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UnConventional
Santiago Durán walks straight out of Di Monroe’s dreams--crutches and all--into her heart. There’s only one she’s already married.
Di’s parents died suddenly when she was nineteen, leaving her shattered and grateful for Stephen’s rescue. Over the past ten years, her identity has faded into her husband’s logical, controlling shadow, but with familiarity lies comfort. When she heads to New Orleans for an editing convention, she meets Santiago--handsome, smart, and despite being affected by Becker’s muscular dystrophy, someone who sees the real Di, who appreciates her and wants her to shine. Pregnant after their one-night stand, Di realizes putting her "mistake" behind her won’t be easy.
Caught between her loyalty to her husband and the uncertain paternity of her baby, Di soon begins falling for Santiago, drawn to his strength and confidence, yet also his compassion and vulnerability. With Santiago’s help, Di experiences new passion, kindles hidden desires, and uncovers the sheltered part of herself she thought she’d lost long ago. Together, they discover that love is more than mere chemistry, but instead, means you’ve found the person with whom you can be yourself.
Di’s parents died suddenly when she was nineteen, leaving her shattered and grateful for Stephen’s rescue. Over the past ten years, her identity has faded into her husband’s logical, controlling shadow, but with familiarity lies comfort. When she heads to New Orleans for an editing convention, she meets Santiago--handsome, smart, and despite being affected by Becker’s muscular dystrophy, someone who sees the real Di, who appreciates her and wants her to shine. Pregnant after their one-night stand, Di realizes putting her "mistake" behind her won’t be easy.
Caught between her loyalty to her husband and the uncertain paternity of her baby, Di soon begins falling for Santiago, drawn to his strength and confidence, yet also his compassion and vulnerability. With Santiago’s help, Di experiences new passion, kindles hidden desires, and uncovers the sheltered part of herself she thought she’d lost long ago. Together, they discover that love is more than mere chemistry, but instead, means you’ve found the person with whom you can be yourself.
279 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2014
3 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Chie Alemán
1 book19 followersChie Alemán has lived all over the US, though in many ways, New Orleans will always be home. Her work explores themes of family, personal responsibility, and identity, often pulling from her cultural background as the daughter of Cuban immigrants. She is particularly drawn to portraying unique characters, who, despite their disease or disability, are still interesting and sympathetic individuals deserving of love like anyone else. She currently resides in Houston with her husband and for crazy Chihuahuas.
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November 7, 2014
**Full disclosure, I actually talk to the author of this book regularly on Twitter and consider her an Internet friend. I did purchase my copy of this book, and I'm hoping my review doesn't cost me an Internet friend but I promise to be fair and civil in my likes and dislikes.**
UnConventional is a book about finding love and what makes you happy. For the main character, Di (pronounced Dee, not Die) this happens while she is unhappily married to a man who, for lack of a better word, is a dick. At an editor's convention in New Orleans, Di is swept up in a romance and affair with Santiago and realizes her life is forever changed as a result. Santiago suffers from BMD (Becker Muscular Dystrophy), a form of muscular dystrophy affecting only men that results in weakened leg and pelvic muscles that degenerate over time. When Di and Santiago (Diego) meet, he is able to walk short distances with crutches but has a wheelchair as a backup for when the exertion gets too much.
This is a touchy topic because for a lot of people, at least in theory, there's no excuse for having an affair. If you're so unhappy in the marriage, than just leave your husband or wife. In reality, however, people do become stuck in routines and accustomed to the familiar, often staying in situations long past their expiration date. This is the case for Di and Stephen's marriage. Di's parents died together in a car crash when she was only 18/19 leaving her completely alone. Stephen came along at the right time and was together enough to "save" her and they landed up getting married by 19/20. Now at age 30, Di is feeling like she might have just been wasting the last 10 years of her life.
****SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD****SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD****
I really, really, really disliked Di as a character. She is weak willed, completely immature, and never develops beyond that point over the course of the book. At 30 her iPod play list is seemingly comprised entirely of punk bands that were a big in the early 2000's. She bounces along constantly referencing songs from Yellowcard, We The Kings, Simple Plan, Green Day, and even Sum41. This is a constant feature in the book and while I appreciate the author's attempt at trying to give us a real world way to connect to Di by being able to replicate this track list ourselves, it felt incredibly overdone. If you don't already know these songs, there is zero reason for you to look them up to try and set the mood of a scene. Furthermore, I haven't listened to Sum41 or Yellowcard since I was probably 24 and being almost 31 myself, I'm certainly not going to now. It's a strange balance because this is clearly a book for adults in regards to language and sexual content, but the bands are juvenile and it breaks a lot of immersion and ability to relate to Di. I'm not picking on this author either - I utterly detest when authors put in actual bands and actual song titles as setting devices. I've called out my favorite author Faith Hunter for the time she did this in one of her books as well.
