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Growing Pains #1
Lost and Found
On the tail-end of her ex-boyfriend crashing through a restraining order and putting her in the hospital, Krista realizes that the only way to effectively escape her past is to put distance between it. She gets her life back on track in San Francisco with a job that has limitless potential.
Unfortunately, to achieve her dreams, she must brave the star of the company; a charming and handsome salesman that isn’t used to the word no. Krista tries to run from him at every turn, but his pull continually sucks her back in; her hesitancy to trust the only thing saving her from being another notch on a bedpost.
Sean never has to try with women. He's the type of guy to jump in with both feet, get bored, and sprint right back out. But when a geeky new hire stumbles through the company, befuddling him with a keen intellect he doesn’t expect, he starts to lose his way. Before he knows it, all his efforts are concentrated around trying to capture the interest of the only woman to run when he tries to deliver a line. As she opens up, so does he, landing him in a terrain as disconcerting as it is invigorating.
word count: 99,000
Unfortunately, to achieve her dreams, she must brave the star of the company; a charming and handsome salesman that isn’t used to the word no. Krista tries to run from him at every turn, but his pull continually sucks her back in; her hesitancy to trust the only thing saving her from being another notch on a bedpost.
Sean never has to try with women. He's the type of guy to jump in with both feet, get bored, and sprint right back out. But when a geeky new hire stumbles through the company, befuddling him with a keen intellect he doesn’t expect, he starts to lose his way. Before he knows it, all his efforts are concentrated around trying to capture the interest of the only woman to run when he tries to deliver a line. As she opens up, so does he, landing him in a terrain as disconcerting as it is invigorating.
word count: 99,000
396 pages, ebook
First published September 21, 2013
479 people are currently reading
2513 people want to read
About the author
K.F. Breene
120 books14.5k followersFollow me!
K.F. Breene is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Amazon Most Sold Charts and #1 Kindle Store bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy and fantasy novels. With millions of books sold, when she's not penning stories about magic and what goes bump in the night, she's sipping wine and planning shenanigans. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two children, and out of work treadmill.
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K.F. Breene is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Amazon Most Sold Charts and #1 Kindle Store bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy and fantasy novels. With millions of books sold, when she's not penning stories about magic and what goes bump in the night, she's sipping wine and planning shenanigans. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two children, and out of work treadmill.
Click FOLLOW for notification of new releases.
Join her mailing list to receive BONUS CONTENT, free stories, and hear about the crazy goings-on of her life. Sign up here ➜ http://bit.ly/KFBContent
Check out her chat group on Goodreads!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
consider-later
April 25, 2015
FREE on Amazon US today (4/24/2015)
Series is complete.
BLURB:
On the tail-end of her ex-boyfriend crashing through a restraining order and putting her in the hospital, Krista realizes that the only way to effectively escape her past is to put distance between it. She gets her life back on track in San Francisco with a job that has limitless potential.
Unfortunately, to achieve her dreams, she must brave the star of the company; a charming and handsome salesman that isn’t used to the word no. Krista tries to run from him at every turn, but his pull continually sucks her back in; her hesitancy to trust the only thing saving her from being another notch on a bedpost.
Sean never has to try with women. He's the type of guy to jump in with both feet, get bored, and sprint right back out. But when a geeky new hire stumbles through the company, befuddling him with a keen intellect he doesn’t expect, he starts to lose his way. Before he knows it, all his efforts are concentrated around trying to capture the interest of the only woman to run when he tries to deliver a line. As she opens up, so does he, landing him in a terrain as disconcerting as it is invigorating.
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Found-Grow...
FREEBIES are often good for MORE than one day, I have gathered all my FREEBIES on a special shelf: Kindle-freebies (currently over 400 books)
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July 10, 2015
Right away, this book started off confused and the writing was so weird. I could tell everything was written to draw the reader in and get them confused so they would keep reading but it was so obvious. I wasn't emotionally invested so I get have the feelings that the author wanted me to have.
The characters felt under developed and I just wasn't into them. Everything just felt weird. I can't quite explain it but it everything, mostly the first 20%, just felt weird and unnatural.
I didn't like Sean at all. He was such a D-bag and I couldn't understand why
Krista trusted him when he did nothing to warrant that trust. I couldn't find any redeemable qualities in Sean to make him worth while. I would never put up with someone like him and Krista deserved better. But she was so blind and such a poorly written female character. It was so frustrating.
I really hated the ending. It stopped so suddenly and made no sense. I felt like it ended the way it did so the reader would have to get the next book. It was just stupid.
Overall, I just didn't enjoy this book. I wish I could think of something I liked about this book other than the cover. But I can't. I wasn't expecting Lost and Found to be amazing but I didn't like this book at all.
The characters felt under developed and I just wasn't into them. Everything just felt weird. I can't quite explain it but it everything, mostly the first 20%, just felt weird and unnatural.
