Defiant Attraction

by V.K. Torston

[Eve1972]

So color me impressed because this is V.K. Torston's debut book and it was a very good debut indeed. It was a fairly quick read. It was very well written and well paced. The plot was engaging and had a lot more depth to it than I was anticipating. To be honest, I saw STEPBROTHER and figured it would be a light, flirty, skim the surface type of read. It was so much more than that. The journey of self-discovery both these characters take will break your heart one minute and have you smiling the next.

Although both these characters are young, this book wasn't young adult. We get some hot sex scenes between these two. Some angst. Some violence. I loved both Sophie and Dan. Both were strong characters with big hearts connected through a shared history of dysfunction. There wasn't a ton of secondary characters, but the ones that do feature added some excellent intensity to the story. There wasn't any OW/OM drama, and it was all wrapped up in a nice happy for now ending.



A couple of things kept this from being a complete hit. One, I wish we would have gotten a bit more background on both main characters. I would have liked to have seen some of their interactions before they transitioned into a "couple." It's mentioned briefly that Dan used to sell drugs and had a pretty checkered past. I think it would have given the characters an extra layer of development. My other issue is I would have liked to have seen a further into the future epilogue for these two. Marriage, babies, college degrees, etc. That said, yours truly was impressed with this one so I am giving it two solid thumbs up and I look forward to reading more from this author.