BOOK REVIEW- NEXT TO YOU

BOOK REVIEW- NEXT TO YOU- A scarred and lonely billionaire hiding from his past ...
Jared Connor lost his innocence at the age of ten when his father poured gasoline around the family home and left his two young sons to die in the flames. Now an adult, he's carefully crafted a pretend life where he can hide his scars and his death row father behind the guise of a caretaker's pickup truck and a pair of gardening shears. But when a beautiful woman with scars of her own barges into his quiet, solitary life, Jared finds it increasingly difficult to hide from what he really wants.
A successful young businesswoman ill at ease in her newfound beauty ...
Phlox Miller was never the pretty girl and no magic mascara or secret serum was ever going to change that—not even one manufactured by her own company. When an accident at her country home burns her face and body, she spares no expense on her recovery and plastic surgery. Now she turns heads on the street, but can't recognize herself in the mirror—and can't convince the man she loves that he's beautiful, too.
Can two people see beyond appearances to find true love? AMAZON

Loved this story.  That said, let me also say that I am sooo NOT a fan of the *F swear word.  It appeared more than several times in this story.  Now that I have gotten that off my chest, I can continue. 

 Once I got past my dislike of the former mentioned word, I'm glad I kept going.  The story was well worth it.  In fact the blurb about the story made me want to read it and I wasn't disappointed in the story itself.  Its one of those stories that drew me in so much that I was thinking about it as I fell asleep and could hardly wait to get back to in the morning.  Always a good sign.  I really liked this author's writing style as well.    I just feel like I have to give an example of one of her interesting phrases:  "The truth hit Jarred like a brick to the head".  There were more of these descriptive phrases that I enjoyed, so easy to relate to and understand. 

I also like the accuracy of her story, knowing that peonies that Phlox was looking at should have ants when the plant started blooming and including that bit of information in the story.  Detailed without boring you to  death.  Something else that I liked because it made me smile and added a fun element to the story was how Jared nicknamed people who he interacted with.  Like, Miss Brisk Efficient, even though he hadn't met her in person, this was her style with him.  There were just so many really good secondary people in the story who only added to the story without them taking away from the main characters.   To me that is an art, to get that balance.  

This was such emotional read at times, but also enjoyable because of a successful, strong heroine.  Phlox was a joy to read about and she had such a great (well, mainly) good support system around her.  Her equally successful partner and friend Zee was one of those as well.  There is plenty of romance, some sex of course,  challenges that they faced and drama on several levels; not just about their relationship.  

I just have to say as a side note that when I read about Jared taking off his "black monk strap shoes", I went, "Huh?"  I had to look that one up.  I guess I never heard that description before.