I didn't like Sean at all. He was such a D-bag and I couldn't understand why
Krista trusted him when he did nothing to warrant that trust. I couldn't find any redeemable qualities in Sean to make him worth while. I would never put up with someone like him and Krista deserved better. But she was so blind and such a poorly written female character. It was so frustrating.
I really hated the ending. It stopped so suddenly and made no sense. I felt like it ended the way it did so the reader would have to get the next book. It was just stupid.
Overall, I just didn't enjoy this book. I wish I could think of something I liked about this book other than the cover. But I can't. I wasn't expecting Lost and Found to be amazing but I didn't like this book at all.
October 3, 2013
Clearly I should have read reviews before getting this book.
Until the ending, this was a solid 4 stars.
DO NOT sell me a book that is only half the story and leave in the middle of it with "Read the next one." That is not going to inspire me to read the next one.
FYI, this was only 1/3 of the story. Apparently there are 2 more books to go.
Addendum: I don't mind serials, if you tell me up front that it's a serial and you actually cut the parts in logical places. This just ended abruptly in without closing the loop so to speak. In short, this was not a logical place in the story to stop.
Until the ending, this was a solid 4 stars.
DO NOT sell me a book that is only half the story and leave in the middle of it with "Read the next one." That is not going to inspire me to read the next one.
FYI, this was only 1/3 of the story. Apparently there are 2 more books to go.
Addendum: I don't mind serials, if you tell me up front that it's a serial and you actually cut the parts in logical places. This just ended abruptly in without closing the loop so to speak. In short, this was not a logical place in the story to stop.
October 7, 2013
This novel has some very emotional moments that are balanced with some moments that make you laugh out loud. It’s the perfect balance of drama and comedy to allow you to escape from reality while within the pages. Breene wraps this captivating story up in a brilliant package that lets you completely immerse yourself in the storyline. This novel is exceedingly well put together. The understated descriptions fit quite well with the subject matter at hand while allowing you to visualize the story, while still leaving room for your imagination to take over. The mellow flow of this story also allows you to focus on the storyline rather than simply racing through to the end.
I really appreciate the fact that I liked (or fell in love with) more than one character in this novel. Both the main and supporting cast were quite well developed, but remained true to themselves. Everyone was human and acted like a real person. It was quite intriguing to see the male lead trying to walk the line between the role he’s made for himself and who he really is. You get to know both sides of him and how they don’t always fit together so perfectly. You also feel for the female lead, both with what she’s been through in the past and what she’s facing now.
As a whole, this was a brilliant introduction into this series and to the author as well. I would recommend it to any who enjoy a bit of will-they-won’t-they budding romance immersed in reality.
Please note that I received this novel free of charge from the author/publisher/blog tour company in exchange for an honest review.
I really appreciate the fact that I liked (or fell in love with) more than one character in this novel. Both the main and supporting cast were quite well developed, but remained true to themselves. Everyone was human and acted like a real person. It was quite intriguing to see the male lead trying to walk the line between the role he’s made for himself and who he really is. You get to know both sides of him and how they don’t always fit together so perfectly. You also feel for the female lead, both with what she’s been through in the past and what she’s facing now.
As a whole, this was a brilliant introduction into this series and to the author as well. I would recommend it to any who enjoy a bit of will-they-won’t-they budding romance immersed in reality.
Please note that I received this novel free of charge from the author/publisher/blog tour company in exchange for an honest review.
October 9, 2013
Okay the 1st half of the book wasn't making me sing at all, was long winded and characters seemed choppy. Didn't get a fix on them at all..
I wanted to stop this maddness many times and just set this book aside. But I kept going forward.
The 2nd half I started to feel like I was reading Bridget Jone's diary the same elements were there.
Her close friends her silly humor and the open mouth that gets her into trouble.
This books leads you all the way to the end and you think that perhaps the H&H can finally get together and they all go off to their happpy beds, well not at all... it only takes you to book 2.
I have read too many good books lately that are still singing in my soul to give much more to this one... or continuing the story..sorry
I wanted to stop this maddness many times and just set this book aside. But I kept going forward.
The 2nd half I started to feel like I was reading Bridget Jone's diary the same elements were there.
Her close friends her silly humor and the open mouth that gets her into trouble.
This books leads you all the way to the end and you think that perhaps the H&H can finally get together and they all go off to their happpy beds, well not at all... it only takes you to book 2.
I have read too many good books lately that are still singing in my soul to give much more to this one... or continuing the story..sorry
October 7, 2013
ok, let's start off first, with that i had a lot of mixed feelings about this book, and i was very disappointed...
i got this book when it was a freebie a while back, when i read what the book was about i was hooked. i couldn't wait to read it. then when i got into the book, i got let down. it was very boring and when i was going to stop reading it and put it in my DNF then it gets a little better, but also goes back down hill..
