“I can easily divide my life into two parts—before her and after.”
Hudson Pierce has led a life few others could even imagine. With money and power at his fingertips, he’s wanted for almost nothing. He’s never experienced love, however, and he’s seen few examples of it in his dysfunctional family. The ridiculous notion of romance has always intrigued him. He’s studied it, controlled it, manipulated it, and has yet to understand it.
Until he meets Alayna Withers.
Now, the games he’s played in his quest for comprehension can finally come to an end. Or are they just beginning?
Told from his point of view, Hudson fills the holes in his love story with Alayna Withers. His past and relationship with his long-time friend Celia is further revealed and light is shed on his actions during his courtship with Alayna.
MUST BE READ AFTER THE FIXED TRILOGY
Book One: FIXED ON YOU
Book Two: FOUND IN YOU
Book Three: FOREVER WITH YOU
Review:
Incapable of love. Emotionless. Cold.
At the beginning of Laurelin Pagie’s Fixed series, the above terms seem to describe Hudson Pierce to a t. He was a player who took and gave pleasure but nothing else. His fascination with human behavior gave him enjoyment on so many levels. He reveled at other people’s pain, and as each experiment proved his hypothesis about human nature, he closed himself off even more, knowing that to feel…to love would ultimately ruin him. As the series went on, his relationship with Alayna began to change him for the better, but there were still roadblocks. He still did inexcusable acts and kept secrets that ended up destroying Alayna’s trust and separating him from her. Through it all, I questioned Hudson’s sincerity on numerous occasions, and I wanted to understand his true connection to Celia and why it seemed he couldn’t break free from her. At the end of the series, even with Hudson and Alayna’s happily ever after, I wasn’t satisfied because Hudson still remained a mystery to me. I didn’t doubt he loved Alayna and changed every aspect of his life for her, but I wanted to understand him. I needed to see into his mind and get answers as to what led him down his path of experiments and women. Thankfully, Laurelin gave that to me and all of her readers; she allowed us into the head of her sexy, alpha male, and I couldn’t be happier with what I learned about him!
There’s such a complexity to Hudson that readers can only get through his own words. In the first three books, we get all of the situations through Alayna’s perspective; we only see her side, so we are more apt to react according to her reactions, which are definitely slanted based on her emotions. I wanted to string Hudson up by his balls on a number of occasions because I felt how Alayna did every time he let her down, lied to her, or kept his secrets. It’s extremely interesting to me how the same situations told from a different point of view shed so much more light on them. Reliving those moments in Hudson’s mind showed me how wrong I was about him during those tenuous times.
In order to understand the current Hudson, readers need to see what he was like when his experiments began and how Celia factors into it all. The “before” chapters set that up for us and despite how depraved and manipulative Hudson is in those scenes, it makes so much more sense as to what led him down his chosen path and what ultimately allows him his freedom from the game, the manipulation, and the numbness. Because we are privy to his every thought, emotion, intention, and motivation, the picture becomes complete, which allows me to no longer question what the hell was going on when his relationship with Alayna begins, his connection to Celia is finally decimated, and he begins actually feeling and living due to Alayna’s influence.
Hudson is my favorite Laurelin Paige text to date, and that’s saying something because I love everything she’s written. There’s just something about getting Hudson’s point of view. Laurelin strips every aspect of him bare, explains all of his idiosyncrasies and vices, and takes us beyond his blackened heart to what’s at his core. He’s not as damaged as he thinks he is, and I’m so glad Laurelin proved that not only to us but to Hudson himself. All of his self reflection allows him to move on, and Hudson’s epilogue proves once and for all that he’s a man who loves fiercely, feels everything, and strives to be better than his younger self. Absolutely amazing!
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
5+ poison apples
Excerpt:
It’s a fragment of my greatest fear realized—she loves me, but she doesn’t love me enough.
Fairest Of All Book Reviews 