Reviews: Jacked: Tina Reber
Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)Tina Reber
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Release date December 11, 2014
We all have skeletons in our closets.
Doctor Erin Novak was only sixteen when she was accused of a crime she didn't commit. Since that moment, she has made it her life goal to pursue emergency medicine, pouring her heart and soul into assuring another innocent life isn’t lost to the hands of the wicked.
We all have secrets we've never shared.
Detective Adam Trent has lost control of everything, starting with losing his partner to a punk with a gun and then everything else to the crushing guilt. Now a member of the elite Auto Theft Task Force in Philadelphia, it's his job to be one step ahead of the criminals stealing expensive cars in the city. Too bad the television cameras keep getting in the way of his investigation.
We all have pasts that we can never escape.
A stolen car, a tragic chase, and a traffic stop crosses the fates of these two, tying them together in ways that are unimaginable. As their love and trust grows, so do the enemies that threaten their survival, testing the strength of their commitment. Can true love endure half-truths, past pains, and secrets never meant to be shared?
Some things are just out of our control.
****Love Unscripted spin-off featuring Kyle Trent's older brother, Adam.
I have been waiting for the Trent brothers’ spin off for what feels like forever…
I was both excited and nervous to start this new series (Jacked is a standalone); lately, I have had a lot of hit and misses.
Excited to say that Jacked was a HIT!
Holy hell, what a great way to end my year of favorite reads. I am thrilled to be adding this couple to that standing. I have always been a fan of Ms. Reber, and absolutely loved Ryan and Taryn’s journey; however, I must say, Tina wrote her ass off when she gave us Adam and Erin.
The chemistry between these two flew off the pages, pulling me straight in with their sassy and witty banter. Normally, I am not a fan of anything related to instant; I usually tend to avoid it, but with these two, I loved their insta-lust mixed with the insane amounts of flirty and cheeky attitude. It was wicked observing each protagonist giving as good as they took. Jacked drew me in and entertained me enough to keep me reading until 4 am. After the last few DNF's I have had, it was refreshing to read about characters that held strong chemistry, connection, and charisma.
Adam is everything I would look for in a male protagonist, especially his dominating alpha male traits. For me, men like Adam are a wicked turn on, and his character totally did not fail to rev my engines or Erin’s for that matter. Being an avid reader of Erotica, I was interested to see where Ms. Reber was going to go with this whole rope play. And I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised to see that she pulled it off. If you are not into erotic play, no worries, this is not that "type" of read. Yes, Adam uses rope play, but it is just that--play. It does not hold your typical BDSM aspects. There wasn’t anything that would make you feel out of your comfort zone. Although, for my own personal preference, there was one scene towards the end that left me disappointed a bit, as well as threw me for a loop. It didn’t have anything to do with the play itself, instead it had to do with the angered and hurtful words Adam used. It felt very out of character for the man I had grown to adore. During this moment, I lost some respect for him; however, my upset did not last long before he was once again redeeming himself.
I had a lot of fun with Erin’s kick ass character. She is a breath of fresh air for a reader who struggles with the heroine. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about her. Her character captivated me from the opening page and held my adoration all the way through till the end.
As individuals and as a couple they each had their flaws. Insecurity and communication played a major part in those flaws. They suffered from flight and flight and sometimes played a pretty good game of cat and mouse. I felt Tina handled the fight and flight better than I expected for such a long story. I loved that she didn’t draw out the drama, nor did she let the lovers stew for too long before they were working things out. My only complaint here was these two main flaws kept repeating themselves. At one point, I thought to myself, when will they stop with this and realize that they are meant for each other. This was more of an issue with Erin than with Adam. Outside of these flaws I mentioned, this couple was loving, intriguing, funny, and downright sexy as hell.
Tina Reber writes one hell of a male point of view. Probably one of the best I have read in a long time. Her writing is so descriptive and vivid, I felt as if I were inside Adam’s head. Absolutely love when this happens. Men think so differently than women, so it is always nice to get a change of pace, especially when is done to precision.