Krista was in an abusive relationship. She was with a very attractive guy who gave her a lot of attention. That was until he started beating her. She was out with her girlfriends when he overheard a conversation. He automatically thought it was about him, and he let her have it. Krista was able to move away with a protection order. That didn't stop him. He broke it a couple times, and continued going to jail. now that she is moved to a different state she thought she was safe. That was until he started threatening her thru her social media site. Then that was the end of it. Thru the rest of the book you heard nothing about the evil ex boyfriend. You cannot began the chapter with that he is back and going to kill her and not bring it up again.
Krista just graduated college, and got a good job as a researcher. She is socially awkward, and seems to embarrass herself a lot. She has a lucky mug that makes her feel very confident. That was until a very hot guy broke her mug. She was in shambles. he was able to fix the mug and buy her a new one. She was not going to fall for his charm. She knew what guys like him were like.
Krista ended up being pared with this sexy guy on a work project. She stunned everyone with her job ethics and proved that she wasn't a little kid out of college. She was promoted and got a office to herself. the only problem was that on one liked her. She was still talked about, and people thought she was sleeping with the womanizing man that got her that promotion. She vowed that she was not going to sleep with this man.
Krista really had to fight this temptation. she wanted him. bad. she became friends, and was able to over come a lot of problems with his help. She was turning her boss into a man that he always wanted. the only problem was that he couldn't tell her that. these two will go back and forth about wanting to sleep with each other, but do nothing about it. very annoying! of course if you fall in love with these two characters you will want to read the next book because it leaves you with the hope that they will indeed have sex
i got this book when it was a freebie a while back, when i read what the book was about i was hooked. i couldn't wait to read it. then when i got into the book, i got let down. it was very boring and when i was going to stop reading it and put it in my DNF then it gets a little better, but also goes back down hill..
Krista was in an abusive relationship. She was with a very attractive guy who gave her a lot of attention. That was until he started beating her. She was out with her girlfriends when he overheard a conversation. He automatically thought it was about him, and he let her have it. Krista was able to move away with a protection order. That didn't stop him. He broke it a couple times, and continued going to jail. now that she is moved to a different state she thought she was safe. That was until he started threatening her thru her social media site. Then that was the end of it. Thru the rest of the book you heard nothing about the evil ex boyfriend. You cannot began the chapter with that he is back and going to kill her and not bring it up again.
Krista just graduated college, and got a good job as a researcher. She is socially awkward, and seems to embarrass herself a lot. She has a lucky mug that makes her feel very confident. That was until a very hot guy broke her mug. She was in shambles. he was able to fix the mug and buy her a new one. She was not going to fall for his charm. She knew what guys like him were like.
Krista ended up being pared with this sexy guy on a work project. She stunned everyone with her job ethics and proved that she wasn't a little kid out of college. She was promoted and got a office to herself. the only problem was that on one liked her. She was still talked about, and people thought she was sleeping with the womanizing man that got her that promotion. She vowed that she was not going to sleep with this man.
Krista really had to fight this temptation. she wanted him. bad. she became friends, and was able to over come a lot of problems with his help. She was turning her boss into a man that he always wanted. the only problem was that he couldn't tell her that. these two will go back and forth about wanting to sleep with each other, but do nothing about it. very annoying! of course if you fall in love with these two characters you will want to read the next book because it leaves you with the hope that they will indeed have sex
April 19, 2015
Free kindle read. I almost put this one down. The first 15% of the book was so disjointed and all the character interactions were forced and unnatural. Don't get me started about the roommate's dream painting.
The corporate structure of this company is laughable, so that was hard to accept. It sort of felt like the author has no corporate/sales/advertising knowledge, so she made things up. This would work for a fantasy genre, but in contemporary romance, there are real world rules, and people *cough, cough* who work in the field and know what's falsified and not been researched properly.
Somewhere around the 20% mark, we finally get to really see the main character, Krista. She's nerdy and funny. As the story progressed, and the camaraderie between the team grew, I found myself enjoying the dialogue.
That brings me to Sean. He's a douche. Not just in the womanizing slutty way that the main character classified him. Krista's epiphany where she announces that she trusts Sean is completely unwarranted. He's done nothing really to make her trust him, but he has manipulated her repeatedly. There better be some amazing redeeming qualities to make him a worthwhile love interest IMO.
So, yeah. The low rating comes from a horribly rough beginning, and a feeling that the author didn't research her roles, plus the ending is incomplete and continues into the next installment.
The corporate structure of this company is laughable, so that was hard to accept. It sort of felt like the author has no corporate/sales/advertising knowledge, so she made things up. This would work for a fantasy genre, but in contemporary romance, there are real world rules, and people *cough, cough* who work in the field and know what's falsified and not been researched properly.
Somewhere around the 20% mark, we finally get to really see the main character, Krista. She's nerdy and funny. As the story progressed, and the camaraderie between the team grew, I found myself enjoying the dialogue.
