Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine-year-old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.
Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her can't get distracted by romance.
Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, and that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.
ebook, 416 pages
Published November 4th 2013 by Atria Books
Source: Bought/received via NetGalley from publisher
Purchase Four Seconds to Lose:
You know...I thought that I loved the first two books in this series. I really did. Then I started reading this book and realized that my love for those two books was mere puppy love compared to the big, grown up love that I feel for Four Seconds to Lose. This book completely took over my brain, my productivity, and my motivation to do nothing BUT read this book...it owned my ass from the moment I woke up until I crawled into my bed to finish it...because let me tell you--there was no way in hell I was gonna stop reading until I knew how this story ended.
Totally owned us. That is an apt description to how much we devoured this book the other night. I knew it was going to be great, because I don't expect anything else from K.A. Tucker at this point...and while that might be a hard act to follow time and time again (herself) LOL, I think she is going to continue to provide us with amazingly captivating stories every single time. I teased Shelley since I started it first to the point where I think she would have strangled me if she could actually get her hands on me, because it was just THAT GOOD...and she knew it!
This novel is the story of Cain and Charlie. Cain, as you may recall, is the mysterious, quiet, and private owner of the strip club that Storm and Kacey worked in. We got a taste of his story before but this time we get to understand what is behind his quiet and observant exterior...and what a story it is--heartbreaking, courageous, and at times, exhausting...but still filled with underlying hope. Hope? Yes, I'd say there is this hope...or desire...to help as many women as he can, when he can, as well as he can. Not what you'd expect from a strip club owner, is it? It's certainly not what Charlie expects. She needs this job desperately and she has a hard time believing that Cain is as good as he appears to be.
I didn't really remember Cain well...because it has been a really, really long time since I read Ten Tiny Breaths...not that he wasn't memorable per se, but he was so damn quiet. Quiet men are seriously the best lead characters ever because you don't know what is going on in those not-so-quiet brains of theirs. These are the leading men that seriously keep me up all night reading to find out what their motivations are, and if they will take the leap and open theirselves up to love. Cain was an enigma, and I really didn't even want to hope...but thank goodness he wasn't the problem here. This time it was Charlie. And well...Charlie being the one to confound the hell out of me was pretty darn refreshing. (Probably because damn Ashton put my heart through the ringer in One Tiny Lie...yep.)
Charlie, as you will quickly discover, is in dire straits. She needs money. She needs to disappear. She needs to remain as free from entanglements as possible. Of course as much as she needs all of those things, the second she takes a job stripping at Penny's it's only a matter of time before the money pours in but remaining invisible and unconnected to the people there is nearly impossible. And once she and Cain allow that one little spark to fester under their skin...well let's just say there is a slow burn to ignition but once they ignite...the fire is bright. (sorry..that was a little cheesy, wasn't it!?)
No! Haha, because that is seriously the truth. Slow burn is the exact way I would describe this story. And in fact, there are some steamy steamy moments, but this is another perfect New Adult novel, because I personally don't find that to be the focus. There were ALOT of other things going on, and to me if felt like K.A. took the story to a completely different place than the other two. It felt really different, and I think I told Shel that a few times...different in a seriously amazing way. You read it, you'll see. :)
There is absolutely no way to do this story justice in the short time we know you have to read this post ...seriously. And I wish I could adequately express what a page turning book this is...which is hard when you are trying really REALLY hard not to spoil things. But here's what I guess you should know...there's a ton of story in this novel--you find yourself engrossed in who Cain and Charlie are, how they got there, and where and how they will end up. You find yourself asking as you hit 90%...seriously??!! what the fuck is going to happen...we still don't have resolution? GAH! Then...if you are like me and the book comes to a close, you scroll through the acknowledgments hoping there's a smidge more of the book hiding back there. Not because the book ends in a cliffhanger or that are disgruntled with the ending...no...it's because you are so in to who these characters are that you aren't ready for their story to be finished even when it obviously is.
Yeah. We like long books, apparently. We could live in the world of these characters for seriously ever and never leave. I for one am hoping that Ben isn't the last person we get to visit in this world. Ginger? Nate? Uh...surely there is someone else I can think of that we need to know more about! A Miami Christmas novella...yeah ok. Grasping as straws. Moving on!
NOTE: apologies to the author for smothering her twitter feed in obnoxiously gooey fangirl love...I couldn't help it. Haha, yeah. We went a bit overboard this time, but oh well. We meant every word! :)
Shelley: 5 infinitely large stars
NOTE: apologies to the author for smothering her twitter feed in obnoxiously gooey fangirl love...I couldn't help it. Haha, yeah. We went a bit overboard this time, but oh well. We meant every word! :)
Shelley: 5 infinitely large stars
Courtney: 5 Stars :)
ABOUT K.A. TUCKER:
Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.
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