Here With Me by Samantha Young
Releases May 11, 2021! Thank you for Valentine PR for the opportunity to read this ARC!
Here With Me is a romantic suspense book that has the perfect balance of mystery and sex.
Robyn goes to Scotland to attempt to reconnect with her absent father, Mac, who happens to work as personal security for ex-action star, Lachlan Adair, only to find Mac tracking an escalating stalker. Lachlan, retired action movie star and subject of said stalker runs a private getaway for other rich artists and is fecking pissed that someone from inside his circle is violating the safety and security of his home/business. Since Robyn is an ex-cop, she can't stay away from the case and also the movie star who rankles her at every turn.
This book was sexy AF. Multiple explicit sex scenes and a smorgasbord of mentions and highlights. The sexual tension between Robyn and Lachlan was great. Robyn’s growing relationship with Mac was also well-developed. This book also had excellent pacing and tension builders. I found myself in “cop-mode” more than once, trying to guess the stalker’s identity and I was wrong every time. Though, I should have known.
I loved pretending that my 6 months of Rosetta Stone Irish Gaelic makes reading Scottish Gaelic easier (it doesn’t, they’re different languages, and I still pronounced everything wrong in my head).
Samantha Young did a great job setting up the other Adair siblings for her future books in this series. I could see the multiple scenic paths through the moors to find love (now I’m just picturing Jane Eyre’s flight into the rainy moors at the end of that book…)
This book sparked a lot of conversations for me. Robyn’s experience as a cop and her friend, who is still on the force, being partnered with another cop who is high on the power - makes me long to talk (read: yell about) policing in American and police reform.
Every woman in this book has experienced some sort of assault that is either a driving force for them or something that has affected them deeply. At one point, Robyn is groped and prevents it from escalating to rape because she’s a badass who knows MMA. But she declines to file charges because of the hassle it would be on her life. That’s a fucked up system right there where a strong woman feels powerless. Lachlan vows to ruin the guy’s career. Later, another woman is assaulted by her bf after breaking up with him and makes a comment that laughing at him was the wrong thing to do and that’s why he punched her. That sort of self-blaming language is so very toxic to a victim. Also, once again, Lachlan swings in to fire the guy and have him escorted out of Scotland. I understand that part of the story is that Lachlan is controlling and feels a need to protect everyone and can’t, but it was really piling on.
All in all, I will read future books in this series. I care about the characters and the writing/pacing was strong. -Ford
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I'm a Samantha Young fan, but something about this book just didn't fit right for me.
It should be a bunch of fun. High suspense, great, strong female characters, both lead and secondary, excellent twist, scenic Scotland, father-daughter bonding, and yet, I slogged through this one, wondering if I should DNF at 70%.
Maybe, it was the fact that everyone had similar baggage they were working through. There really isn't one person, aside from maybe, the sandwich shop owner, who didn't have parent-based or partner-abuse-based trust issues.
It was tense and it was forbidden and it was hot, but it was emotionally unsatisfying to me, despite some great resolutions, I can't quite figure out why, but their confessions of love never settled my uneasy feelings about them.
I hope the Adairs find peace and maybe it's the anxiety of a thriller that exhausted me so, but I didn't fall in love with them and their castle.
Maybe, I need more than one book. I would certainly be willing to try. - Sky