That brings me to Sean. He's a douche. Not just in the womanizing slutty way that the main character classified him. Krista's epiphany where she announces that she trusts Sean is completely unwarranted. He's done nothing really to make her trust him, but he has manipulated her repeatedly. There better be some amazing redeeming qualities to make him a worthwhile love interest IMO.
So, yeah. The low rating comes from a horribly rough beginning, and a feeling that the author didn't research her roles, plus the ending is incomplete and continues into the next installment.
February 21, 2016
This one was long but I couldn't put it down.
The story was really the about how these two had demons and slowly the walls were coming down.
There is no sex scenes and the H/H are not eve together yet but I couldn't put it down and had to buy the next book straight away from the anticipation this book built.
The story was really the about how these two had demons and slowly the walls were coming down.
There is no sex scenes and the H/H are not eve together yet but I couldn't put it down and had to buy the next book straight away from the anticipation this book built.
August 23, 2015
It took 76% of the way through the book to catch my attention, and then it got good... And then it ended.
BUT, I don't know if it ended well enough to make me want to continue the series...
BUT, I don't know if it ended well enough to make me want to continue the series...
Want to read
August 22, 2019🎁 FREE on Amazon today (8/22/2019)! 🎁
August 8, 2014
This was another freebie I had gotten. This was better than some, but mostly I had trouble making myself sit down and read it. There wasn't much to go on for Krista's background. Her boyfriend beat her, she was in a really bad situation, he put her in the hospital. She had her moments where she froze, but really, she seemed worried about Sean's womanizing ways (which I would worry about that too). The author barely touches her history and expects to to play out through the story. It's hard because I was never really connected to Krista at all and felt very little for her. It was hard to connect with her and her past.
There were some cheesy spots where she does something klutzy. I think the author played this aspect up too much. The 7th or 12th time it happened, it wasn't charming. Does this girl close her eyes when she walks or turns corners? I used to have a horrible habit of looking at my feet when I walked and I never once had it as bad as Krista does, running into everything. Once or twice is funny, after that it makes me wonder what drugs she's taking.
The story was interesting enough to keep me reading, but there was a lot that left me completely unsatisfied. At the beginning, Sean start to suspect something about her bad past. Someone had hurt her. Soon that idea fell from his head. It did mine too, to be fair. Krista wants him but doesn't want to want him. So she starts dating a guy she really doesn't like, so she can have sex. I'm all for girl power, but this doesn't make me easy with her background nor the romantic interest between the two main characters.
Sean is a womanizer. He's supposed to stop his womanizing ways because of his interest in Krista. He doesn't. Instead he gets a guilty look on his face when he gets busted with another office romance. It doesn't speak well for his character.
I'm not sure I like this couple, to be honest. Sean didn't want to make a move while they were working on a project together. Smart idea. Sleeping with your team members can be a problem. Especially if you break up. So obviously Sean is going to get over that at some point in the next book or two because they are on the same team again. Krista, the socially awkward girl with her womanizing boss, Sean. I don't care to read more to find out. Mostly, it was a boring book with barely a story I wanted to finish. The work related stuff was tedious and boring.
So this book ends abruptly. I would say in the middle of a chapter really. I was reading along and BAM! The end. The hell just happened? The author felt no need to wind it down for the next book. It could have been done better without throwing the reader into the wall going into the turn. Poorly done and not interested enough to actually buy the other two books to find out what happens or anything else this author may put out.
There were some cheesy spots where she does something klutzy. I think the author played this aspect up too much. The 7th or 12th time it happened, it wasn't charming. Does this girl close her eyes when she walks or turns corners? I used to have a horrible habit of looking at my feet when I walked and I never once had it as bad as Krista does, running into everything. Once or twice is funny, after that it makes me wonder what drugs she's taking.
The story was interesting enough to keep me reading, but there was a lot that left me completely unsatisfied. At the beginning, Sean start to suspect something about her bad past. Someone had hurt her. Soon that idea fell from his head. It did mine too, to be fair. Krista wants him but doesn't want to want him. So she starts dating a guy she really doesn't like, so she can have sex. I'm all for girl power, but this doesn't make me easy with her background nor the romantic interest between the two main characters.
Sean is a womanizer. He's supposed to stop his womanizing ways because of his interest in Krista. He doesn't. Instead he gets a guilty look on his face when he gets busted with another office romance. It doesn't speak well for his character.
I'm not sure I like this couple, to be honest. Sean didn't want to make a move while they were working on a project together. Smart idea. Sleeping with your team members can be a problem. Especially if you break up. So obviously Sean is going to get over that at some point in the next book or two because they are on the same team again. Krista, the socially awkward girl with her womanizing boss, Sean. I don't care to read more to find out. Mostly, it was a boring book with barely a story I wanted to finish. The work related stuff was tedious and boring.
So this book ends abruptly. I would say in the middle of a chapter really. I was reading along and BAM! The end. The hell just happened? The author felt no need to wind it down for the next book. It could have been done better without throwing the reader into the wall going into the turn. Poorly done and not interested enough to actually buy the other two books to find out what happens or anything else this author may put out.