When Di and Santiago meet, Santiago is just entirely too nice. His flirtatiousness is one thing, and that much is believable. He's Cuban and I say this because it made me laugh. I've had a Cuban man be a very important part of my life in the past and I can say, at least from my experience, they are ballsy and suave as all hell. So that part of Santiago's mannerisms, at least, rang true for me. After that, however, all of their interactions together degenerated into him loving everything about her and her being utterly and almost nauseatingly infatuated with him. A big problem is that at the beginning, everything they're saying to each other is supposed to be so hilarious. Di is making jokes and Santiago is making jokes but nothing is actually...funny. It's at best a bit humorous. However, since this is written from a first person POV, Di constantly laughing to the point of tears and Santiago being so amused by her feels like "really?" When Di keeps protesting that she is in fact, the most boring person in the world, I was inclined to agree with her.
Secondly (Thirdly?) Di's husband Stephen is a horribly written character. There is no nice way to put this. He's so one dimensional as being a "horrible husband" that he could have walked out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon or one of those ads for domestic abuse not just being about getting hit. For someone who supposedly saved this mess of a woman from drinking herself into constant stupors and nearly being date raped, he is shockingly unempathetic and unfeeling. He is painted as being overly logical and robotic, and if that's the case why would he ever waste time on Di to marry her? It just doesn't line up. There is just no evidence that we ever see that this man would ever have wanted to provide for, or protect, Di. The only reason he would have wanted to, would have been that despite his robotic and controlling personality, he actually did care for her greatly. We learn nothing of how they came to get married other than literally - Di was piss drunk after going on bender after bender following her parent's death. She had no ability to process the loss. She almost gets dragged out of a bar by a potential date rapist, and Stephen walks in and tells the guy to get lost. Somehow this leads to a brief conversation about how he's going to "take care of everything." Flash forward and they've been married 10 years. What?
Also - annoyingly - Di lands up having sex with Santiago for the first time when she is ALSO drunk. I can understand going on a week long bender after losing both your parents in a soap-opera-tastic car crash, but it seems Di just has a problem with drinking in general. Or coping. Or both. Because feelings and being an adult are hard. I couldn't believe that the set up is that she is questioning having an affair, never tells Santiago she's married, and still has her convention BFF goading her on to pursue it! How irresponsible of a person does a supposed friend have to be to actually encourage someone to have an affair simply because they feel like they're stuck. Encourage them to get a divorce, get counseling, deal with their life. Oh but wait, her BFF is accepting of it because she ALSO had an affair once and see, I'm OK!
Of course Di lands up pregnant and of course its Santiago's and after that it becomes incredibly predictable. Everything Santiago does is amazing and wonderful and everything Di does he finds so charming and perfect. There are lots of lines like "I think I was meant to love you" and all of that romance novel stuff. I'm not really sure how Di exactly ever "finds herself" because she is forced into every decision she makes in this book. Pushed to marry Stephen, pushed to have an affair by her BFF, pushed to keep Santiago in her life because of the baby, pushed into realizing she loves him when she realizes she could lose him to complications as a result of his disability, and then 5 seconds after the divorce from one rich successful guy is taken care of, she accepts a proposal from another rich guy so she NEVER deals with how much she can't stand being ALONE.
When Di finally leaves Stephen she does so in the most childish way possible. She literally has a tantrum and throws stuff all over the living room and pulls the equivalent of "GOD ITS LIKE YOU JUST NEVER GOT ME DAD" and storms out of the house. There is no moment where she ever is honest with him about what happened, and because he's painted to be so HORRIBLE you never have to deal with the fact that Di has been having sex with two different men at the same time, lying to one of them completely, and doing pretty OK with the whole thing aside from the "being pregnant" thing. That means Di gets freed from her guilt and excused from any wrongdoing by default? I don't think so. I actually wanted to smack her when she just drives off leaving Stephen standing there confused. How could someone who took care of you for 10 years just suddenly not give a shit that you just leave him. The divorce we find out is finalized 8 months later (pretty quick) and we never hear that he even cared it was over. Really?
