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Loving You Is Easy (2014)

by Wendy S. Marcus(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Loveswept

review 1: Complimentary copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.Brooke is the daughter of one of New York’s power politicians. She was raised to play the part of the perfect daughter in the perfect family. She’s a math teacher at a private junior high school, finally living the quiet life she had dreamed of, away from her overbearing family. When the opportunity arises for her classes to adopt a soldier overseas as a pen pal, she jumps at the chance. But when one of the soldiers turns out not to be from the New York area, but New Jersey instead, she decides to write a letter to him herself, offering to become his pen pal if he’d like. Little did she know, her letters might come back to haunt not only her, but her father’s political aspirations as well.Sh... moreane is a soldier from the wrong side of the tracks. When he receives the letter from Brooke apologizing for the mix up regarding her class adopting a soldier, he is quick to jump at the chance of having the young teacher as his pen pal. After the two correspond for several months, he takes his leave at the mid-point of his one-year deployment. Much to his surprise, waiting for him as he makes his way off the plane is the pretty young teacher he had gotten to know intimately through their written relationship. Shane has only one night in the area around the airport and then plans to head to his hometown to catch up with family. Will the one night they have together be the beginning or the end of the intimate friendship they has fostered over the past several months? Or will taking things to a physical level wreck everything they had?Shane returns to Afghanistan and shortly thereafter all communication ceases. It isn’t until a spicy picture of Brooke shows up on Facebook that she even has any idea that Shane may still be alive. Shane had pressured Brooke to have naughty pictures taken with the promise that they were for his eyes only, so there was no question as to the source of the posted photo. But once the photo goes viral and her father learns about her relationship with the enlisted soldier, she finds herself in hot water, not only from the administration of the school she works for, but for jeopardizing her father’s campaign as well. Accusations start to fly as well that Brooke has been involved in relationships with her students; rumors like that are hard to overcome, even if they’re false. When she begins to dig for information, it turns out Shane had returned from Afghanistan months ago…if he cared so much for her, why hadn’t he tried to get in touch?It turns out though there is more to the story and Brooke’s belief that Shane is the culprit could forever sever the bond the two had created over the course of a year. Each had shared their hopes and dreams as well as confessed the secrets of their pasts. Brooke’s upbringing in an emotionally sterile environment is in stark contrast to Shane’s life where family means more than anything. But will Shane’s big hang up over the disparity of their parent’s pocketbooks be yet one more obstacle to the couple’s happiness? How will Brooke react when she finds out why Shane returned from Afghanistan earlier than the rest of his unit?If you’re a fan of military romances, alpha males, and like a high level of angst, this one might be right up your alley. While not particularly believable and slightly predictable, the story is well written and it’s an easy afternoon read. The characters lacked a bit of depth but there was an obvious chemistry between the two. Shane’s alpha-ness was a bit over the top and Brooke’s emotions were like watching a tennis match, she seemed to have a constant back and forth, waffling over submitting to her father’s will or standing up for herself for once. The story itself serves as a painful reminder that once things are posted to the internet, or even sent through the mail, that information is at risk of getting into the wrong hands and be used to nefarious reasons, not only for the subject, but for those close to them as well. Loving You Is Easy is a standalone and even with all of those hurdles to clear, Brooke and Shane find their happily ever after.
review 2: This book was fairly captivating. It actually turned out to be a lot more intense than I expected. First of all, one of the main plot points of this book is incredibly poignant. It bring into the light the true dangers of social media and how it can ruin someone’s life in a split second. Brooke and Shane start out as pen pals while he is serving another tour of duty. She quickly falls for him despite his adamant stance against having a girlfriend. However, he doesn’t help the situation by badgering her for sexy pictures and telling her about fantasies of her. While on leave, they are finally able to meet and the sparks are real. Again, Shane expects more from her and I was pretty surprised that he thought he could talk her into no-strings sex. She stays true to her conviction that she won’t sleep with him unless he is her boyfriend. However, she does surprise him with some tasteful boudoir pictures. Shortly after Shane returns to duty he is injured and medivacked to a hospital. When his stuff is packed up, the pictures end up in the wrong hands and one of them gets posted on Facebook. As the daughter of a politician, she is under far more scrutiny. Not to mention the fact that her mother is the bride of Satan! But, she is also a middle school a middle school teacher. Through a chain of Facebook “friends” one of her students comes across the picture. In either a miscommunication or the bragging of a boy trying to be cooler, a student states that Brooke slept with his 15 year old brother. This is where life spirals out of control. As I said, it brings the dangers of social media into the spot light. One comment ignites a wild fire and a life is destroyed. She is suspended from the school, and under police investigation. The teachers and parent assume the worst despite her stellar reputation. The press hounds her and she is caught up in hell. Shane has been severely wounded and like so many injured vets. He refuses to admit that he has PTSD and has let his limitations define him. Especially when it comes to Brooke. He completely gives up and has no intention of ever contacting her again until he learns what has happened. In a move that shows he hasn’t gone too far over the deep end, he shows up to help her, determined to fix the situation. To keep her out of the limelight, he takes her home to stay with his family. However despite the good thing right in front of him, he lets his insecurities and obscured ideas of what she needs keep him from admitting that they belong together. Brooke is a very strong heroine. My favorite part about her is that she doesn’t take the bait when Shane lashes out at her. He doesn’t expect her to stay calm and not be insulted by the things he says. She tries to help everyone around her without much thought to herself. Unfortunately, Shane sees her caring as pity and coddling. He’s a real jacka$$ for a lot of the story. His denial about his PTSD and his relationship with Brooke gets old eventually. I would have for the book to have had a few more breaks from the intensity of the story. There were times when I almost put it down to get a rest from the angst. All in all though, it’s a great read. I give props to the author for writing about topics that can be very touchy, and doing an excellent job. The ending was great, I finished the last page with a smile. You should look forward to the moment when Brook and Shane visit her parent’s house. But, that’s all I’ll leave it at that. I highly recommend the book. Enjoy!An ARC was provided to me for a fair and honest review less

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