Excerpt · Reviews

Finding Trust by Natalie Gayle – Review

 

 

BLURB:

Finding Trust – Book 1 Centre Games Series

Brayden and Rihanna

He’s hot, sexy, and leads a double life. Sometimes in the limelight, mostly in the shadows. Brayden James holds fast to a secret that’s more than his to share.

She’s a singularly focused veterinarian out for a rare night of fun with friends, at a New Year’s Eve rock concert. Going home with the lead guitarist was furthest thing from Rihanna Mason’s mind when the night began. When Rihanna inadvertently becomes the target of a deadly terrorist plot using the Hendra virus as a biological weapon, Brayden is forced to reveal his other life. His job is to keep her safe and together they must stop the terrorists before it’s too late.

But what happens when she becomes more to him than just the assignment? Will the secret he cannot disclose ultimately prove too much for Rihanna’s fragile trust in relationships? Or will he finally break through the double brick walls around her heart, where every other man has failed?

 

Please find the intro to the first chapter of Finding Trust.  Enjoy!  🙂

Chapter One

 

When he moved slightly forward to the microphone and joined in the chorus with “Taaake me baaabyyyyyy , maaaake me yours tooonight,” her eyes moved up to meet his and he knew he had her attention. Bingo! She held his gaze momentarily before becoming self-conscious. Her eyes slipped from his and began to look out into the endless gyrating waves of revellers around her. So she was a little unnerved by the directness of his gaze.

Her eyes returned to his and again he held the connection. Minky, as he thought of her now, broke the connection again. So she wasn’t sure if he was looking at her. Well, he thought, let’s make sure you’re not confused any longer, Minky. The next time her eyes returned to his face, he raised his eyebrows and openly smiled at her. Yep, it’s you I’m interested in tonight, sweetheart.

 

The guy on Minky’s left reached for the sliding door on the side of the van when a voice came out of the shadows.

“Let her go and I’ll consider letting you live.”

Excitement rained through her. It was music to her ears but at the same time left no doubt as to the menace and cold hard intent of its owner. The owner of the voice stepped forward from the shadows and Rihanna immediately recognised him as “her man.” Relief tentatively began to rise in her heart.

 

Review:

I have a sickness but its a good sickness.  I have another Australian author to stalk, I mean read now.  What is it about Australian authors?  Could it be that this Texan can totally understand their language and the places that are described in their stories?  Plus, I can totally relate to the characters, too.  Can we please have Quade and Jazz’s story?  Pretty please?

At the beginning of the book we get a rock god with a red Fender…I’m already in love.  True, I love rock stars.  Too many of my friends in our 20’s were in bands, so I totally understand the dynamics associated with the band.  I have some stories to tell one day, but I digrees.  Like meeting Ozzie, Zak Wylde, Extreme, Pantera…okay, I’ll stop.  Back to the review…

The beginning starts off with a bang and doesn’t slow down until Brayden and Rihanna get back to his place.  I swear Bray has the patience of a saint but that’s what makes him swoon worthy in my book.  He’s kind, sexy, patient and completely alpha when it comes to Rihanna.  He is perfect?  No but that’s what makes him perfect.  He can be overbearing, bossy and too overprotective when it comes to Rihanna.  He is loyal to his other Centre mates, Quade and Rory.

Rihanna never knew that she had an actual backbone.  After living and working with her dad, she didn’t do well in relationships.  With the death of her mom and affect that it had on her dad, she never let a man get close enough.  Jazz was her best friend in the whole world and it showed.  I loved Jazz.

I loved how Ms. Gayle was able to write a great romantic suspense without going over our heads with too much information.  She gave us just enough to be invested in the story and nothing more.  The situations that Rihanna found herself in were easy to relate to and were plausible.  One problem that I had with Rihanna was that she was a little to quick to trust Brayden in the beginning.  She didn’t question him like I would have so in the beginning, it was all lust for me concerning her.  It was like she took a complete 180 when it came to men.  That said by the end of the book, I understood fully on how she came to her decisions in the beginning.  It was all about learning to trust someone again to not leave her.

