HELD AGAINST YOU by Season Vining

HELD AGAINST YOU
by Season Vining
ARC review
Released January 13th, 2015

My rating: 4 of 5 ⭐️

Accused of a horrible crime and on the run, Kat has been rejected by everyone she loves. She’s a fugitive from her past, flitting from town to town with nothing but the clothes on her back. Until she meets a man who literally stops her in her tracks.

This notorious bounty hunter, with his stunning good looks and powerful instincts, never fails to capture his prey. But there’s something about his newest mark that gets under his skin–and it’s not just the naked innocence he sees in her eyes. Behind his ice cold demeanor, he has his own secrets... and now his lively, vulnerable captive is about to crack him wide open.

As they drive across the country together, neither of them can deny the spark of attraction between them. Will their journey force these two passionate opposites together…or will their dangerous secrets be too much to bear?

*****

After reading BEAUTIFUL ADDICTIONS by Season Vining last year, I snatched this book up the moment I saw it on NetGalley. A writer with the ability to tell what could be a rather dark and difficult story, with words that give it a hopeful lightness and beauty without losing the shadows, is one I cannot pass up on.

Although not with quite the same impact as the first book, HELD AGAINST YOU did not disappoint in Season's skillful story building. Her use of contrast between a dangerous, bleak situation versus the almost playfully innocent wonder of the heroine in this tale is almost heartbreaking at time

Kat is on the run and in serious denial. Without a clear plan or path, she simply is heading in the opposite direction of where her life finally went off the rails. Everything and everyone she knew or trusted is either dead or lost to her. So she contents herself with living in the moment. The only person standing in her way is the man with no name who seems determined to drag her back to face reality.

The bounty hunter has no attachments, only the woman he is chasing as his focus. That woman is pushing and pulling at his barriers to a point he can't resist. He shares more of himself in the time they spend together than he ever has, and it seems that with the lid pulled off even a little, all his well-contained protection falls away.

Kat was a perfect contradiction in that with all her wide-eyed innocence and joyful appreciation of the world, she also represents the sneaky and conniving seductress.
The man with no name (no worries, you'll find it out when you read the book) is more of an enigma. His life and motivations are fed to us bite size and it isn't until the end we get a reasonable scope of his person.

The story was strong, but toward the end some of the tying up of loose ends seemed a tad contrived with the insertion of certain people as suddenly pivotal to the events as a way to bring the story to resolve. Personally I would have been perfectly happy with only a vague background story and the full focus on the main characters, their growth and the development of their connection. That is definitely where Season shines!!

I can guarantee you this, next time a Season Vining book comes near me..... I'm snatching that baby up!!

**Copy provided in return for an honest review.**