Title: Built
Author: Jay Crownover
Series: Saints of Denver #1
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Published: January 5th, 2016
Source: Digital audiobook downloaded from public library
So, last week I shared the book that was supposed to kind of bridge the Marked Men series with this new Saints of Denver series. At first I was unsure if I would like this series. I mean, the main character of this book, the guy on the cover, Zeb, was totally not my type of guy from a quick glance at the cover. I mean, I've gotten more into guys with facial hair, but his beard, man, it's like a mountain man, and not the kind that I've ever found attractive. To me, that kind of beard makes me think of a couple guys from some older movies/tv shows. Like on Little House on the Prairie, the family friend, Mr. Edwards. The other one was in the movie Adventures in Babysitting, the tow truck guy with the one hand that was a hook. (I know, I'm probably a little weird). Of course his character totally took care of that for me. And then, as I looked at his picture more, it was his eyes that totally grabbed me, and made me look past the beard.
So, as you probably guessed, Zeb is one of the main characters. We met him back in the Marked Men series, maybe in Nash's book first? He was hired to build the new tattoo shop, which is called Saints of Denver, hence the title of the series. The other main character is Sayer, who we met in Rowdy's story, since she is his half-sister. While Zeb is a big strong, work with his hands, manly man, Sayer is a very put together, high class, lawyer. The two don't seem like they would mesh at all. But Zeb is interested in Sayer the first time he sees her sitting at Rome's bar with Rowdy. And Sayer definitely finds him attractive, she has sex dreams about him. But she doesn't think she would be right for him, as she's always been told that she is frigid, or at least her last boyfriend did.
Of course both of them have their own issues, Zeb wondering if he's good enough for a woman like Sayer, and if she'd even consider him. And then there is a huge change that shows up in Zeb's life. A woman shows up and tells him that he has a son. A son whose mother just died, and may have to live in foster care if his father can't step in and give him a home. Of course there are all kinds of issues with this. The first is Zeb's prison time. Now, what he did was hurt the man who had been hurting his sister, but this meant he had anger problems. Plus, what he did to the man, it happened in front of his niece, who was very young at the time. Since then though, his niece is no longer afraid of him, and loves him to death. Zeb asks Sayer to help him deal with the issue of his son, to help him make sure it is truly his son, and if so, then to help him gain custody.
I'm sure from that you can get a gist of where the story will go. And it goes in a good way, some bits maybe predictable, but the rest pretty good. My main issues had mostly to do with the audio part, the narrators read way too slow for most of the book, although the narrator for Zeb had the perfect voice for what I pictured him having. But, they said Asa wrong again!!!! It's not that hard, I don't understand why they keep getting it wrong! I'm sure the author gets tired of me tweeting her about my frustration, which she says she shares, every time one of the audiobooks does this. I also hate the reason that Sayer pushed Zeb away. But little Hyde, Zeb's son, totally stole the whole book. I was surprised that the family issue of Hyde came about so early in the story. From the way the synopsis had been, I figured it would be later on. But because it was so early in the story, I don't feel like it's a big spoiler for me to talk about it in my review.
Once again, I love this author, I love this series. I guess I'll need to go on and read all her books, even if I may think that they won't quite be my type, because she'll win me over to the people I'm sure.