The secondary characters are well though out and bring so much to the story.  Quade, Rory, Jazz and Rihanna’s dad are vital to the story.  Without them, the story wouldn’t make sense.  Plus, I’ll admit that I’m not a horse person but I was never lost when it was horses and the virus were discussed.  Again, Ms. Gayle did not talk over our heads.

The big secret that Brayden, Quade and Rory have is a very interesting twist into the paranormal.  It is paranormal but then its not.  Trust me, read it and you will understand.  I could understand why Brayden didn’t share this with Rihanna in the beginning but it wore thin at times.  The smexy scenes were hawt and not over the top.  They started off as lust but very soon emerged as highly emotional for me.

I loved this book.  The secret that Brayden had, the suspense, the romance and above the characters that Ms. Gayle wrote will stay with me for awhile.  Can we please have Quade and Jazz’s story?  You will LOVE those two in the book.  🙂

 

BIO:

I recently discovered those school vocational assessments are really interesting and probably correct! Who would have thought, hey? You see, I clearly remember taking one of those in Year 11 (for my US friends, I think that equates to junior year in high school). Anyway, semantics. Well, the results came back indicating that I should pursue a career in writing and something else. What that something else was I can’t remember but the writing thing stuck in my mind. Sure, I’d always liked English and had already developed a ravenous appetite for romance novels by the age of sixteen—but who becomes a writer straight out of school? So to cut a long story short, I went to Uni and studied Business and ended up managing large-scale IT projects shortly after. I can’t complain: it’s been a great career. I’ve done some awesome projects and met some incredible people and I won’t be giving it up anytime soon. Anyway, I’ve messed around with a couple of “secret” novels over the years and I finally decided to get serious and finish one. Hence “Finding Trust” came about. And about twenty years later, I’ve finally proved a vocational assessment correct, because I love writing! As to some other stuff about me: I live on the Gold Coast, Australia. I love spending time with my family and friends. When I’m not sitting behind a screen playing with IT or writing, you might find me down the beach playing in the waves on a Jet Ski or a bogey board (both are uber cool). When the weather turns a bit cooler (doesn’t really happen on the Gold Coast), we like to head for the snow. I’ve discovered I have two kids who are kamikaze skiers—they must take after their father. He’s always at me to “release the handbrake.” Apparently I’d ski so much better. I call it a healthy understanding of self-preservation and gravity! I like to think I can fit in a few workouts and martial arts classes each week. This tends to be a figment of my imagination more than reality, unfortunately. I am trying to remedy this, but those damn characters just keep demanding to have their stories told and, well, there’s always another good book to read! I hope you enjoy mine. Please drop me a line. I’m active on Facebook, Twitter, and via email Natalie@nataliegayle.com.au. I’d love to know what you think of my books and well, let’s be truthful—I love talking about books, whether they’re mine or someone else’s. Fiction is just so much more fun than reality!!! Happy Reading Natalie Gayle

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4 thoughts on “Finding Trust by Natalie Gayle – Review

  1. Hey there,

    Thanks for hosting my blog tour. Sorry I’m a bit slow getting over here. I’ve been travelling with my “real job” hehehehe.

    I’m glad you liked my Centre Games mates. They are an awful lot of fun.

    Just to let you know also, I’m madly trying to finish Finding Judgement – but alas it’s not Quade and Jazz’s book but rather Rory and TJ’s. There is a lot of Jazz, Quade and Dylan. Plus you’ll get to catch up with Rihanna and Brayden! See how things are progressing there.

    Finding Judgement is a little different from Finding Trust – it seems to be quite raw and emotional. I’m having a great time writing it but I have to say Rory has asked me to do some pretty incredible stuff. Took me a while to figure out how to deliver what he wanted.

    All I can say is I hope you enjoy it when I release it!

    Thanks again

    Nat

    1. That’s okay. I loved Rory too. Loved the reference between a lab and golden retriever. LOL!

      I’m sure Quade and Jazz will give you fits when you start writing them. For some reason, I’m seeing lots and lots of conflict and snarkiness between those two.

      Harlie

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