Read
April 28, 2018DNF @ 17%.
This was surprisingly, disappointingly bad.
I quite enjoyed the Warrior Chronicles by this same author under a different pen name, and picked this one up as a result. The description was intriguing, and made it sound like the heroine was a traumatized character rebuilding herself and learning to love again, while the hero learned about her trauma and helped her get there.
What I actually got was a book that had the following problems:
- written rather badly. The adjectives and writing style are off, and needs editing.
- You know how I was expecting a book with deep thought and growth and handling her traumatic past with maturity, etc.? Instead, the heroine spends all her time running around being the typical clumsy clown (someone tell me why authors think this is adorable in heroines. it is NOT), stammering and babbling and physically running off when approached by the hero like this is a high school romance, spending all her time fluttering and sighing over the hero like she's an adolescent girl in the throes of her first boys-are-cute revelation, and otherwise wringing her hands over things so stupid it blows my mind (such as a fucking "lucky mug". I would punch someone who went on to that extent about a shitty mug). This was supposedly a romance about a grown woman and a grown man in a workplace. It reads like some Stephanie Meyer level giggly teen romance.
- The dialogue between the hero and heroine is so utterly boring that they should just move to different cities, marry other people, and never speak again so that nobody will have to read their mind-numbing interactions with each other.
For an excellent book that would actually fulfill the description and have a traumatized heroine that grows and learns to love again with the hero's help, I'd recommend Nalini Singh's Rock Hard instead.
This was surprisingly, disappointingly bad.
I quite enjoyed the Warrior Chronicles by this same author under a different pen name, and picked this one up as a result. The description was intriguing, and made it sound like the heroine was a traumatized character rebuilding herself and learning to love again, while the hero learned about her trauma and helped her get there.
What I actually got was a book that had the following problems:
- written rather badly. The adjectives and writing style are off, and needs editing.
- You know how I was expecting a book with deep thought and growth and handling her traumatic past with maturity, etc.? Instead, the heroine spends all her time running around being the typical clumsy clown (someone tell me why authors think this is adorable in heroines. it is NOT), stammering and babbling and physically running off when approached by the hero like this is a high school romance, spending all her time fluttering and sighing over the hero like she's an adolescent girl in the throes of her first boys-are-cute revelation, and otherwise wringing her hands over things so stupid it blows my mind (such as a fucking "lucky mug". I would punch someone who went on to that extent about a shitty mug). This was supposedly a romance about a grown woman and a grown man in a workplace. It reads like some Stephanie Meyer level giggly teen romance.
- The dialogue between the hero and heroine is so utterly boring that they should just move to different cities, marry other people, and never speak again so that nobody will have to read their mind-numbing interactions with each other.
For an excellent book that would actually fulfill the description and have a traumatized heroine that grows and learns to love again with the hero's help, I'd recommend Nalini Singh's Rock Hard instead.
September 23, 2013
Krista almost didn't survive her relationship that she had with her ex. Now she can start over and become a new woman. She starts a job at a company being a researcher. Her boss is a little boring and to say her working environment is pretty different. Seems like no one like the research team and they normally stay to themselves. That is until Krista is put on a project and seems to make a name for herself. Now Sean wants her on his main project because he knows she can do it.
Sean is a womanizer and he does it to get to the top of the ladder. Seems like every time he is doing something with a woman at work Krista catches him at it. He has feelings for her but his friend tells him that he better change his ways or it will cost him what he want the most. Something that Sean doesn't take his words to heart.
I just can't see what to make of Sean. I know that there is something between Krista and Sean. I just can't make up my mind if she should or not. She knows what he does and she still wants him. It seems that her old relationship didn't change her as much as she thought. I really got into this story and Krista really surprised me like she did everyone else. She is smart and knows how to get the job done. I can't wait to read the next book. I have to see what happens next.
Sean is a womanizer and he does it to get to the top of the ladder. Seems like every time he is doing something with a woman at work Krista catches him at it. He has feelings for her but his friend tells him that he better change his ways or it will cost him what he want the most. Something that Sean doesn't take his words to heart.
I just can't see what to make of Sean. I know that there is something between Krista and Sean. I just can't make up my mind if she should or not. She knows what he does and she still wants him. It seems that her old relationship didn't change her as much as she thought. I really got into this story and Krista really surprised me like she did everyone else. She is smart and knows how to get the job done. I can't wait to read the next book. I have to see what happens next.
July 17, 2014
I wouldn't normally read a book like this, but it was free, so I got it on my Kindle. I was expecting it to be a cute love story, not a really long and boring book about the business world. There was ENTIRELY too much business detail. For someone who isn't in that part of the business world, I had no idea what was going on half the time. I felt like the author over-explained a lot of things and then didn't explain enough of others. I kept reading and kept reading, hoping that Sean and Krista would finally show their feelings for each other... and nope. I really enjoyed the humor and how awkward Krista was. I was even laughing out loud at some parts (like when Krista bites him. I died!). But the whole business thing took away from it. There was just too much detail in there. I did, however, purchase the second book because I really want to read about the romance part of Sean and Krista's relationship, and I am so far, much much more interested in the second book.
