the spanner in the works.

Will Elisa and Nathan make it after all the uncertainty. Read to discover, you won’t be disappointed.

Another fantastic yet touching romance from this award-winning author with a whisper of jeopardy thrown it to keep the characters on their toes.

My review

Elisa Brodie is working as a PA for Nathan Bartholomew, a successful barrister in London and New York. Besides being very good at her job, she is also secretly in love with her boss. But of course a good-looking, wealthy and successful attorney will never look at his PA and seeing more than just a PA…
However, that is not what Nathan is thinking at all… if only he could give in to his feelings and do with Elisa what he is dreaming about.
But the last thing Nathan ever expected, was to find Elisa in his bathtub, after returning from a work trip. And absolutely not seeing Elisa covered in bruises…
Even if Elisa initially tries to keep her horrible truth a secret, Nathan learns that her stepsister is the cause of all of Elisa’s pain, and so much more.
And now all Nathan wants to do is protect Elisa from any more harm and finally love her… But is it that easy to protect Elisa from someone who is determined to destroy her?

When I started reading this story, I had a whole different plot in my mind. So the more I read, the more I was surprised.
I thought the main focus would be on the romance between Elisa and Nathan, thus I was surprised that the romance and thriller/drama were equally divided.

It may be a cliché, a PA falling for her boss and vice versa, so seeing how Nathan and Elisa went from not mixing business with pleasure was not something we didn’t see coming. The banter was there from the start and we knew it would be only a matter of time before things would reach its culmination.

And I can say, when it’s FINALLY there, sparks surely do fly around! There was so much pent up sexual frustration, it had to be hotter than hot!
When once that fire started, it was very hard for our protagonists to extinguish it. and maybe for me, the sexual bits could be a little less, and more romantic bits included.
But I also think that it was done on purpose by the author, making us feel the same as Elisa, as I would be having the same doubts with Nathan’s behaviour. What can I say? I am a romantic soul!

How lovely it was to see how Nathan and Elisa are finally giving in, Elisa’s background is also a big part of the story. While we don’t know the whole history from the start, the more I was reading, the more repulsive I was feeling…
I can somehow comprehend (but again, not really…) how far people would go for money, but what her stepfather and stepsister do, is there something more despicable???

All the events took me on a rollercoaster. Just when you think the worst has passed, or that everything is uncovered, there is more waiting to claim their bit in the story.
But despite all the terrible things Elisa has to endure, it was sweet to see how Nathan The Protector arose. Sometimes a bit over the top, but I couldn’t not agree with his reasoning.
Obviously Nathan did a few times also the wrong thing, like immediately assuming the worst, but the lengths he took to correct his mistakes were of that kind you would forgive him everything.

This story took me all over the place, it made me swoon, it made me smile, it made me scare, it made me even petrify and made me feel disgusted of the behaviour of some characters.
It took me on a journey of love, hate and also a sense of that not everything is always what it seems to be. And no matter what horrible things you endured, your time for all the good in the world will come.