Including a character with a disability as a love interest is progressive (a sad thing to say in 2014, I know) and I know the author has a huge passion for bringing to light to needs and wants of differently-abled people in all walks of life. In terms of educating someone in the challenges someone with BMD faces and the struggles they'd have on all levels there was a lot of good there. Santiago is the best character of this book - and he's at his best when talking about his life and his family. What I did find creepy was how Di is so turned on by all his equipment. I understand being accepting and showing someone it doesn't disgust you, but in the beginning she's getting outright turned on by just touching his crutches or watching him transfer out of a wheelchair. It didn't feel hot, it felt oddly predatory. Because it wasn't exactly handled like a fetish, it landed up feeling more...out of place and bizarre.
I can't really say I'd recommend this book because it's so predictable. There wasn't a single thing in it that made me surprised. The writing is TECHNICALLY fine, but the author is still looking for her voice. There's a blanket of sameness over everyone that never gets shed. Descriptions of locations read like travel guides, and some things are just too clunky to say are good writing. The sex scenes are suitably steamy so maybe I'd tell someone to skip to those parts, and perhaps to read a romance novel that does feature someone with a disability so they CAN understand that everyone needs love.
Yes, this is a romance novel and they are formulaic, but since this featured other heavier themes like infidelity and finding yourself as an individual, I really hoped for more meat. I think the author has it in her to write something deeper and I hope she pursues that in future books.
UnConventional is a book about finding love and what makes you happy. For the main character, Di (pronounced Dee, not Die) this happens while she is unhappily married to a man who, for lack of a better word, is a dick. At an editor's convention in New Orleans, Di is swept up in a romance and affair with Santiago and realizes her life is forever changed as a result. Santiago suffers from BMD (Becker Muscular Dystrophy), a form of muscular dystrophy affecting only men that results in weakened leg and pelvic muscles that degenerate over time. When Di and Santiago (Diego) meet, he is able to walk short distances with crutches but has a wheelchair as a backup for when the exertion gets too much.
This is a touchy topic because for a lot of people, at least in theory, there's no excuse for having an affair. If you're so unhappy in the marriage, than just leave your husband or wife. In reality, however, people do become stuck in routines and accustomed to the familiar, often staying in situations long past their expiration date. This is the case for Di and Stephen's marriage. Di's parents died together in a car crash when she was only 18/19 leaving her completely alone. Stephen came along at the right time and was together enough to "save" her and they landed up getting married by 19/20. Now at age 30, Di is feeling like she might have just been wasting the last 10 years of her life.
****SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD****SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD****
I really, really, really disliked Di as a character. She is weak willed, completely immature, and never develops beyond that point over the course of the book. At 30 her iPod play list is seemingly comprised entirely of punk bands that were a big in the early 2000's. She bounces along constantly referencing songs from Yellowcard, We The Kings, Simple Plan, Green Day, and even Sum41. This is a constant feature in the book and while I appreciate the author's attempt at trying to give us a real world way to connect to Di by being able to replicate this track list ourselves, it felt incredibly overdone. If you don't already know these songs, there is zero reason for you to look them up to try and set the mood of a scene. Furthermore, I haven't listened to Sum41 or Yellowcard since I was probably 24 and being almost 31 myself, I'm certainly not going to now. It's a strange balance because this is clearly a book for adults in regards to language and sexual content, but the bands are juvenile and it breaks a lot of immersion and ability to relate to Di. I'm not picking on this author either - I utterly detest when authors put in actual bands and actual song titles as setting devices. I've called out my favorite author Faith Hunter for the time she did this in one of her books as well.
When Di and Santiago meet, Santiago is just entirely too nice. His flirtatiousness is one thing, and that much is believable. He's Cuban and I say this because it made me laugh. I've had a Cuban man be a very important part of my life in the past and I can say, at least from my experience, they are ballsy and suave as all hell. So that part of Santiago's mannerisms, at least, rang true for me. After that, however, all of their interactions together degenerated into him loving everything about her and her being utterly and almost nauseatingly infatuated with him. A big problem is that at the beginning, everything they're saying to each other is supposed to be so hilarious. Di is making jokes and Santiago is making jokes but nothing is actually...funny. It's at best a bit humorous. However, since this is written from a first person POV, Di constantly laughing to the point of tears and Santiago being so amused by her feels like "really?" When Di keeps protesting that she is in fact, the most boring person in the world, I was inclined to agree with her.
