Risking It All by Joyce d’Mot

Nom de Plume Rating: ★★★★☆

Reading Time: 4 minutes

*FTC Disclaimer: I received a copy of Risking It All from Joyce d’Mot in exchange for an honest review. I have in no way been influenced by the author and/or publisher’s generosity. You can’t fake these stars, baby!

Summary:

The last three years of Kenya Davis’s love life were rife with false starts and heartaches in her pursuit to get back her ex-boyfriend, Dave. The one bright spot she clung to was her job as a health scientist with the CDC. When she received a promotion that placed her in the field, working with the homeless under the interstate bridge, Kenya saw it as the distraction she desperately needed.

Simon Washington lived a charmed life before his world came crashing down around him. One fateful night full of confusion and heartache sends the once-affluent businessman on the run from the law, leaving behind his wife, a thriving business, and his social status.

Finding Simon, dressed like a homeless man sends Kenya life into a tailspin.  Kenya wanted to comfort him, despite the warning bells going off in her head. Was he the dangerous criminal described by the news or the same guy she knew from college? Should she trust the man who fell into her world and crowded everything else out?

Simon felt drawn to the courageous, kind-hearted spirit who refused to protect herself from his drama and accept that her trust in him put her in danger. He had to push her away, but the sweetness of her presence was hard to give up when he needed it so much. There were answers he couldn’t give her and a truth he had to keep hidden.

Risking It All follows Kenya and Simon as their worlds collided in an unexpected mash-up of uncertainty and desire. Can they navigate a minefield of emotions and close calls to find and maintain their freedom and maybe even love—with or without each other?

First Line: “Kenya recognized the pattern well…”

Review:

Trust me when I say that I will be perusing the homeless shelter for my future hubs. Err merr guurd this book is addicting!

Simon, our homeless hottie, has left everything he loves. Everything. Now that’s the kind of love we need in our lives—someone who will leave if it’s the best thing for us. Swoon! I mean, preferably, we’d have our men stay, but…you know…a love like that is indescribable.

My heart is breaking just talking about this man. Once a distinguished businessman, now he’s pegged as a freaking criminal! He’s pond scum. Hide yo’ kids and stay away from this man.

Kenya basically does the opposite.

Our determined heroine has suffered what I like to call a Category 4 man (the puppet master). He’s stringing her along like she’s a toy trolly, whipping her around like a cyclic emotional yoyo. Up down, we’re together, we’re not. Girlfriend, leave him.

Kenya devotes her time to work. Of course, because she’s a baller, she earns a promotion and gets to work in the “field” interacting with the city’s homeless. Okay, if you don’t love Kenya by now, then something is just…wrong with you. I mean, could Joyce have created a better heroine?! No.

Joyce meets Simon, but this isn’t the first time they’ve met. Hubba hubba! Sparks fly, warning signs are all over the place. I think Kenya wasn’t in her right mind, because she’s making all sorts of crazy decisions. Turns out that her and Simon went to college together. Umm, WHAT?! What would you do if someone you knew for a good chunk of your life was suddenly homeless and everyone thought he was some evil villain?

Become his lover of course.

Kenya put her hands on her hips and looked down at the man whose back was now facing her. Yo dude. I need you to cooperate, Kenya thought. There was no way she was failing today. Kenya stepped around him and crouched down, looking him directly in the face…his eyes bore into her, intense and challenging.