*I received a free copy of The Hurricane from via Xpresso Booktours. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *

Emily McCarthy is living in fear of a dark and dangerous past. A gifted mathematician, she is little more than a hollow, broken shell, trying desperately to make ends meet long enough to finish her degree.

Through an unlikely friendship with the aging, cantankerous owner of an old boxing gym, Em is thrown into the path of the most dangerous man that she has ever met.

Cormac “the Hurricane” O’Connell is cut, tattooed and dangerous. He is a lethal weapon with no safety and everyone is waiting for the mis-fire. He’s never been knocked out before, but when he meet Em he falls, HARD. Unlike any other girl he’s ever met, she doesn’t want anything from him. Just being around her makes him want to be a better person.
They are polar opposites who were never meant to find each other, but some things are just worth the fight.

Welcome to my stop on The Hurricane blogtour! The tour is hosted by Xpresso Booktours, and you can find the schedule by clicking the banner above. Today, I am going to share with you my The Hurricane review, a giveaway and my favorite quotes 🙂

My The Hurricane Review

When I read the summary for The Hurricane, I thought I was going to get a fluffy read, with some boxing fights and lots of romance between a bad boy and a shy girl, and it was that, however, there is much more to this story than that. Emily has no friends at the beginning of the story, she keeps her head down, works, and goes to class – that’s it. A smart and astute student, it seems there is nothing else in her life, but that quickly changes once O’Connell works up the nerve to finally talk to her, after watching her for a while.

Little by little, Emily comes out of her shell, in big part thanks to Danny, the older fighter who’s been having breakfast at her table in the café she works at for over a year. The Hurricane is a deep story, and my heart ached for the children O’Connell and Emily were, and the very bad hand life had given them when it came to parents and circumstances. They had both managed to get away from their past, though – at least on the surface.

Written in first person point of view, almost all from Emily’s perspective, The Hurricane is a tough read. But it is also a very sweet and tender read in which Emily and O’Connell really bring out the best part of each other. As their relationship evolves and become stronger, so do Emily’s nightmares, and the inevitable is… well, inevitable.

I enjoyed the way The Hurricane dealt with Emily’s past, and how O’Connell was able to help her and make her feel protected. He had his own demons to fight for sure, but Emily grounded him and made him feel like he was worth fighting for. I found the climax to be strangely anticlimactic, though, because from the very beginning of the story it was clear that one thing would certainly happen, there was only a question of how and when.

I hope the other guys in The Hurricane will get their own books, because the whole cast of characters is really amazing! The guys at the gym, Emily’s new friends at University, they are well developed and had their own, strong personalities. The character growth in both Emily and O’Connell was tangible as well, and when a good story with a well-working plot has the added layer of great characters, I am a happy reader.

Some of my favorite The Hurricane quotes:

Her blonde hair was tied back in one of those messy knot that she always wore to work. Loose, I knew it was long, thick and curly at the ends.

The breakfast and lunch shift flew by, punctuated by evil looks from Katrina. I guessed from her attitude, that O’Connell was on her hit list and that she hadn’t scored with hi yet, which would put him in the minority, from what I hear.

The last name was new. I’d only had it for a year, and I was still getting used to it. But I figured that keeping the firs name wouldn’t hurt. Emily was  a pretty common name and people got suspicious if you didn’t answer to your name when called because you didn’t know it.

Purchase:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iBooks

The Hurricane giveaway:

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About R.J. Prescott

 

I was born in Cardiff, South Wales although I left to study law at the University of Bristol, England. Four weeks before graduation I fell in love, and stayed. Ten years later I convinced my crazy, wonderful fire fighter husband to move back to Cardiff with me where we live with our two equally crazy sons. Juggling work, writing and family doesn’t leave a lot of time, but curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a bar of chocolate for family movie night is definitely the best part of my week. “The Hurricane” is my debut New Adult Novel.

Author links:
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The Hurricane trailer:

Thanks for stopping by today. Good luck in the giveaway 🙂

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2015 New Release Challenge
• Winter COYER 2014 2015

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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