Secondly (Thirdly?) Di's husband Stephen is a horribly written character. There is no nice way to put this. He's so one dimensional as being a "horrible husband" that he could have walked out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon or one of those ads for domestic abuse not just being about getting hit. For someone who supposedly saved this mess of a woman from drinking herself into constant stupors and nearly being date raped, he is shockingly unempathetic and unfeeling. He is painted as being overly logical and robotic, and if that's the case why would he ever waste time on Di to marry her? It just doesn't line up. There is just no evidence that we ever see that this man would ever have wanted to provide for, or protect, Di. The only reason he would have wanted to, would have been that despite his robotic and controlling personality, he actually did care for her greatly. We learn nothing of how they came to get married other than literally - Di was piss drunk after going on bender after bender following her parent's death. She had no ability to process the loss. She almost gets dragged out of a bar by a potential date rapist, and Stephen walks in and tells the guy to get lost. Somehow this leads to a brief conversation about how he's going to "take care of everything." Flash forward and they've been married 10 years. What?
Also - annoyingly - Di lands up having sex with Santiago for the first time when she is ALSO drunk. I can understand going on a week long bender after losing both your parents in a soap-opera-tastic car crash, but it seems Di just has a problem with drinking in general. Or coping. Or both. Because feelings and being an adult are hard. I couldn't believe that the set up is that she is questioning having an affair, never tells Santiago she's married, and still has her convention BFF goading her on to pursue it! How irresponsible of a person does a supposed friend have to be to actually encourage someone to have an affair simply because they feel like they're stuck. Encourage them to get a divorce, get counseling, deal with their life. Oh but wait, her BFF is accepting of it because she ALSO had an affair once and see, I'm OK!
Of course Di lands up pregnant and of course its Santiago's and after that it becomes incredibly predictable. Everything Santiago does is amazing and wonderful and everything Di does he finds so charming and perfect. There are lots of lines like "I think I was meant to love you" and all of that romance novel stuff. I'm not really sure how Di exactly ever "finds herself" because she is forced into every decision she makes in this book. Pushed to marry Stephen, pushed to have an affair by her BFF, pushed to keep Santiago in her life because of the baby, pushed into realizing she loves him when she realizes she could lose him to complications as a result of his disability, and then 5 seconds after the divorce from one rich successful guy is taken care of, she accepts a proposal from another rich guy so she NEVER deals with how much she can't stand being ALONE.
When Di finally leaves Stephen she does so in the most childish way possible. She literally has a tantrum and throws stuff all over the living room and pulls the equivalent of "GOD ITS LIKE YOU JUST NEVER GOT ME DAD" and storms out of the house. There is no moment where she ever is honest with him about what happened, and because he's painted to be so HORRIBLE you never have to deal with the fact that Di has been having sex with two different men at the same time, lying to one of them completely, and doing pretty OK with the whole thing aside from the "being pregnant" thing. That means Di gets freed from her guilt and excused from any wrongdoing by default? I don't think so. I actually wanted to smack her when she just drives off leaving Stephen standing there confused. How could someone who took care of you for 10 years just suddenly not give a shit that you just leave him. The divorce we find out is finalized 8 months later (pretty quick) and we never hear that he even cared it was over. Really?
Including a character with a disability as a love interest is progressive (a sad thing to say in 2014, I know) and I know the author has a huge passion for bringing to light to needs and wants of differently-abled people in all walks of life. In terms of educating someone in the challenges someone with BMD faces and the struggles they'd have on all levels there was a lot of good there. Santiago is the best character of this book - and he's at his best when talking about his life and his family. What I did find creepy was how Di is so turned on by all his equipment. I understand being accepting and showing someone it doesn't disgust you, but in the beginning she's getting outright turned on by just touching his crutches or watching him transfer out of a wheelchair. It didn't feel hot, it felt oddly predatory. Because it wasn't exactly handled like a fetish, it landed up feeling more...out of place and bizarre.
I can't really say I'd recommend this book because it's so predictable. There wasn't a single thing in it that made me surprised. The writing is TECHNICALLY fine, but the author is still looking for her voice. There's a blanket of sameness over everyone that never gets shed. Descriptions of locations read like travel guides, and some things are just too clunky to say are good writing. The sex scenes are suitably steamy so maybe I'd tell someone to skip to those parts, and perhaps to read a romance novel that does feature someone with a disability so they CAN understand that everyone needs love.
Yes, this is a romance novel and they are formulaic, but since this featured other heavier themes like infidelity and finding yourself as an individual, I really hoped for more meat. I think the author has it in her to write something deeper and I hope she pursues that in future books.
October 25, 2014
I had really been looking forward to reading this novel, because I am a fan of stories involving love interests who are disabled. Unfortunately, I found this one to be disappointing. I should have been forewarned there were problems when the first few pages contained a bunch of acronyms that immediately left me confused along with somewhat excessive and dull work talk.
The main problem lay in the protagonist Di. She was intensely unlikable, rotating between doormat and cheat with a little bit of weird pervert thrown in. Despite being married, she immediately leaps into drooling fantasies (her words) about a guy she meets on an airplane, which feels incredibly insulting to her husband. Immediately, the readers instinct is to dislike this woman because the first thing we learn about her is that she is a married woman who flirts shamelessly with a man on a plane. The author later attempts to justify her infidelity and win us back by making her husband an ass, but I think this goes too far. I lost respect for Di for staying with someone so blatantly horrible. Santiago, on the other hand, veered too far in the other direction, being so ridiculously nice and caring and understanding that I started to wonder about his masculinity--if the twist with that he was gay, in addition to being disabled.
Music was used as a tool to flesh out her personality, but that too felt like a failure. She frequently updates us with what music she is listening to and attempts to explain why she likes it, but for the most part she sticks with broad and clichéd generalities like "peppy and fun". There are some other authors (Bret Easton Ellis) who have the skill to talk about obscure music in a way that doesn't turn off the readers, but I'm not sure that this author is able to accomplish it. And frankly, I'm a little embarrassed for her being a 30-year-old woman who freely admits that Green Day is her favorite band. (And amazed that she found another adult who agrees.)
The plot was fairly predictable, proceeding without much in the way of surprises. We already know that the baby must be Santiago's, so there isn't much suspense there. I know this isn't meant to be great literature, but a predictable plot doesn't really make you want to keep reading.
The one slight twist is Di's reveal that she is a devotee (attracted to disabled men). This is an opportunity to do something a little bit different and interesting so I was excited to see how she would handle it. Unfortunately, her attraction to disabled man somehow seems tacked on, as if this was an issue that was close to the author's heart, so she wanted to find a way to include it, even if it really didn't fit in with the plot. After Di is already "drooling" over Santiago, she suddenly reveals that she is attracted to disabled men, and look at that, it turns out Santiago is disabled! What luck! I felt like the confession about her attraction to Santiago got a bit of the brushoff treatment too. She stresses about it a little bit, she confesses, and he's fine with it. Again not very exciting. This is handled much better in Ruth Madisons (W)hole.
The tagline for the novel "sometimes the only thing keeping you from happiness is yourself" in many ways exemplifies everything that is wrong with the novel. The quote is supposed to be deep and meaningful, but instead it seems cheesy and obvious. If you were the sort of person who finds a line like that deep rather than clichéd, well, maybe you would like this novel.
Ultimately, I could've forgiven any of the other problems, but due to lifeless and clichéd characters and a predictable plot, the story was just dull. By about midway through, I was forcing myself to finish it, because I had paid seven dollars for it. I want my money back.
The main problem lay in the protagonist Di. She was intensely unlikable, rotating between doormat and cheat with a little bit of weird pervert thrown in. Despite being married, she immediately leaps into drooling fantasies (her words) about a guy she meets on an airplane, which feels incredibly insulting to her husband. Immediately, the readers instinct is to dislike this woman because the first thing we learn about her is that she is a married woman who flirts shamelessly with a man on a plane. The author later attempts to justify her infidelity and win us back by making her husband an ass, but I think this goes too far. I lost respect for Di for staying with someone so blatantly horrible. Santiago, on the other hand, veered too far in the other direction, being so ridiculously nice and caring and understanding that I started to wonder about his masculinity--if the twist with that he was gay, in addition to being disabled.
Music was used as a tool to flesh out her personality, but that too felt like a failure. She frequently updates us with what music she is listening to and attempts to explain why she likes it, but for the most part she sticks with broad and clichéd generalities like "peppy and fun". There are some other authors (Bret Easton Ellis) who have the skill to talk about obscure music in a way that doesn't turn off the readers, but I'm not sure that this author is able to accomplish it. And frankly, I'm a little embarrassed for her being a 30-year-old woman who freely admits that Green Day is her favorite band. (And amazed that she found another adult who agrees.)
