Samantha Young

Holy cow! Where do I even start with Lily and Sebastian? Honestly, they are sooooo perfect together! But here’s the twist, they’re not on the same page.

Have you ever been friend zoned? Lily has and she’s starting to doubt her decision. Sebastian is way out of her league with his aristocratic lineage and posh British accent. He is a bit of a playboy with no strings attached while she’s a romantic at heart.

Lily is a wonderfully brave and smart young woman who falls for Sebastian show more almost immediately. She knows the score: they can only be friends, at least for now. It’s a testament to her strength that she was willing to set her own feelings aside to preserve their friendship. The internal struggle she faces had me on the edge of my seat.

Sebastian is charming and vulnerable as he struggles with his attraction to Lily. He openly admits he doesn’t do girlfriends, having a hard time when it comes to serious relationships. But something about Lily is undeniably different. Get it together, dude!

The best part? Watching Sebastian come to terms with his feelings and actively pursue Lily is nothing short of magical. When he finally recognizes his love and sets out to win her over, every moment is filled with sincere adoration. Their chemistry is palpable, and when they finally give in, it is clear they are in it for the long haul.

This story is complete with friendship, tension, and the oh-so-sweet transition to love. One of the best things about their relationship is how Sebastian and Lily take their time developing a genuine bond before diving headfirst into romance. It’s refreshing to see a story where the emotional groundwork is carefully laid where it made their eventual connection feel not only inevitable but truly special.

If you’re looking for a story that beautifully captures the bloom of love from a strong friendship, filled with moments that will make your heart flutter and heat up your cheeks, look no further. This story has it all, and I couldn’t recommend it more!

Thank you to Ms. Young for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

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Hero by Samantha Young is an angsty and sizzling hot romance. This engrossing enemies to lovers novel has a gusty heroine that you can't help but love and a brooding hero that you can't help but dislike. Yes, I said dislike, in a "can he be any meaner, oh, no he didn't (but yes he did) just say/do THAT and push her away AGAIN!" kind of way. Does this man have any redeeming qualities? Is our leading lady crazy for having faith that he does? My advice? Read this marvelous book and discover the show more answers for yourself (I promise you won't regret it).

Alexa Holland and Caine Carraway share a very complicated and rather unpleasant history and this is just the beginning of the problems between this passionate but star crossed couple. Their first meeting ends with Alexa enraging Caine and losing her job, and in a shocking turn of events, he hires her as his personal assistant. Caine is determined to make her life miserable but no matter what wretched task he throws her way, Alexa refuses to let him force her into quitting. Underlying all of their volatile interactions is a blazing hot attraction that cannot be ignored. Alexa remains unflaggingly optimistic that they have a future together, but convincing Caine that they are right for each other is an exercise in aggravation (both for her and the reader).

Alexa is a strong, independent woman but in order to keep her job, she pretty much has no choice but to do whatever Caine wants. She gives in gracefully but she always manages to get in a snarky, sarcastic comment or two. She is good natured even when he infuriates her and she goes after what she wants. Alexa has doormat tendencies, so that makes it even sweeter when she finally stands up to Caine.

Caine is intense, successful and extremely career oriented. It is infuriating how cold and calculating he can be and his treatment of Alexa is absolutely appalling. There are a few tantalizing glimpses of his softer side, but he is pretty quick to erect emotional barriers after revealing a little vulnerability. In his favor, Caine is always honest and upfront with Alexa about what he wants from her but she continues to push him for more than he offers.

The relationship between Caine and Alexa is slow growing and their first encounter is lust-filled and extremely passionate. The pattern for the ensuing push/pull between them begins immediately with Caine pulling away and Alexa chasing after him. They mutually agree to a no strings affair, but their refusal to define their relationship leads to misunderstandings and jealousy. For every step forward they make, they wind up taking two steps back. This unending cycle is incredibly maddening and I hated to see Alexa keep faith in Caine no matter how many times he rejects her.

