Title: Taming Cross (Love Inc. #2)
Author: Ella James
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult, Suspense,
Publisher: Barkley’s Books
Publication Date: August 2013
Pages: 236
Rating: 3.5 stars
Synopsis (from goodreads):
For twenty-three years, Cross Carlson was a playboy. You know the type. Tall, dark, and wealthy. Blue-eyed. Charming. He seemed to have it all so easy. But Cross was harboring a terrible secret – one that helped ruin the life of an innocent girl and almost ended his own.
Finally out of the hospital, Cross is flailing, scarred in both body and mind and stifled by the weight of the secret he still keeps. The only way to absolution lies in a Mexican convent, and going there could cost him everything.
If there’s anyone who knows what it’s like to screw up big time, it’s Meredith Kinsey. Just a few years ago, Merri was an ordinary girl with a job at her college newspaper and white picket fence kind of dreams. Now she’s holed up in a Mexican convent, hiding from a drug lord who thinks he owns her.
What happens when the only way out of hell is with the son of the man who put you there? They say love conquers all, but does it really?
My Review:
This is one of those books that is fast, sexy and at times serious. Cross is a man with a guilty conscious. He knows that an innocent woman is wasting away after being sold to a Mexican cartel as a sex slave. Still recovering from a near fatal motorbike accident, Cross decides to pack up his bike and rescue Missy King from the horrible fate he feels somewhat responsible for.
Meredith Kinsey – aka. Missy King – has found salvation in a convent. But when Cross comes riding up, she needs to leave with the mysterious stranger or face certain death. Merri starts to feel things for Cross but knows that she can’t let her inner hussy free just yet. First they both need to get back to the States without dying. And what’s Merri going to think when she founds out her rescuer is the son of the man she blames for getting her sent to Mexico in the first place?
I haven’t read the first book in the Love Inc. series. But despite not having read Selling Scarlet, Taming Cross does a fair job as a stand alone novel. I feel like all the vital information covered in the first book was rehashed and I get the general idea of what’s going on in the Love Inc. universe.
Cross is one of those deliciously damaged heroes- he’s still suffering from the bike accident and he’s somewhat lost with regards to his place in the world but he’s determined to save Merri. I love his gruff attitude and the way he treats Merri. Merri is a great heroine and I think she’s a great example of how one bad choice in life can snowball into the direst circumstances. She’s strong and resilient which I admired. Despite all she’s been though she can still keep a cool head in the depths catastrophe. Her reactions regarding Cross made me laugh- although that probably wasn’t always most appropriate reaction.
This is a book with some fairly serious subject matter – sex trade, drug cartels and political immorality. But I thought that Ms. James managed to tie it all together in a way that I couldn’t help but want to read more and find out what happened to her characters! The romance is rough and yet sweet – I enjoyed Cross and Merri as a couple.
Taming Cross is a New Adult novel and yet had the characters been ten years older, they would have been completely believable and I wouldn’t have been surprised. Sometimes I wonder if I completely understand NA as a genre…
I enjoyed this book a lot and have since bought myself a copy of Saving Scarlet (Love Inc. #1). Ella James is a great author – I read Here last week and I loved how different her two series are. She’s one of those authors that I can’t wait to read all she’s written.
Purchase the novel from:
Oohh…. Taming Cross (Love Inc. #1) is currently free for kindle on Amazon.