The plot was fairly predictable, proceeding without much in the way of surprises. We already know that the baby must be Santiago's, so there isn't much suspense there. I know this isn't meant to be great literature, but a predictable plot doesn't really make you want to keep reading.
The one slight twist is Di's reveal that she is a devotee (attracted to disabled men). This is an opportunity to do something a little bit different and interesting so I was excited to see how she would handle it. Unfortunately, her attraction to disabled man somehow seems tacked on, as if this was an issue that was close to the author's heart, so she wanted to find a way to include it, even if it really didn't fit in with the plot. After Di is already "drooling" over Santiago, she suddenly reveals that she is attracted to disabled men, and look at that, it turns out Santiago is disabled! What luck! I felt like the confession about her attraction to Santiago got a bit of the brushoff treatment too. She stresses about it a little bit, she confesses, and he's fine with it. Again not very exciting. This is handled much better in Ruth Madisons (W)hole.
The tagline for the novel "sometimes the only thing keeping you from happiness is yourself" in many ways exemplifies everything that is wrong with the novel. The quote is supposed to be deep and meaningful, but instead it seems cheesy and obvious. If you were the sort of person who finds a line like that deep rather than clichéd, well, maybe you would like this novel.
Ultimately, I could've forgiven any of the other problems, but due to lifeless and clichéd characters and a predictable plot, the story was just dull. By about midway through, I was forcing myself to finish it, because I had paid seven dollars for it. I want my money back.
February 15, 2015
Review can be read at It's About The Book
I had a little trouble connecting with Nadine Monroe. Even from the blurb, I knew she was going to hit a trigger of mine; I don’t like cheaters. Sheer curiosity about Santiago Duran and the disease that had him on crutches is the sole reason I read this book, knowing I probably wouldn’t like the heroine.
I was wrong. I liked Di (pronounced Dee, not Die) almost immediately. She lost her parents when she was nineteen years old. Her future husband, Stephen, stepped into her life almost immediately, taking over to help her through her grief and eventually taking over her life. Di is fiercely loyal to him for ten years, even though he is the most emotionally disconnected character you could imagine. He’s not mean, he doesn’t cheat or do any of the things that drive couples apart; he simply has little time or regard for Di. He doesn’t like french kissing and schedules ten minutes for sex once a week or so. He’s never home, leaving Di to fend for herself far too often. I liked her and never blamed her for cheating. I just wondered why she stayed with Stephen as long as she did.
That brings me to Santiago Duran. Diego is wonderful. He’s handsome, with dark hair and a glorious smile. He’s also crippled with Becker’s muscular dystrophy, the mildest form of the disease, but still terrible. I found his courage, his strength of character and his charm irresistible. So did Di. Their one night stand was a revelation to her. So sexy it was unforgettable. It was also unforgettable because she was pregnant and had no idea if the baby was Diego’s or Stephen’s.
Why was Di so attracted to Diego? Why was she willing to cheat with a man she hardly knew? Di tells us that she has always been attracted to men on crutches or in a wheelchair. She thinks it’s a fetish, one she feels guilty and freaky over. Is it? I don’t know. Why is anyone attracted to their partner? Does every woman who ogles a man in tight jeans have a fetish, or is it just attraction? I don’t know the answer, but it seems like simple attraction to me. I was certainly attracted to Diego, and I have no fetish about it. He was attractive on many levels; a compelling and lovely man.
And this was a compelling and lovely book. It’s written from Di’s point of view, something I always enjoy. It. Is. Flawless. Beautifully written, easy to read and throughly enjoyable. I sincerely believe that any reader of romance will fall in love with Di and Diego, just as I did.
I had a little trouble connecting with Nadine Monroe. Even from the blurb, I knew she was going to hit a trigger of mine; I don’t like cheaters. Sheer curiosity about Santiago Duran and the disease that had him on crutches is the sole reason I read this book, knowing I probably wouldn’t like the heroine.
I was wrong. I liked Di (pronounced Dee, not Die) almost immediately. She lost her parents when she was nineteen years old. Her future husband, Stephen, stepped into her life almost immediately, taking over to help her through her grief and eventually taking over her life. Di is fiercely loyal to him for ten years, even though he is the most emotionally disconnected character you could imagine. He’s not mean, he doesn’t cheat or do any of the things that drive couples apart; he simply has little time or regard for Di. He doesn’t like french kissing and schedules ten minutes for sex once a week or so. He’s never home, leaving Di to fend for herself far too often. I liked her and never blamed her for cheating. I just wondered why she stayed with Stephen as long as she did.
