Book Review: More Than You Know by Jennifer Gracen

Title: More Than You Know

Author: Jennifer Gracen

Series: The Harrisons #1

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Zebra-Imprint of Kensington Publishing

Pub Date: December 29, 2015

Pages: 352

My Copy: Paperback in my Too Be Read Pile

Book Summary:

Hotel owner Dane Harrison, middle brother of a wealthy Long Island family, needs a lounge singer for his new luxury property. With her stunning voice and amazing curves, Julia Shay is perfect. She also seems be the only woman in New York City who isn’t falling at Dane’s feet. And despite her feisty attitude and his rule against workplace affairs, he wants her—in his arms, in his bed, anywhere and everywhere.

Julia loves her new job, and she knows better than to think she can keep it and Dane. Even if he wasn’t her boss, Julia’s painful history has given her ample reason to steer clear of rich, powerful charmers. Still, their chemistry is unlike anything she’s known, and when it becomes too much to resist, they agree to one no-strings night together. But instead of quenching the fire, the intense encounter only proves how much they have to lose—or win… 

Book Review:

A definite page turner. I totally found myself loving Dane Harrison as everything a woman would want in a man. Julia Shay comes across as beautiful, sexy and confident. You would think that these two individuals would be perfect as a couple, but both have challenges that they have to overcome.

The setup for how they meet is very interesting as Dane is looking for a new singer for his new hotel and wants the singer to have certain qualities. So his sister suggests he goes to this bar and there he meets Julia and her friend/partner Kelvin. Julia is just what he is looking for. At first Julia doesn’t want the job unless Kelvin can come along. Plus he offers her an exorbitant salary to perform. We learn that Julia is someone who tries to keep everything professional between her and Dane at first. These two individuals realize that there is real chemistry and that both would be fools not to pursue it, so they do after a while.

Things do get more intense between them as both of them seem to be enjoying their time together in the bedroom and out of the bedroom. I like how at first that they simply are enjoying getting to know one another. It’s very pleasant and Julia is overcome by how wonderful and caring Dane is towards her and vice versa. He also is very protective of her at times. We learn that everything seems to be going well, until things come up from Julia’s past that have haunted her for a long time. She is very guarded because of her past.

Her past comes back literally to haunt her as certain someone comes to her job to hear her sing. Yet, Julia feels scared and insecure about certain things regarding how her life has gone and this might end in disaster as some things come out, yet Dane stays by her side through everything that happens to Julia and helps her talk about things and Kelvin explains what certain men have done to her. Dane feels stunned to learn about her past and he really is there for Julia in a lot of ways. I really love Dane even more at this point in the book because he is the one guy who isn’t judging and being supportive and that’s what we all need from time to time.

This book took a lot of interesting twists and turns. I also like how Julia manages to reconnect with her son. She also learns that sometimes in life we have to jump and take a chance with somebody because even though it hasn’t worked out in the past with men, maybe this one will be different. I also like how Dane and Julia decide to spend their lives together and will get through everything together. I thought that this was a great romance with two people who just have so much chemistry, some issues. Both Dane and Julia get their happy ending.

Rating:

4.5 Hearts