My Review: Hold on by Hilary Wynne

*Warning: I have already read the books I am covering, any and all posts may and do contain spoilers.

Hilary Wynne has just taken me on a roller coaster ride. 

I laughed, I swooned, I got angry, and I cried. I went back and forth between these emotions as well. Hold on,  (A seemingly appropriate title, even for the viewer, considering the ride I just told you I went on) book 2 in the Alexa Reed Series does it for me again. Wynne delivers an even steamier and sexier read.

Excerpt:

“I love feeling you like this; so hard, so deep.  I don’t want you to stop until you come, baby. You can finish like this.”

I lift my ass higher and hear him groan as he squeezes my hip.

I know what my words do to him. He loves when I encourage him to basically fuck me harder. He picks up his speed, but is careful not to come too soon. Tonight he wants it to last so he gets lost in his rhythm. I let him take what he needs from me.

I need to move a bit and when I raise up, Julian takes hold of my hair and grasps it firmly in his hand. It’s a little rough but not so much that I can’t handle it. He tugs it and I take the gesture as an indication he wants me to sit up. When I do, Julian put his hand on my stomach and pulls me to him. My back is to his front and he holds me tightly as he explodes into me. He calls my name and completely lets go as his own orgasm wracks his body. 

****

All right, let’s get into it…

The transformation of Alexa into the healed adult woman we hope she achieves continues. Any transformation and healing process is not without it’s setbacks and Alexa has those as well in the book. I would have liked to see a little bit more of the happy times though. Hold on starts where Stay left off and soon Alexa seems to be on a healing path. Lexie and Julian get to a good place but it quickly switches up with Julian having a bomb dropped on him and Alexa not dealing with it well at all.  Much of book 1 was about Alexa’s struggles and I would have like to see a bit more of the great chemistry and love between Lexie and Julian.

Alexa takes some big steps in her healing process though:

The scenes where Alexa invites every one to Ellen’s office to talk had me on the edge of my seat. I was nervous for every one; for Alexa because after holding in a secret for so long it’s very scary to reveal it, for her friends because I knew they would be hurt for her and themselves and confused, for Julian to have to hear the gory details and know the woman he loves was hurt so badly and couldn’t do anything about it, and even for Ellen- learning her patient had been through this and she hadn’t been able to work through it with her.

Also the scene with Lexie at Brady’s grave had my emotions all over the place. I was torn between beings in tears for the touching heartbreaking moment and jumping up and down, doing my touchdown end-zone victory dance for Lexie’s “ah-ha” moment. She finally found the peace she needed through confronting what was going on, forgiveness, and the release of her guilt.

Now on to another topic…

Luke. Ugh!! I don’t even think I can say (or in this case, write) his name without that little annoyed “ugh” sound after.  Why?! Why?! Why?! This is my million-dollar question.  While reading I was screaming at my kindle, “No Alexa, no!!!” Luke (ugh) was there for Lexie for a long time in her life, but to me what he did to her in book 1 was disgraceful. Throwing something like rape in a victims face is unforgiveable. You should never do something like that to your worst enemy, let alone your best friend.  Luke (ugh) lied, schemed, tried sabotaging Alexa and Julian, and set it up so that Alexa had to tell Julian about Brady. I could not believe Alexa let him back in her life and then slept with him. I cringed the whole time she begged him to be with her.  I get that she was in a bad place, hurt, heartbroken, and all that, but NO!!! I would have liked for them to had a different form of closure. He had been in her life a long time and they had a falling out and basically never spoke again. I would have liked if Alexa heard him out, and they came to a mutual forgiveness towards each other, but that Alexa tells him she can’t have him in her life because of what has happened between them. That is what I would have liked to see happen, instead of Julian turning to Luke (ugh) to check on Lexie and then Luke (ugh) making a bad decision again and letting Lexie make the decision to sleep with him while she was obviously going through a ton of shit.

Now back to Julian, I can only talk about the mentioned above tool for so long and focusing on Julian will brighten my Luke (ugh) dark cloud. Julian is as book boyfriend worthy in book 2 as in the first. He’s sexy, overwhelming so; a verbal wordsmith whom leaves you swooning with your mouth hanging open like a moron; giving sexually, producer of multiple orgasms; and a rock for Lexie.

My recommendation? Go out and get the book or in many people’s cases these days, open your ebook library and download. The series is a great read, even if I disagree with everything Luke (ugh). It has emotion, ups and downs, and one sexy as hell leading man. 

Have any thoughts on my thoughts? Go and leave me a comment, I love to discuss!