That brings me to Santiago Duran. Diego is wonderful. He’s handsome, with dark hair and a glorious smile. He’s also crippled with Becker’s muscular dystrophy, the mildest form of the disease, but still terrible. I found his courage, his strength of character and his charm irresistible. So did Di. Their one night stand was a revelation to her. So sexy it was unforgettable. It was also unforgettable because she was pregnant and had no idea if the baby was Diego’s or Stephen’s.
Why was Di so attracted to Diego? Why was she willing to cheat with a man she hardly knew? Di tells us that she has always been attracted to men on crutches or in a wheelchair. She thinks it’s a fetish, one she feels guilty and freaky over. Is it? I don’t know. Why is anyone attracted to their partner? Does every woman who ogles a man in tight jeans have a fetish, or is it just attraction? I don’t know the answer, but it seems like simple attraction to me. I was certainly attracted to Diego, and I have no fetish about it. He was attractive on many levels; a compelling and lovely man.
And this was a compelling and lovely book. It’s written from Di’s point of view, something I always enjoy. It. Is. Flawless. Beautifully written, easy to read and throughly enjoyable. I sincerely believe that any reader of romance will fall in love with Di and Diego, just as I did.
January 24, 2015
Love love love
This book was wonderful. Read it trust me you won't be disappointed.
This book does have cheating but I honestly never thought she was a cheaper she shouldn't have been in her marriage.
This book does touch on a few delicate subjects so be warned
This book was wonderful. Read it trust me you won't be disappointed.
This book does have cheating but I honestly never thought she was a cheaper she shouldn't have been in her marriage.
This book does touch on a few delicate subjects so be warned
July 29, 2016
***weak spineless selfish annoying heroine****
I am a big fan of disabled hero books. If the heroine, Di, didn’t annoy me so much throughout most of the book with her stupid insecurities, constant blushing/flushing, and music (did I need to know what song she was listening to throughout the whole book? It felt like I was reading a freaking musical or something!!! So annoying,,,,,). I would’ve rated this book a 5 star read.
Di grew up in a loving household. Her parents got killed when she was 19. She met her husband Stephen while she was trying to process her parents’ death and he helped her deal with their death. They’ve been married for 10 years. She meets Santiago who turns out to be the man of her dreams and gets pregnant. At first she was wrecked with guilt for cheating on her husband but when she found out she was pregnant she reached out to Sebastian and continued with the affair. What annoyed me so much about the heroine was the fact that she kept saying she didn’t know what love was. Give me a break. How could 19 years from a loving home be forgotten from 10 years with an emotionless, cold fish husband that trivializes her? Who, by the way barely paid attention to her either. She keeps trying to work things out with him instead of cutting her loses and having a real and open relationship with her “dream guy”. I would’ve preferred if Santiago (who I thought, was perfection incarnate, even though he “sighed” a lot) got paired off with a mentally and emotionally stronger heroine then weak ass simpering Di. She was an insecure whiney weak minded annoying wimp that constantly needed Santiago to console her. Throughout the book he was opened and honest about his strong feelings for her but she kept holding back. He was the one with a debilitating disease and had ass hole parents, she should’ve been the consoling him! She was very selfish constantly weighing him down with her martial issues. The light bulb in her dim witted brain finally flickered on at 88% of the book, when she realized it wasn’t fair of her to always be leaning on him for support. And even after that realization, she was still wishy washy. Ugh! Her break with her husband was so childish and anticlimactic. I had to really push myself to finish reading this book.
Oh and last time I checked pregnant women shouldn’t be drinking coffee, which Di did throughout the book. No surprise there though.
I am a big fan of disabled hero books. If the heroine, Di, didn’t annoy me so much throughout most of the book with her stupid insecurities, constant blushing/flushing, and music (did I need to know what song she was listening to throughout the whole book? It felt like I was reading a freaking musical or something!!! So annoying,,,,,). I would’ve rated this book a 5 star read.
