After a night of raw passion with the man
Claire O’Briene had been secretly admiring for years, she thought their time
together had come once and for all. Fate had finally brought them back to each
other, but unfortunately nothing had changed. He was still the same man who ran
away from relationships. Against his better judgment, Mason Bradley gave in to
the temptation and allowed himself one night with the one woman he’d been too
afraid to want … too afraid to need.
Six months after leaving Claire and regretting
every minute of it, Mason gets called in for an undercover mission that’s not
only dangerous, but brings back a past he spent years trying to forget. A past
of fighting … of getting in the ring and using his fists to get what he wanted:
money, women, and drugs. Now there are fighters turning up dead, and it’s
Mason’s job to find out the truth.
Knowing he might not come out of the mission
alive, Mason seeks out Claire to tell her how he truly feels, only to find
another man competing for her love as well. Fighting is what he’s good at, and
for once he will be fighting not only for justice … but for love.
Meant
for Me is book 3 in the Second Chances series. I have not read the first two,
but each book can be read as a standalone. That being said, I wish I would have
read the other two first, only because we meet the main characters Mason and Claire
in the other books. The author does a really good job at letting us know their
background and their past interactions with each other, so I didn’t really feel
like I missed a lot. I personally just like knowing their history personally.
Mason and Claire were previously in love, but he
was in denial about it. She lives in California and owns a vineyard with Mason'
s cousin Melissa. They know each other through her. They finally give in to a
night of love making, but he leaves the next day to go home to North Carolina
breaking things off with Claire and breaking her heart. Fast forward several
months....
Mason is a former MMA fighter turned cop. There
is a string of MMA murders in Las Vegas and Mason is asked to go undercover to
help solve the case. Before he goes, he wants to set things right with Claire
in case he doesn't make it out. She follows him to Vegas and helps in get an “in,”
because she used to live and work there and has connections. The two repair
their relationship while they try to solve the case. Their love is strong, but
can it survive a killer?
I think the author did a wonderful job weaving
the story of Claire and Mason. The love the two have for each other is strong
and tangible. Mason is determined to win her back, and once he does, he keeps
showing her his love. Claire is a very strong woman. From my understanding,
crap went down in another book with her brother, but she came out on top. I love
that she doesn't back down, fights for what she wants, but is rational and
willing to compromise. I enjoyed the secondary character a lot as well. These
are all well thought out characters.
The beginning of the book was fairly slow for me,
and I didn't really get into it until around 50%. I don't know what it was, but
for the first half of the book, while I enjoyed the characters, I just didn't
connect. But for the 2nd half, something clicked for me and I did feel that
connection. I could not put the book down after that. I enjoyed the author’s
writing and I'm curious how the other books when down. So, I guess I'll be
picking up the first 2 books of the series in order I can get a better
understanding of the characters and their stories. This is definitely a series
that I will be following.
The door to the
arena room was open, and the moment we stepped in Claire gasped and I
stared, wide-eyed at all the people. "Holy shit," I breathed in awe.
"It's packed."
Every single chair around the cage was occupied
and there were people standing around everywhere. There were two guys already
in the cage battling it out, except they looked to be part of the Lightweight
division. When I fought several years ago, I was competing for the Heavyweight
title. If they did fights in order of division then I would be going up there
last."Hey, guys," Tyler exclaimed, carrying a beer in his hands.
Disapprovingly, I glared at the beer and then
back up to him. "You should know better than to get drunk before a fight.
It makes you sloppy," I scolded him.
I really didn't care either way what he did, but
I knew better than to drink when I had to compete. Tyler chugged his beer and
threw his cup in the trash a little too roughly.
"I do know better than to drink when I have
to fight, but unfortunately, I'm not fighting tonight," he announced.
"Wait, what?" Claire cut in.
"What do you mean you're not fighting? If you're not the one fighting
Mason then who is?"
Tyler glanced around the room with narrowed eyes
until he found the person I was to fight and pointed to him. "That's
the guy over there with the blue mohawk. I think you might know him. He said he
owed you for something you did a long time ago. Care to explain," Tyler
inquired curiously.
Following the direction of Ty's pointed finger,
I groaned when I saw the guy with the blue mohawk. Fuck, I knew who he was, or better
yet, I knew his wife ... very well.
"What is it Mason?" Claire asked
worriedly. "Who is he?"
His name was Chase Benfield and I did the
unthinkable by fucking his wife. Blowing out a frustrated breath, I lowered my
head and began to explain, "Do you remember when I mentioned I had a dark
past?"
"Yeah," she said, drawling out the
word. "Let me guess, you fought him back in the day?"
I nodded. "Yes, but that wasn't just
it." I didn't want to tell her what I did because I was ashamed of the way
I acted and the way I did things. I was sure she would understand, hopefully,
but I didn't want her thinking less of me.
Claire let go of my hand and crossed her arms
over her chest defiantly. "Dammit, just tell me already. You did this same
shit to me when I was keeping something from you."
"Fine," I gave in, "but I need
you to know it was a long time ago and it was before I even met you. I was
stupid and did lots of stupid things that I shouldn't have."
She rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, you
slept with his girlfriend," she guessed blandly.
Sighing, I regretfully nodded my head and waited
for the angry words to come spewing out of her mouth. Instead, she said,
"So, what's the big deal? You slept with her. That shit happens all the
time. Why would he be angry about that still?"
"Well," I began, "it was actually
his wife and I hooked up with her in my prepping room during his fight for a
spot at the Heavyweight title. His trainer had come looking for her and found
us. Needless to say, word got back to Chase awfully fast."
Claire groaned and hung her head. "Oh,
hell, this isn't going to be good."
Chase finally spotted me from across the room
and snarled his lip. No, I thought to myself, this definitely wasn't going to be
good.
USA TODAY
Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is the author of the Forever Fae
series, as well as the Second Chances standalone series, and her NA romantic
suspense standalone called Love, Lies, and Deception. She lives in the
beautiful state of North Carolina with her husband, her two wild girls, and her
rambunctious kitten Katrina.
Before she began her career in the literary world,
L.P. Dover spent her years going to college and then graduated to cleaning
teeth, which she loved doing. At least until the characters in her head called
her away. She has never been the same since.
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