Overall, I was pretty dang impressed with Jacked. Lots of chemistry and action (in and out of the bedroom) that will keep you riveted. I am one of those readers who usually struggles with overly long books; therefore, when I saw how long it was, I kind of dreaded opening the book. I won’t lie, there were parts that felt overly long, but luckily, I did not feel too many of them, and I got over it rather quickly. The characters were just that engaging. I definitely have to give props to Ms. Reber because she kept my complete attention; it only took me 2 days to finish something that would normally take me over a week.
I am wicked excited for Jason's story in Amped. Tina left us with some unfinished questions and Tina left us with some unfinished questions and I am anxious for those answers. Not to mention, I absolutely adore stories surrounding soldiers and it definitely seems from the teaser that Jason is going to give Adam a run for his money in the hotter than hell alpha male department.
Thank you, Tina Reber, for the complimentary copy of Jacked.
His life is complicated. Hers is falling apart. But in many ways they are kindred spirits. They both have high stress jobs, but are empathetic and like to make a difference. They have past pain that has marked them. They both like control. They both struggle with fear, guilt, loss, lack of trust, and insecurities. And both have secrets that are difficult to share. There are some circumstances that tie them together, but also have the potential to tear them apart.
Adam...Oh my! He is alpha, bossy, in demand, and needs control. But he is also charismatic, thoughtful, caring, and protective. Erin is organized, controlled, insecure, but also playful and funny. But she is also emotional and vulnerable. She keeps her secrets locked down tight and is not afraid to take off when things get too close. They both have walls up for various reasons and don't share easily. They are both looking for redemption and afraid to love, but powerless to stop the pull.
Their relationship is companionable, they have hot chemistry, and they have shared views on many things. But there are situations around them affecting their new found happiness: exes, secrets, stress, their past issues, and danger. There is an underlying suspense story with interwoven connections. And several factors adding drama and complications to their lives individually and together.
I enjoyed the characters and the story. It was told in both points of view. The characters were very well developed and multi-faceted. I liked their chemistry, witty rapport and how they complemented each other. They had difficulty with trust and opening up, but they had a positive effect on making the other person want to be better. They both had damage and pain to overcome and walls to let down. They were strong, determined, and caring. They really were well suited for each other.
Their secrets and pasts were gradually revealed throughout the story with some of them being unexpected surprises. Erin would push him and he would eventually spill, but she was more closed off and he had quite a challenge to get her to open up. It kept me guessing as to what some of the hidden secrets really were. There were several story lines ongoing with multiple possible antagonists that began building to a climax that added more suspense and danger.
I did have a few issues that interfered with my enjoyment. This book was very long at 563 pages. Even though it was well written and I was enjoying the characters and the story, at times it seemed to drag a bit and I felt like it took me a long time to read. But with that being said, she did a good job building their relationship and exploring their issues and had several story lines going on. And it did get even more dramatic and suspenseful in the second half. There were also a couple of scenes that the timing of how they played out kind of shocked me and made me a bit uncomfortable at first. I did not really have a problem with his preferences, but more the timing it occurred and some dialogue that made it seem more angry rather than erotic to me. I came to understand more about the significance of his timing later, but it seemed a bit aggressive and out of his character so it initially turned me off. But I was able to move past it. There were also a couple of small details that I did not feel like were completely followed through with that left me wondering.
But overall it was a good love story with steam, humor, danger, and suspense. I really loved Adam and liked Erin too. We met her sister Katie who has her own set of issues and also learned more about his younger brother Jason and his challenging story that will be the subject of the next book Amped. I have already become attached to Jason and am interested to see where his story goes.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Tina Reber Website/Facebook/TwitterTINA REBER had her first library card at the age of four. The daughter of a small town librarian, books have always held a special place in her life. Her debut novel, Love Unscripted, has been a top contender on Amazon's Best Sellers in Women's Fiction, ranking in the list's top 10 novels often.
She lives a quiet life in Pennsylvania with her husband and son, who allow her to slip away into ficticious worlds on a daily basis.
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