November 4, 2015
Not believable -- heroine is too badly behaved for a workplace romance
The relationship is between the h and her boss. He's the stereotypical nice guy that everyone thinks is sleazy. Poor misunderstood guy. The h is a newly employed researcher who has trust issues and behavioral problems (although there is no mention of Tourette syndrome, she does mention the cosmos being against her but I wasn't sure if she meant the drink or not). She speaks like a teenager and says and does inappropriate things. But we are supposed to believe she is being promoted (in reality, she'd be fired) and has relatively normal friends.
The relationship is between the h and her boss. He's the stereotypical nice guy that everyone thinks is sleazy. Poor misunderstood guy. The h is a newly employed researcher who has trust issues and behavioral problems (although there is no mention of Tourette syndrome, she does mention the cosmos being against her but I wasn't sure if she meant the drink or not). She speaks like a teenager and says and does inappropriate things. But we are supposed to believe she is being promoted (in reality, she'd be fired) and has relatively normal friends.
October 5, 2013
Lost and Found is the first book in K.F. Breene's Growing Pain series. The book is not a standalone book and does not end with a HEA but a see the next book, etc. I am not a huge fan of cliffhangers so I was disappointed by the ending. That being said the book was entertaining enough to keep me interested till the end. I do love reading about a flawed hero but I did definitely want to smack this womanizing hero several times. Krista was an awesome character, too bad the hero is too stupid to see that. So if you like flawed heroes and don't mind lack of a HEA then I recommend this book.
August 13, 2014
Dragged on! This story spent too much time detailing main character's work projects and not enough time developing character's personality and backstory. In fact, no characters in this book were developed well at all.
The entire story eluded to issues stemming from the characters' pasts, but never really discussed them. There was no real conflict and resolve elements in this story. I felt like I was reading a work log.
The entire story eluded to issues stemming from the characters' pasts, but never really discussed them. There was no real conflict and resolve elements in this story. I felt like I was reading a work log.
October 12, 2013
The beginning of this book was kind of a drag for me, but as I kept reading, I started getting into Sean and krista's relationship. I love Krista! She's hilaaaaarious! I couldn't stop laughing at her and her mug, how her mug likes to commit suicide whenever it's around Sean lol. Really excited to read the second book.
October 15, 2013
Worst book ever! I only gave it one star because the author tried.
March 6, 2019
Shut up good
This book was everything I didn't know I needed to read. Sweet girl, hot guy, work that always has a twist. I look great forward to reading the next book
This book was everything I didn't know I needed to read. Sweet girl, hot guy, work that always has a twist. I look great forward to reading the next book
November 14, 2015
Title: Lost and Found
Author: K.F. Breene
Series: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Release Date: September 22, 2013
Rating: 1
HEA:
Honestly I read this a few weeks ago from writing this review and I hated the book so much that I don't even want to do a review. While I am reading on my kindle and I am reading a book that I don't like sometimes I highlight areas to show why I don't like it. So since I am done even thinking about this book and don't care if the review is good or not here are the quotes I highlighted. Normally I pick a few sentences out of the paragraphs but I didn't do anything to these. I don't remember if they have any type of spoilers so be careful.
Author: K.F. Breene
Series: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Release Date: September 22, 2013
Rating: 1
HEA:
Honestly I read this a few weeks ago from writing this review and I hated the book so much that I don't even want to do a review. While I am reading on my kindle and I am reading a book that I don't like sometimes I highlight areas to show why I don't like it. So since I am done even thinking about this book and don't care if the review is good or not here are the quotes I highlighted. Normally I pick a few sentences out of the paragraphs but I didn't do anything to these. I don't remember if they have any type of spoilers so be careful.
“Right.” Sean smiled and took the gift card hesitantly, his finger brushing her thumb. Sparklers went off at the base of his groin. It was like the Fourth of July and his dick wanted to celebrate.
Kate’s look turned serious. “You didn’t fall for him, did you? Because you know you can’t do that, Kris. You know—” “No, I didn’t fall for him,” Krista said defensively, shifting in her seat. “I’m not quite that stupid. I just… he’s just… it’s just nice talking to him. I couldn’t find anything that made me believe all the rumors. Until today.” “Besides always trying to fuck you?” Kate got slightly more dirty mouthed when she was riled up, which was saying something because she was plenty filthy in the normal course of her day. “Who is this?” Ben asked quietly. Krista rolled her eyes. “A guy I work with. He’s always after—” “Her pussy,” Kate interjected. “Kate, you know I hate that word!” Krista said with spite. “That’s why I used it. I can see you losing sight of yourself with him. As I sit here, I can see it as you talk about him. He’s no good. Do I have to remind you that Jim was exactly the same way in the beginning? Attractive and clever and dashing?”
