Review: Rise by Dylan Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone - Symbols of Love #1
Release - February 15, 2017
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 3.5 out of 5
Length - 262 pages

As a little girl, I saw my father destroy the family he claimed to love. I watched my mother waste her life dreaming of a man who left her without a second glance.

As a woman, I don’t dream, I work. I don’t fall in love, I focus. I would never let anything as frivolous as love distract me.

Until I meet Simon. A gorgeous, brilliant young architect with dark eyes, a sweet smile, and a dirty, dirty mouth. He sets me on fire, and suddenly all I can do is dream…of his hands, his lips, his body. Of a heart good enough and a love strong enough to make me believe in happily ever after.

But Simon has secrets that are even deeper than mine. Will our pasts destroy everything we’ve worked for? Or will we find the courage to rise to the challenge and fight for the love we share?

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MY REVIEW

A brilliant 3.5 stars indeed!!

RISE was an intriguing contemporary romance story about one's reluctance to truly connect with another or to find love and happiness. Both Addison and Simon came from broken homes filled with broken dreams and broken hearts. They both focused to rise above the circumstances of their youth to achieve success. Simon's goal was to provide a better and stable life for his family. Addie's was to prove to herself and others that she was nothing at all like her parents. When these two meet, they have no clue how remarkably similar they are to one another. Their focus and determination left little room for romantic entanglements, but they soon find it impossible to resist each other.

Despite the cumbersome phrasing of words, this turned out to be an enjoyable read. I easily got lost in the story and tried to anticipate what would happen next for these people. I liked how the author worked the angst angle, how well-developed the characters were, and how interesting the storyline turned out to be. I had read somewhere that this was Dylan Allen's debut novel. If so, job freaking well done.

** Note: Is it just me or did that ending leave an opening for more? Will we get to see Addie and Simon again??? **