Di grew up in a loving household. Her parents got killed when she was 19. She met her husband Stephen while she was trying to process her parents’ death and he helped her deal with their death. They’ve been married for 10 years. She meets Santiago who turns out to be the man of her dreams and gets pregnant. At first she was wrecked with guilt for cheating on her husband but when she found out she was pregnant she reached out to Sebastian and continued with the affair. What annoyed me so much about the heroine was the fact that she kept saying she didn’t know what love was. Give me a break. How could 19 years from a loving home be forgotten from 10 years with an emotionless, cold fish husband that trivializes her? Who, by the way barely paid attention to her either. She keeps trying to work things out with him instead of cutting her loses and having a real and open relationship with her “dream guy”. I would’ve preferred if Santiago (who I thought, was perfection incarnate, even though he “sighed” a lot) got paired off with a mentally and emotionally stronger heroine then weak ass simpering Di. She was an insecure whiney weak minded annoying wimp that constantly needed Santiago to console her. Throughout the book he was opened and honest about his strong feelings for her but she kept holding back. He was the one with a debilitating disease and had ass hole parents, she should’ve been the consoling him! She was very selfish constantly weighing him down with her martial issues. The light bulb in her dim witted brain finally flickered on at 88% of the book, when she realized it wasn’t fair of her to always be leaning on him for support. And even after that realization, she was still wishy washy. Ugh! Her break with her husband was so childish and anticlimactic. I had to really push myself to finish reading this book.
Oh and last time I checked pregnant women shouldn’t be drinking coffee, which Di did throughout the book. No surprise there though.
January 31, 2015
I loved this book. The depth of the story and the character's struggles were believable. Yes, the protagonist is a cheater and the plot line was a little after school special-ish (i.e., you can get pregnant having sex just one time), but I was still entranced with the book and couldn't put it down.
I admit, the continuous references to music and the kind of "soundtrack" to the book were annoying. It seemed to be distraction rather than supporting the storyline. Maybe I needed to be a fan of the music genre, I don't know.
Nonetheless, I'm a fan of wounded hero books and this to me was the best I've read thus far. I'm kind of hoping there's a sequel, I hope to know more about their life together.
I admit, the continuous references to music and the kind of "soundtrack" to the book were annoying. It seemed to be distraction rather than supporting the storyline. Maybe I needed to be a fan of the music genre, I don't know.
Nonetheless, I'm a fan of wounded hero books and this to me was the best I've read thus far. I'm kind of hoping there's a sequel, I hope to know more about their life together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2016
This book was a very frustrating read because of the annoying female character (who doesn’t deserve to be referred to as a heroine). If she wasn’t flushing or blushing, she was being selfish, needy and crying. Honestly she didn’t deserve, Diego, the hero in this story. He had his own problems, yet he was always consoling her, always doing for her. He even listened to her crappy music, which I found the constant reference to in this story ANNOYING. Really, I can’t express how self-absorbed, annoying and pathetic the female character in this story was. The book was well written and the story would have been enjoyable if not for her.
October 25, 2014
I don't usually read romance, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was impressed with the depth of story that accompanied the vivid sexual play of this novel. The first portion of the book was sheer anticipation; Di's battle between her attraction to Santiago and loyalty to her troubled marriage all too palpable.
Aleman paints an incredibly vivid character in Santiago Duran and a fascinating picture of the sexuality of disability. As a New Orleanian, I was particularly drawn to the accurate descriptions of my hometown. The book has a strong sense of place that grounds the reader.
Aleman paints an incredibly vivid character in Santiago Duran and a fascinating picture of the sexuality of disability. As a New Orleanian, I was particularly drawn to the accurate descriptions of my hometown. The book has a strong sense of place that grounds the reader.
May 25, 2015
Beautifully written, almost poetic at times. And the hero had such a lovely soul and was so passionate and sexy. Loved the realistic portrayal of his disability. This author has a lot of talent, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
January 31, 2016
Great Book
I enjoyed the interaction between the main characters and the fact that it was the female who was not single. I would have liked her ex husband to meet Diego at some point and to know how she handled being pregnant.
I enjoyed the interaction between the main characters and the fact that it was the female who was not single. I would have liked her ex husband to meet Diego at some point and to know how she handled being pregnant.
April 25, 2015
First time reading this author; what a find!
This book will definitely be read again; the ending could have been longer though it was kind of perfect like this.
This book will definitely be read again; the ending could have been longer though it was kind of perfect like this.
November 20, 2014
I love books with disabled heroes. I just could not get into this book. I really did not like the heroine. She was cheater and I couldn't sympathize. I couldn't see her husband being this bad person described. It seemed like the author was trying to make home horrible just to make the heroine look good. He was out working not cheating on her. He had his stupid moments especially about the new job but could have been solved by the heroine standing up for herself years ago. It was made to seem what she did was okay and really there was no consequences.
December 15, 2014
Just go and read He110ne0 review
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October 14, 2023♿️
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