“Look, I’ll tell ya what…” Sean was about to gamble. He hated gambling. It was too unpredictable. He liked to be sure of the outcome before he put his neck out. It was why he hadn’t asked Krista out yet. He didn’t like when people said no. “I pissed her off today. She’s going to take it all kinds of wrong—” “What’d you do?” John sat down again, his grin back. The guy couldn’t sit still. Sean shrugged. “There’s a list, actually. All in the best interest of the presentation, but I doubt she’ll see it that way. Anyway, because I know she cares about her work and her job and how she is received, I bet you she’ll be in here Monday to bitch me out.” “The way I hear it, when she gets in a foul mood she bitches everyone out.” Sean laughed. It was true. He’d witnessed it a couple of times when she’d had a bad date, or James Montgomery was being particularly stodgy. In the early morning she let her bad moods get away from her. Sean loved watching the fireworks. She could make the old ladies scurry out with a look.
There were two people present when Krista made the entrance into the break room. They looked up when she walked in, which meant they were probably gossiping. When they didn’t continue talking, it probably meant they were gossiping about her. She didn’t care. She stopped behind the one with tight curls on the top of her head in an ugly hair thing. “Nice clip,” she said, being nasty but hiding it behind the compliment. Basically, that was her kicking the dog. The woman—she was from Client Retention—gave her a weird look and shuffled out of her way with her cup half-full. The two ladies left shortly after. Krista didn’t care. She got her java and skulked back to her cube with a raging headache. She had no phone messages and no e-mails, so if she was getting fired, the meeting wasn’t scheduled yet. Mr. Montgomery wasn’t in yet, either—she did a drive-by with a quick glance—so she couldn’t enact the scowl-meter. She was flying blind. And in pain.
Sean nodded and got up to move around his desk. It was probably another power play, but Krista had no idea what to do to counter it. She couldn’t very well tell him not to sit in his own chair in his own office. She decided to ignore it. Instead, she noticed his agile body was perfectly outlined in Dockers and a button-down shirt. She was hypnotized by his butt for exactly the five seconds it was in view.
She was suddenly feeling like a pawn in a game of chess. This guy might be out of her league just a little—hell, who was she fooling. A ton! She gritted her teeth and steeled her determination. She hardened her voice in a last-ditch effort and laid it all out there. “You see, I was under the impression that we were united as a team. We were presenting in a unified front. But I had to introduce myself. Yet I wasn’t told that would be the protocol, which made me look stupid. Then at the end I had to answer a question with a made-up answer because you didn’t step up. We were a team going in, but then you fed me to the wolves.” “More like a pack of hyenas.” …………? Krista blinked a half dozen times. Sean picked up the phone and started dialing. This was another power-play tactic, she was sure of it. They were in the middle of a serious conversation, but he would render her unimportant by doing other things. In other words, she didn’t have his undivided attention. The sneaky bastard. Whatever. She could play this game too. In fact, a break from critical thinking was welcomed. Her head was pounding. She put her lucky mug on the desk and leaned back, mirroring the guy next to her, and waited patiently for Sean to get off the phone.
Sean smiled in a sleazy sort of way. Monica smiled back in a flirty, carefree way as she turned her eyes on Krista, who was unimpressed with the whole scene. To be polite, she nodded hello as she turned her eyes back to Sean.
She got directions deep into the art department, where not many Research people went. For a reason. As she walked, clutching her pen and paper, she entered into a chaos against which her brain tried to rebel. People were everywhere, talking and laughing and yelling. Paper was strewn all over desks of all different colors and sizes. Some desks had paper over their keyboards, crawling up their screens. One person was singing at the top of her lungs. When she finished, three other people clapped. It might as well have been a theater production of Cats. Krista wanted to turn around and run.
Before Krista could answer, Phyllis turned to her chums and said, “It’s not often we get a Research person this far into the art department, you know? They’re usually all freaked out that we’ll kidnap ’em or somethin’!” They all laughed uproariously. Krista chuckled to be part of the group but was secretly wondering if she would make it out alive. Odds weren’t looking good.
Krista passed out the remaining books. “Okay, well first, you should all know that Marcus and I speak a different language. He speaks in high art, and I speak in normal person…” “There was nothing normal in those books you passed around.” Marcus cut her off. “Okay, well, affluent math, then. So when I went to get Marcus’s ideas, which I think was Sean’s big practical joke to torture me…” Marcus and Judy both laughed. Sean was looking at her, blank-faced. She hurried on. “I wrote down a bunch of genius crap that I then stared at for a couple of hours before realizing there was no way in hell—excuse my language—that I could turn it into logical, statistical research. It was all gibberish as far as I could tell.”
