Title: The Unlucky Ones
Author: Stacey Marie
Brown
Page count: 265
Published: April 1st,
2019
Publisher: The NextStepPr
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Received: From the publisher in exchange for an honest
review
Rating: 5/5
Summary:
Misfortune. Bad luck. Heartache.
Devon Thorpe is no stranger to any of them.
After devastating news, Devon’s life becomes a prison of responsibility, heartbreak, and hardship. All her dreams to leave her small town vanish. A prisoner of circumstance.
At her breaking point, Devon has a reckless moment in a diner bathroom with a blue-eyed sexy stranger. A single encounter with him leaves a deep mark on Devon, giving her only a memory of his touch when nights are lonely, and her life becomes too much to take.
Years later, a terrifying incident takes her and her family to Albuquerque NM, where she finds work as a server at a bar to support her mother.
Tattooed, moody, rough, brown-eyed, sexy as hell, Lincoln Kessler, the mysterious owner of the saloon, instantly draws Devon in. She can’t let go of the feeling there is some strange connection between them.
But the more Lincoln tries to push her away, the more determined she is to figure out the enigmatic man. One fiery kiss and Devon realizes she should have stayed away because when their worlds collide and tragedy strikes, she recognizes they are not each other’s savior, but each other’s misfortune.
A tear-jerking novel about ill-fated love, heartache, loss, and finding your way through the pain.
And a lot of bad luck.
*A NA/Adult Sexy and heartbreaking Contemporary Romance. Deeply emotional with a sensitive subject matter of dealing with a crippling mind disease.
Expert :
The weekend passed in a blur, days spent with mom, nights at the Saloon. I finally met Julie and Miguel the other employees. Julie was a sweet, cute blonde, who went to UNM during the week, making the bar a perfect place for her to work on weekends. Miguel was in his early twenties, good-looking, and fit. The moment he locked eyes on me, he flirted relentlessly with me. It didn’t take me long to realize his conversation was elementary at best, not going much deeper than working out, women, his diet, and how awesome he was. The costumers ate up his cheeky, flirty vibe. He was the perfect bartender, but my tolerance for his unsubtle quips about getting me in bed, had reached its limit by Sunday night.
I barely saw Lincoln the whole weekend. When he did venture from his office to help stock or get a count of inventory, I was no more than a ghost to him, his frostiness towards me not lifting an inch. It frustrated me beyond belief, especially because I worked my ass off. I stocked, cleaned, and did side-work before I was asked, covered more tables than Julie, had customers laughing, bartenders in awe, and the kitchen staff blowing me kisses.
I was the fucking model employee.
Did he even utter one word of “good job” or “I’m sorry I was a total douchebag, forgive me, I’m so glad we hired you”? No, not once.
Besides Nat, even Miguel had told Lincoln how good I was, when I was grabbing stuff out of my locker Sunday night. Though I wasn’t sure I felt flattered or not.
“Hey, man.” I heard Miguel’s voice stream from Lincoln’s office near where I stood, grabbing my bag, dreaming about a shower and bed. Sunday had been almost as busy as Saturday and I was looking forward to the next two days off. “Here’s the till and report.”
Only a grunt came in response.
“Can I say, thank you for hiring that girl. Damn she’s good. Surprised me. Had all her tickets in order and on every drink the moment I finished making them.” Miguel scoffed, like he was truly shocked I was capable of being good. “And doesn’t hurt she’s fucking hot. Nice eye-candy for the bar.”
A noise rolled out of the room, sounding like a feral growl, fleshing my skin with bumps.
“Just sayin’. She’s smokin’. And you know my standards.”
“And if you want to keep you job, you will repress from ever speaking like that about any woman at this bar again.” The sound of a chair screeching across the wood floor, Lincoln’s voice a rumble. “Especially her.”
“Relax, Linc. It was a compliment.”
