March 14, 2014
This is my first participation in a blog tour. Today is my feature day and the book featured today is Defensive and Guarded by J.D. Rivera. These were two really sweet love stories. They had a lot of twists and turns as these two battled to find their possible happy ever after. I was impressed by the writing style and the originality of this series and would love to read more by this author.

Guarded

J.D. Rivera

This story was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review.

Vanessa is trying to get on with her life. She is in the process of divorcing her husband Shane. He has been verbally abusive to her as well as cheating on her numerous times. She has had enough and is moving on.

Vanessa is out one day running when she literally bumps into a handsome stranger. There is some heat between these two and the sparks are flying. Jackson Berrion is a NBA lead scorer and Vanessa does not recognize him. He finds that so refreshing. He is nice and courteous to her and she finds that refreshing. They have lunch together and explore the waterfront.

They leave without exchanging numbers because Vanessa has been hurt before, she believes herself ugly and unworthy of love. Jackson however recognizes the beauty inside her and makes a surprise appearance at the school where she teaches.

They have alot of things in common and slowly they start to spend time together. Just as friends. She will not kiss him as her divorce is not yet final. It does her battered self esteem good to have a friend. He is so attracted to her, he will take whatever she is offering.

She drives a run down car, so he buys himself an "extra" car in case she ever needs it and then pays some thugs to tamper with hers.

This is the first story in their journey. It starts out all sweet and lovely but alas, there is going to be a few bumps in the road. Her bestest friend Amanda plays a great secondary character, and his ex Cynthia shows up to stir up trouble. I am looking forward to reading Defensive and continuing with the journey of Vanessa and Jackson. I would rate this story a 4/5.