April 17, 2019
600 or so pages and nothing happens, and then you find that that this is only a third of the story. Sadly, this is not well written. It was confusing; it spent too much time on the process of putting together an ad campaign without actually explaining what was happening; and there was evidence of edits being made on a draft without the whole chapter, let alone book, being checked for continuity. The author kept interrupting the narrative with her own asides, which was very distracting and not as “hip” as she appears to think it is. Her female protagonist, who came across as incredibly immature and would very likely not have kept her job in reality, like to spout off Spanish words and say really immature things. The one made that me really shake my head was when her partner commented that his job was to spit out ideas, she replied, “Just call me a spittoon. Said spittoon knows how to write things down and keep track of them.” Additionally, on two occasions the author referred to someone by an incorrect name. This should not have been published until the author had, at least, reread her novel.
June 21, 2020
A cracking good book
This was such a light hearted, funny book.
I really enjoyed the characters, i liked that the focus just wasnt on the romance. The author had really done their research on marketing and instead of work just being a setting for a budding relationship the detail of the job made this story more real . The romance was subtle throughout the whole of the book which i enjoy more than panty ripping, steamy sex and declarations of love within the first few chapters.
The author approached the abuse from a previous relationship in a pragmatic way and how they subtely wove it into Krista's character which is closer to the truth than some other books that i have read.
I really good read which i stayed up way too late to finish reading. Always a good sign.
This was such a light hearted, funny book.
I really enjoyed the characters, i liked that the focus just wasnt on the romance. The author had really done their research on marketing and instead of work just being a setting for a budding relationship the detail of the job made this story more real . The romance was subtle throughout the whole of the book which i enjoy more than panty ripping, steamy sex and declarations of love within the first few chapters.
The author approached the abuse from a previous relationship in a pragmatic way and how they subtely wove it into Krista's character which is closer to the truth than some other books that i have read.
I really good read which i stayed up way too late to finish reading. Always a good sign.
April 2, 2022
This was very good with a well developed story line and great characters. The romance is very slow burn with the couple in question not achieving anything more than a kiss between them. They're very attracted to each other but she runs every time creating a coming together-pulling apart scenario that repeats throughout this book. Her very abusive past has her terrified of getting involved with Sean in a romantic or sexual way even as her body burns him. Instead they become colleagues and friendship forms.
January 30, 2025
This is an awkwardly written book. The MC overthinks and pathologizes everyday interactions to an annoying extent. While most of us are capable of getting coffee, for example, without crossing the line and insulting women we barely know just because they rub us the wrong way, this happens more than once in this book. She also has strange amounts of hostility towards her boss, other co-workers (especially the women who are attractive), and pretty much the world. Nothing is too small for her to turn into a disagreeable conversation. There's an early scene where her "lucky mug" is broken (and god, I never want to see that phrase again after how much she talked about that mug) and a co-worker tries to make it up to her by giving her a Starbucks gift card. But, no, she's too good for Starbucks and refuses to go there. Instead of just taking the card and giving it away like a regular person would do when given a small gift like this, she makes a point of returning it.
Exhausting to read.
Exhausting to read.
October 29, 2018
I loved it
Krista is starting her first big job after college and getting her life together close to friends in San Francisco after her disaster relationship. She is a researcher for a advertising agency. Her first presentation goes over so well that she is being used in a bigger client. Sean sees her as a rock star but she will only work with him if he keeps to himself. I can't wait to read book two.
Krista is starting her first big job after college and getting her life together close to friends in San Francisco after her disaster relationship. She is a researcher for a advertising agency. Her first presentation goes over so well that she is being used in a bigger client. Sean sees her as a rock star but she will only work with him if he keeps to himself. I can't wait to read book two.
July 13, 2022
I read this series for the second time and, as with most of KF Breene/ Willow Summers books, I am engrossed with the characters, their growth and most of all, the dialogue. Krista, Jasmine and Kate crack me up and Sean is likable... But Breene captures that realistic balance between charismatic, charming and cad well. We have all met a Sean. One doesn't need a crazy ex to be conflicted about that type. Relatable and had me in stitches.
November 28, 2018
VERY ENTERTAINING ADVENTURE
Author did a great job of setting the scene and introduced the various intriguing characters. A lot of information was given to bring out the dynamics of how all the characters fit together to make a very entertaining story. However this story does end on a cliffhanger.
Author did a great job of setting the scene and introduced the various intriguing characters. A lot of information was given to bring out the dynamics of how all the characters fit together to make a very entertaining story. However this story does end on a cliffhanger.
July 24, 2024
This book was kind of a struggle. In the beginning the story starts with her past but then the rest of the book does not delve into more. The whole story was about her project at work and nothing much else going on. Also the information overload did not help. I was forgetting who people were or things that had happened. I unfortunately will not be continuing this journey.
October 10, 2018
Too much of the story was about their advertising job. It’s a 3 book story, not sure if it’s worth spending money on the next 2, since I’ve read the 4th book about his sister so I know how Sean and kristas story ends
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