Book Review: Leveled (Saints of Denver, #0.5) by Jay Crownover

Title: Leveled (Saints of Denver, #0.5)

Author: Jay Crownover

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 224

Format: E-book

Published: November, 2015

Price: $6.72 -> Rp91.530 (Amazon)

Rating: 2 / 5 stars

Date started: November 13, 2015 - Date finished: February 5, 2016

Synopsis:

We all need a hero...let the Saints of Denver begin

Orlando Frederick knows what it is to be leveled by pain. Instead of focusing on his own, he’s made it his mission to help others: sports stars, wounded war vets, survivors of all kinds. But when Dom, a rugged, damaged, sinfully attractive cop, makes his way into Lando’s physical therapy practice, he might be the biggest challenge yet. Lando loved one stubborn man before and barely survived the fallout. He’s not sure he can do it again.

Dominic Voss is a protector. The police badge he wears is not only his job, it’s his identity, so when he’s sidelined because of an injury, the only thing he cares about is getting back on the force. He expects Lando to mend his body, he just doesn’t realize the trainer will also have him working toward a hell of a lot more. As attraction simmers and flares, Dom sees that Lando needs repair of his own...if only the man will let him close enough to mend what's broken.

An Avon Romance

Review:

Orlando Frederick has a deep pain inside him from his past relationship and is scared to jump on a new relationship given what had happened. Dominic Voss is a police officer, becoming a police was always his dream, his father was a cop and he looked up to him. So when an injury prevents Dom from doing the one thing he loves to do he decided to undergo physical treatment from a well-known physical therapist, it just so happens that the doctor is Lando.

When they met, attraction form instantly. Both want each other but is hesitant because of their doctor-patient relationship, they want to keep it professional. After a few meetings, they decided to give their romantic relationship a shot cause the attraction is too hot to deny. Thus ending their professional relationship. During the course of their relationship, of course they face challenges like how Lando doesn't really like Dom's profession (putting his life on the line sort of way) because he had experienced loss of someone before, Lando is also hesitant in its relationship because he hasn't been truthful with Dom about his past relationship. This may very well be a thorn in their relationship moving forward.

“Most things that are easy aren't worth much. It's the things you have to work for that matter most.”

Leveled is the prequel novella of the Saints of Denver series, which is a new adult series by Jay Crownover. I read this book solely because of the reason that this book is the author's first venture into the world of M/M romance. Jay Crownover came quite recommended when it comes to adult romances. So I decided to give her book a shot, this is a novella in her newest series.

I must say, compared to previous M/M romance books I've read this was by far not one of the best ones but it is not a bad one either. This book was just pretty general to me. When I was reading the synopsis I was kind of stoked in reading about it but in reality it wasn't as great as I would've liked it to be. I put off reading this book for quite awhile cause I find myself wanting to read other books.

“How can things begin if you’re already planning the ending? Doesn’t seem fair.” His breath was warm and tingled the skin at the side of my neck. “You’re right. It doesn’t, so since the beginning is where things usually seem perfect and the ending is always tragic, why don’t we just skip to the middle? There’re good things in the middle.”

The main positive is of course, the great writing of Jay Crownover. She writes with such fluidity that it just seemed seamless. The story flows through easily and I understood what was happening at every aspects of the book. That being said there were also some things that I wasn't satisfied with. First off, the instant connection between Lando and Dom it all just seemed to click very quickly and their relationship developed fairly fast I feel like I'm in a high-speed train. After that, there wasn't really that much of a "big" conflict inside this book. I feel like the problem our main characters faced in this book was pretty plain and the resolution was all too predictable.

“Bad stuff happens sometimes and it happens to people we care about. You can’t live life insulated because you are scared of getting too close.” 

In terms of characters, I liked Dom better than Lando. He's a straightforward kind of guy and doesn't do bullshit, which is great. Unlike Lando who I feel like he's too indecisive and kind of verging on being similar to traits of a girl? In which I don't approve at all. But anyways, if you're a fan of Jay Crownover from the get go you might want to check out this book, but if you're not you might want to think twice before picking this one up or maybe just skip the novella and start with the first book of this series.

That's it for now!