The Hurricane (The Hurricane #1)

by R.J. Prescott (Goodreads Author)

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, but 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.

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Source: eARC for Honest Review Courtesy of Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley

Genre: NA Contemporary Romance

Part 1 in a new series

My The Hurricane Review ...

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book, but I liked the synopsis and the cover so I thought it was worth a go. In the end I quite liked it. It's a debut author and she did a pretty great job. If I could only have Cormac “the Hurricane” O’Connell (aka Con) and his merry brothers I would have LOVED it, but sadly there was an insecure heroine that drove me batty at times.

Insecure heroines. Argh! They drive me bonkers, but why? I was talking to a friend bitching about this type of heroine and trying to figure out why they bug me so much. She reminded me that the more we talk negative to ourselves the more our psyche starts to believe it. So when reading from the insecure POV and all the negative self talk and self doubt it starts to form a negative impression of this character instead of finding her endearing. This totally makes sense to me of why these types of heroines irk me.

In The Hurricane we have Emily McCarthy who has had a tough life and a reason to be insecure and full of self doubts but the more this theme carries on the less I liked Emily.

Because guys like him didn't kiss girls like me. (Ugh! )

I really wasn't that much of a prize, but it was nice of them to care.

One of my favorite part of the book besides Con is all the friends from the gym or Emily's school. They're quite the Motley Crue of friends but I loved them all.

"They are lovely. Loud and brash and rude, but lovely. . . "

Now Con, I LOVED HIM. He was so sweet and the moment he saw Emily he knew his life was about to change. And what a change it was. He may be a big bad boxer but has a heart of gold.

"I'm gonna give you the fuckin' world, baby."

" . . . Tonight, you believed that, and you dropped your guard. You trusted me. Every time you let down another one of those barriers, I know that you're a bit closer to being mine. One day, when the last one falls, you'll be as much mine as I am yours."

"There's not one bit of you, inside or out, that isn't fucking beautiful. Nothing that happened to you before me is gonna change that, "

"Because, sunshine, I'm trying to be patient while I find out why you think you're leaving me, and then I'm going to tell you why that just ain't gonna happen."

"No one's ever said that to me before. I love you, too, sunshine, and I can't lose you. So promise me that you won't run again. Even if Frank becomes a threat, I need you to promise that you'll believe in me, in us, and not run. I can't fight for us alone."

My only beef with Con, is throughout the book he's quite articulate and eloquent with his words but when he's asked about the potential of school he comes across as a bit dumb and very uneducated, which doesn't match his words throughout the rest of the book. Sure I get trying to portray him like that as he has no real education and his dream is to fight and nothing else but if that's the case then that should stay with him through out the context of the book.

"I'm no good at book learning stuff. I don't have any qualifications."

Both Con and Emily have their own personal demons but Con sees the end game, so he's patient when it comes to Emily. At first they start out as friends to lovers but once Emily finally gives in and starts to believe in herself and the possibility of love then this story starts to blossom. Of course the stronger she gets she has some martyr moments but thankfully Con sets her straight and educates her on what is important, which is each other.

"I won't let him hurt you, O'Connell. I'll run first." (Jesus Christ. Why all the martyrs? Why? Plus he's a bad ass boxer pretty sure he can take care of himself.)

"You promised me that you wouldn't run again. Besides, there's no place that you could go that I wouldn't find you. You want to take care of me? Then don't ever fucking leave me, even if you think it's for your own good, because that will hurt me more than anything that happens in the ring." (Good advice Con, hopefully the insecure heroine will listen to it)

In the end I did quite adore this book and I'm looking forward to the next book to see how Con and Emily fare out.

3.5 O'Connell Loving Thumbs up!