“Miguel, you are an average bartender with an over inflated ego.” Lincoln’s voice vibrated with cold anger, curling over my skin. “And I warn you, if I see you make one more sexual comment to her, or even look at her…you’re fired. She may not be, but you are easy to replace. Now go home before I change my mind.”
“Someone needs to get laid. Jesus, what is your problem tonight?” Miguel shot back. “And you wouldn’t fire me, you need me. I’m one of the best and you know it.” With a huff, Miguel stomped out of the office, passing me without a glance, and slamming through the back door.
What the fuck just happened? Did Lincoln actually stand up for me? When did he notice Miguel’s attention on me? He didn’t act like I was even here.
Boots hitting the wood floor, snapped me out of my trance, my head jerking to the doorway. Lincoln strode out, his brown eyes catching mine. Instantly his expression went taunt, his jaw twitching with irritation.
“What are you still doing here?”
“I was finishing side-work.” I forced my feet to stay planted on the floor. He was not going to scare me.
He rubbed the spot between his eyes, his nose flaring. “Go home.” He twisted on his feet.
“Yeah, I was. Thanks for your permission.” I snapped, my temper flared out of my mouth before I could think.
He swung back around, his expression detached, but his jaw rolled with aggravation. His stare latched onto me like a trap, locking me in place. Thick tension sprouted between us, tangling my lungs in its web, and slinking around my body.
He took a step closer, stopping a few feet from me, his form looming over mine.
I couldn’t move or look away, my lungs skimmed the surface as his eyes moved over me. Slowly. Meticulous. Heat bloomed inside, flowing through my veins, and tightening my thighs.
This man was a jerk. Had been nothing but rude to me, but I still couldn’t fight the desire to touch him. See if he was real. Understand why my heart thumped when he was close, why my body responded the way it did to him.
My Thoughts:
WOW…just wow.
This book… I related to it so much on a personal level with Devon and it gutted me. I cried to much reading this book. I’m pretty sure I read half of it though tears. I also read this book in one sitting because I JUST had to know what was going to happen with Devon’s mom. With going into this book, I knew that I was going to cry because of the last book that I read by Stacey, but I didn’t think it was going to be this much. Don’t get me wrong, I love books that make me cry. I think there the best books out there if they can make you feel such emotions. Now on to my review because that’s why your here.
Devon had a rough life, she was dealing with the death of
her father who happened to be killed in the line if duty, her sister getting
pregnant from an abusive boyfriend and her mom finding out that she was aging faster
then she would like. (I don’t want to say what she has because I don’t want to spoil
it.) With all that happening Devon was
the responsible one in the family taking care of everything.
When she finds out her boyfriend of 3 years had been cheating
on her she has a hot stranger find her in the bathroom if a diner, that leads her
to some mind-blowing sex. When she leaves the bathroom, she sees there are red
and blue lights and she wonders what happens. As she gets to the window, she
sees the hot guy that she had just met and had sex with getting arrested she didn’t
even know his name, until later. The kicker was it was her uncle that was
arresting him.
Now five years later: Devon had to make the choice to move
to Albuquerque an put her mom in a facility that would be able to take better
care of her. When she got there, she was needing to get a job so that she would
be able to pay for the medical bills and rent. On her job hunt she finds this
bar and instantly became friends with the bartender, and she hired her. When
Lincoln the owner meets her, she instantly feels a connection, but she isn’t
sure why. She just knew that he was incredibly hot and full of secrets. The funny
thing was Lincoln wanted to fire her right away, but he knew better.
The relationship that Lincoln and Devon had one that I loved
reading. I loved the love hate they had in the beginning and the fact that Devon
was able to slowly break down his walls that he had up for so long and be able
to talk to her and tell her his secrets that he had been hiding.
One of the things that I would have loved to have seen was Lincoln’s
POV especially in a few parts of the story I would LOVED to know what he was
thinking. Aside from that this was still a beautiful and amazing story that I absolutely
loved, and I can’t wait to see what Stacey comes out with next.
This is definitely one of those books that I think you all should check out.
If you like my review be sure to share :)
Latteandbookz 