Despite a few frustrations, Hero is a very engaging and captivating romance. The storyline is refreshingly unique and the characters are three-dimensional with relatable flaws and imperfections. There is plenty of chemistry between Caine and Alexa and their sex scenes are blazing hot. Unexpected plot twists keep the novel moving at a brisk pace and Samantha Young brings the story to a realistic but very satisfying conclusion. show less

Until Fountain Bridge is a novella in Samantha Young’s On Dublin Street series that takes place just a few months after the first book ends. Braden’s sister, Ellie, and his best friend, Adam, shared a secondary romance that played out in the background of On Dublin Street, and this novella fills out their story. Ellie has just moved in with Adam and has been searching through boxes for her journals. When she finds them, they take a walk down memory lane, recalling all the stages of how show more they fell in love. Adam is seven years older than Ellie, but as her brother’s best friend, she’s known him most of her life. She’s had a crush on him since the age of ten and that crush only grew throughout her teen years. During that time, Adam never viewed Ellie as anything other than his best friend’s little sister, always protecting her and giving her brotherly affection, but never knowing how she really felt about him. Then on her eighteenth birthday, Adam is suddenly awakened to Ellie as a beautiful grown woman, but afraid of losing both her and Braden if things don’t work out, he fights those feelings, refusing to allow them to be anything except friends. However, on a few different occasions, he can’t seem to help giving in just a little, sending Ellie mixed signals. For the next five years, they dance around each other. Ellie tries unsuccessfully to forget her feelings for Adam by dating other men, but no one ever measures up, while Adam plays the manwhore, rarely dating the same woman more than once and never committing to anyone. Then a major medical crisis for Ellie finally proves to be the catalyst Adam needs to tell Ellie how he really feels.

I absolutely adored Ellie and Adam as supporting characters in On Dublin Street. In fact, in some ways I liked them even better than Braden and Jocelyn, which is why I really wanted to read their story as it had played out in minimal detail in that book. I was thrilled when I discovered that Until Fountain Bridge was their story. I really enjoyed the way in which the author wrote it, with them revisiting their past interactions via Ellie’s diaries after they’re already together. This hits all the major highlights in their romantic journey, starting with Ellie’s crush growing to epic proportions when Adam comes to her school to defend her virtue after an older boy falsely claims to have had sex with her, and continuing all the way through Ellie’s brain tumor scare that spurred Adam into finally declaring himself. Ellie is a hopeless romantic who never quite gave up on Adam coming to his senses, even though he fought it tooth and nail, giving her plenty of heartbreaking moments in between. Adam’s parents are distant, so Braden, Ellie, and their family have always been Adam’s family too. Although he eventually falls for Ellie, he deeply fears losing his found family if things don’t work out between them, so he keeps denying his feelings until her health scare makes him realize life is too short to not be happy. Even though Adam and Ellie aren’t together romantically for most of the story, it didn’t feel that way, because they’re always around each other and their chemistry is off the charts. I loved how, for Ellie, even having sex with other guys doesn’t make her feel the same way a mere brush of the lips from Adam does. The angsty goodness tore at my heart a little, but it was all mended when they finally do get together. Then their relationship is full of tenderness mixed with explosive passion that gave me all the feels. I can’t express how much I loved Until Fountain Bridge. It was pure romance perfection, leaving me eager to continue the series soon. show less

I wish I could give this 0 stars. This is the worst book I've ever read, and I've read a lot of bad books. I only finished it to see if there was any redeeming quality in any part of this book, but that did not happen.

Extremely abusive behaviors were constantly being portrayed as sexy and/or romantic. The main "romantic" relationship consisted of sexual assault, physical assault, economic abuse, stalking, threats, intimidation, using privilege against a partner, gaslighting, emotional show more abuse, & so much jealousy. Basically, the entire heterosexual, cisgender Power and Control Wheel was present (except for Using Children). show less