Four Letter Word

I enjoyed this book, especially due to the characters. They were entertaining, and I loved the interactions between them. The romance felt a little fast to me though. I’m giving this 4 out of 5 stars. I liked Sydney and Brian a lot. They both persevered when things got rough, and the way they “met” was hilarious. But to be honest, I kind of liked the other characters more. Like Tori and Jamie, for example. One thing to note, this is definitely a book for a mature audience. Lots of sex, some violence, and quite a bit of swearing to name a few things. Also, it’s kind of emotionally heavy at parts. I was expecting it to be more happy-go-lucky, but it’s not like that all the time. There’s actually real life issues the characters have to deal with, so be prepared for some feels. I found myself laughing, and smiling, while reading, so major props for that. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series! The writing was great, I think I just need characters I connect with a little more.

I wanted to like this more than I did. And I actually did like it well enough up until the reveal of Brian’s past. Sydney’s reaction to something that had nothing to do with her and stopped as soon as she came into his life really made me not like her. But it was well written and worth a read.

***4 ‘I’m locked down’ stars*** The whole calling the wrong number thing was the hook for me. I had to find out just how crazy Syd would get on poor, unsuspecting Brian and I was not disappointed at all. It was brilliant! But once that crazy was over I found myself continuing to turn the page because I needed to find out how everything would play out between them and loved every second of it. It was sweet, sexy, funny, frustrating, heartwarming and heart breaking. Syd has been dealt a major shock to her system and though she is reeling from it she realizes, with a little help, that it isn't the end of her world. She also realizes that she lost herself at some point and fights to become the woman she really is. I really liked Syd, she is sassy, sweet and has a good heart, and I enjoyed watching as she worked through her issues and found herself again. Brian is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and has been trying to make a wrong right by doing things he would never have dreamed of doing prior to. Those closest to him have tried to make him see that he doesn’t have to do it, but his own self hatred won’t let himself believe it. I absolutely adored Brian. This guy has such a huge heart it was hard not to like him even when I wanted to smack some sense into him, and believe me you will want to smack some sense into him because there are some things that he does that will have you growling in frustration. But he’s just that guy. Sweet, wickedly sexy (God the things that came out of his mouth ~ have an ice bath ready), at times quite blunt and yet oh so charming. Wild and Trouble. I love how they first “met”, Syd really went for it and Brian was just...well, you’ll just have to read it to find out, and how their relationship grew from there. The phone calls and texts were fun and through them they got to know each other pretty well and when they finally come face to face it was explosive ~ have your BOB nearby or an ice bath ready. The pothole in their journey to their HEA isn’t a secret and I have to admit that I kept turning the pages to see how that bomb would drop and I have to say it was executed well. I’m still not sure how I feel about the initial fall out from it, I get it but still...but I do like how it was resolved and that’s really all that matters in the end. Four Letter Word is my first book by J. Daniels and I really enjoyed it. It was engaging, well paced and I thought the dual 1st person POV’s were done very well. I thought the secondary characters were all well written and I liked how we got to know them and caught a glimpse of what could be future storylines they didn’t overshadow Brian and Syd’s story, but simply add depth to the world. I’ll be honest and say that Stitch is the one I want to know more about, which really isn’t a surprise, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series and seeing how that one turns out. ~ ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily ~