Book Review: Come Away With Me by Kristen Proby

It's been several days since I read this book and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The premise is good. I liked the characters to some degree. But there was something missing that stops me from rating this higher than a 3.5 out of 5. [Note: I don't give away any major twists but there may be a minor spoiler here or there. You have been warned.]  

First, here is the info from Goodreads:

Title: Come Away With Me
Author: Kristen Proby
Publication Date: November 7, 2012
*Warning: Contains profanity, explicit sex, and a super sexy couple!

Being confronted on the beach by a sexy stranger wasn't part of Natalie Conner's plans for a peaceful morning taking photos. And why on earth would he think she's taking pictures of him, anyway? Who is he? One thing’s for sure, he’s hot, and incredibly romantic, feeding Natalie’s wounded soul.

Luke Williams just wants the world to give him a break, so seeing yet another camera aimed at his face has him ready to pounce on the beauty behind the lens. When he finds out she has no idea who he is, he's intrigued and more than a little tempted by her. Natalie has a body made for sex, a sassy mouth and Luke can’t get enough of her, but he’s not ready to tell her who he really his.

Natalie is a no nonsense girl who doesn't do well with lies and secrets. What will happen to this new relationship when she discovers what Luke’s hiding?

Alright, so now let's dig into what I thought about the book. First, we have the characters, Natalie and Luke. Luke was hot. I really liked Luke. He'd had a hard time dealing with his fame and had basically given up his acting career because of the insanity of the fans and the paparazzi. He was working instead as a producer, working behind the scenes. Natalie was a photographer who lived with her best friend and sold nature photos. She also took photos for couples in sexy positions and various stages of undress. She was also loaded because her parents had been killed and, being her dad was a rich lawyer, they left her all their money.

Okay, if there is one thing that bugs me more than billionaire heroes, it's couples who are both loaded and can spend cash without thought or concern. I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm so not loaded and I cringe whenever I see a character blowing cash on ridiculous items. Whatever the case, it made it hard for me to connect and identify with the characters. But this is subjective, so though is a problem for me, it likely won't be the case for everyone. 

Now, let's talk about Luke's sister. I despised her. She was a bitch. However, when Nat first meets his family and she goes off on the sister, that bugged me. I get it. The woman had it coming, but come on. it's the first time you're meeting his folks. Just walk away. Don't call her out. It isn't your place. It's Luke's. Or his parents or other sibling. This just got under my skin but not so much so that it made me dislike the book. I got over it. The fact that the two mend fences eventually also didn't quite gel for me. Though I could be a much less forgiving person. *shrugs*

I did like the relationship between Nat and Luke. It was sweet and way hot. And Luke was so romantic. He had a huge heart and you just knew, from the beginning, that he was so totally in complete and utter love with Natalie. It was adorable. And his birthday gift to her?! I mean come on, it doesn't get more romantic than that! 

This wouldn't be a romance without the "misunderstandings" and this book didn't disappoint. One thing I did like was that they didn't last a long time. It wasn't like half the book went by with them apart because of them. (Those kind of misunderstanding tick me off!)  On the flip-side though, Natalie, when she freaked out, she freaked out. Her reactions were a bit overly dramatic for my taste and I had a hard time taking her seriously. At least in regard to the first major misunderstanding when she finds out who he is.

As for the second, when Luke was in L.A., I gotta admit that I would have flipped the freak out too but I would have hoped to be more in control than that. I think she went a bit overboard with the way she freaked out. But by then I was used to her dramatics so I went with it. It's like when you have that one friend who just is so over the top about certain things but you still love her, ya know? That was Natalie for me.

As for the twist, I don't think the book needed it, but that's just me.  (I won't say what it is, but let's just say it was a shocker.)   I already bought the second book in the series, Fight With Me, because I really want to see what happens with Natalie's friend and hopefully we see more of Luke. *sighs* He was just delectable. The author has a lovely writing style and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Think this might be a book you want to try?  Here are the links to Barnes and Noble  and Amazon.  
[Note: When I purchased these books I got each book for $0.99 and as of the date of this post, they still are. This may change, or not. I honestly have no idea. Bottom line is, the price is more than reasonable and worth it, in my opinion.] 

*This book was a self-purchase and I was not in any way compensated for, or even asked, to review this book. All opinions are my own*