Review: Break the Sky by Nina Lane

“Do you ever let go, storm girl?” he asked. “Ever lose control? Ever surrender?”
“Never,” I whispered. “I never surrender.”
A smile of both promise and warning curved his beautiful mouth.
“You will.”

Atmospheric scientist Kelsey March is under siege. Her tornado research project is on the skids and she’s fighting conflict in her university department. So when irresistible bad boy Archer West suggests a hot, wild fling while he’s in town, Kelsey is unable to resist his sexy offer.

Kelsey and Archer embark on a intense, exhilarating affair. But soon their differences and private battles encroach on their desire, and Kelsey discovers that Archer is a storm she can’t control.

4.5 Wonderful Stars

 

Review by Jen Hagen

 

 Kelsey is upset with the progress, or lack of progress, on her tornado research.  She is currently at a standstill as future funding cannot be acquired.  She is up for tenure as a college professor and she is walking a thin line with some of her peers.  They don’t see her being dedicated to her job.  This is a stressful time for her waiting for her fate to be decided upon by a board of colleagues.  Her rotten day just got better with a little help from a stranger in a bar where she turned her bitterness to wallowing.  The thing about fate…sometimes it’s meant to be and sometimes it needs a little help with a flip of a coin.

 

“Heads…I leave,” he said.  “Tails…I stay.”

 

Archer has always had to live in the shadow of his big brother, Dean.  Dean was perfect…Archer found it was easier not to be perfect than to try to live up to the standards that his parents placed on him in order to be just like Dean.  Archer was a rebel; he did time in the clinker, has gone through rehab, dropped out of high school, and has done odd jobs for work.  He has a big inheritance waiting for him as soon as he fulfills the guidelines that were set forth by his deceased grandfather.  And the person to judge Archer’s progress is his dear brother, Dean.  They have only seen each other twice in the last 5 years.  Dean has no idea that Archer has changed and is not the black sheep the family always thought him to be. 

 

Archer has always had to live with people’s low expectations/ perception of him and he handles it very well; although, it’s not to say it doesn’t bother him, just that he is used to it.  It broke my heart to know that he will never be good enough for people to stop casting their judgements upon him.  Even Dean’s friend and colleague, Kelsey, can’t stop her judgement of him the moment that they are formally introduced.

 

“Every family’s got one like you, right?” 

 

Oh…there’s fate again.  Archer was the stranger from the bar the night before.  Archer has decided to spend a couple weeks in town helping his brother with construction on his new house.  Since Archer and Kelsey obviously have an insane amount of attraction towards one another, Archer comes up with a plan.

 

“You and me.  No strings attached, no holds barred.  No expectations. I’m leaving town soon, so there wouldn’t be any shitty breakup.  Just us having fun while I’m here.”

 

Sounds like a good deal to me as Archer is all kinds of hot and sexy.  Kelsey and Archer have a few weeks together and when they are together the pages are ready to ignite.  Kelsey and Dean discover that there’s more to Archer than what they were expecting.  Archer is caring, adaptable and willing to help in any situation.  Archer especially loves his new nephew and I adored the scenes with him suddenly having a scream infant placed in his arms.

 

“I’ve never held a baby…”

“Bounce,” Dean called as he headed to the bathroom.

“I don’t bounce, man.”

“So learn.”  The bathroom door slammed.

 When the time comes for Archer to leave, he and Kelsey have formed an intense attraction towards each other that goes beyond their initial agreement.  Both want more from the other, but they are both too scared to tell the other how they feel.  Will they allow themselves to be true to each other and let fate decide their future, or will they once again play with a coin?

 

“Heads, I leave…Tails, I stay.”

 

I had not read Ms. Lane’s previous books involving Dean.  There were a few instances where I felt like I was missing part of the backstory that involved Archer and Kelsey as separate characters, but my silent questions were answered later in the book.  I did ask others who read the previous books and they said I did not miss any of the story by not reading them first. 

 

Archer was such a strong man in both physical and mental presence.   I had so much empathy towards him because he knew what people thought of him and it broke my heart.   My eyes were wet when it came to the pain that he had been silently harboring for 20 years.  He finally found what he wanted in Kelsey but she knew that he couldn’t be restrained in his freedom and she wasn’t going to try to hold him back.  Archer was so used to not having people listen to him that he couldn’t speak his thoughts on wanting to stay.  This was so sad and it made my wet eyes overflow with more wetness.  

 

I know you want the answer to the coin toss…“The quarter lay in my palm, flashing in the overhead light.  Tails.”  

 

But did Kelsey’s answer come too late to keep Archer from leaving? 

 

 

Amazon

 

Nook