Ruin

by Samantha Towle

[stacey_is_sassy]

What may Ruin you, may also make you stronger…

A friend of mine reached out to me to let me know there were Aussie review copies available for Ruin. I have never read a book by Samantha Towle but a lot of my friend have and loved her work. Being the Sassy lady that I am, without hesitation, I requested it. Blind. Yep, you read that right, I didn’t even look at the blurb before requesting it. Even when I was approved and downloaded my review copy, I was still in the dark. So, I loaded Ruin so I could start reading as soon as I got home. With a quick squiz to make sure it loaded OK, a few words caught my notice…

ZEUS
GOD and
FIGHT

HuH??? I didn’t see that coming…

Yep, you guessed it, I went to work thinking that I would be coming home to a Paranormal/Fantasy Romance. To be honest, I was a wee bit surprised, as that cover did not lead me to think of Gods at all. Obviously, I didn't look past the hot guy with guns of steel, or I may have noticed the boxing gloves around his kneck (DOH!!!). So, I spent the day talking myself up to enjoying a romance where the God’s were fighting and I’d see some clashes between the big men. Wasn't planning (or in the mood) for a paranormal but Deep breath…I CAN DO IT!!

Totally wrong, I had a bit of a chuckle as I started Ruin. Well, I wasn’t totally wrong, there were some big guys having fights. The only difference was these guys used fists instead of bolts of lightning.

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, real funny.

Anyways, I really enjoyed my first Samantha Towle. It was an emotional story about dreams being broken, love sacrificed, and mistakes made. Young love is tricky at the best of times. In the case of Zeus (not sure about that name) and Cam, they also have the pressure of both having intense career dreams. Zeus plans to be a boxer and Cam, dreams of being a ballerina. They train and work hard to give themselves the best chance of reaching their goals. Their love for each other always took priority, until, Zeus hits the big time. What follows is surprises, heartbreak and betrayal.

Cam has no choice but move on and make a life for herself without Zeus. She’s hurt and finds it hard but luckily she has the support of her very sweet Aunt Elle. Zeus was supposed to be it, "the one", but you don’t always get what you want. When Zeus comes back into her life 5 years later, she’s not so excited to see him, and it’s going to take a lot of work on Zeus’s part, to fix what he broke.

Zeus thought he was making the right decision when he let Cam go. Yep, turns out he’s a numbskull who took the wrong advice and he paid for it for 5 lonely years. His first look at Cam after their time apart nearly brought him to his knees and now he will do anything to fix what he broke.

I really enjoyed this romance and accepted the highs and lows for what they were. Life, throwing a spanner in the works now and again. The storyline was a little predictable and I saw each conflict as a flicker before the flame took hold. I did rolleth my eyes a few times, but the storytelling made the predictability not so bad. There was plenty of sexual tension between the main couple and when they finally hit the wall…literally…my heart was beating fast and I was squirming in my seat. Pretty damn HOT!! I loved the additional characters and found them easy to “see”. I strongly believed in Zeus and Cam’s HEA and thought they could survive any hurdles that would come their way.

I’m glad I got the opportunity to read Ruin and I will be reading more of Samantha Towle’s books in the future.

Stacey is Sassy, received a complimentary copy of this story. The copy provided is not the final copy and may be subject to edits and changes.