• Release Date: 4 October 2016
• Book #8 in the #Driven series BUT can be read as a standalone - BUT again, why would anyone want to miss those amazing books?! ☺
• 400 pages
★★★★★
5 Stars
5 Stars
The New York Times bestselling Driven series continues with a standalone story about finding love where you least expect it…
Behind the wheel, racing champion Zander Donavan is at the top of his game. But after too much excess in his personal life, he’s forced to step away. He needs to accomplish something all on his own—outside of his famous father’s shadow.
Getty Caster is running away from the abuse that clouds her past. She thinks she’s found the perfect escape—until she discovers a stranger in the beachside cottage she’d been promised. He’s undeniably sexy, but she’s there to heal. Alone.
Before long though, fighting with each other turns into fighting their attraction. And giving into desire sets off a chain reaction that has their pasts colliding. With an unexpected love on the line, can they overcome the fallout to build a future?
Behind the wheel, racing champion Zander Donavan is at the top of his game. But after too much excess in his personal life, he’s forced to step away. He needs to accomplish something all on his own—outside of his famous father’s shadow.
Getty Caster is running away from the abuse that clouds her past. She thinks she’s found the perfect escape—until she discovers a stranger in the beachside cottage she’d been promised. He’s undeniably sexy, but she’s there to heal. Alone.
Before long though, fighting with each other turns into fighting their attraction. And giving into desire sets off a chain reaction that has their pasts colliding. With an unexpected love on the line, can they overcome the fallout to build a future?
We all remember the boy Colton & Rylee adopted.... Now he's all grown up and has his own story to tell.
We don't really know what happened that leads to the prologue, but it starts with a slightly crazy Zander fighting with his dad - Colton Donovan. It goes so far that Colton has to fire him from the racing team. He tells Zander to get his shit sorted, take some time off, calm down, find someone outside of the family to confide in...
But Zander is a really stubborn guy and yells very hateful words at the man who saved him when he was younger...
Once Zander stopped being stupid and drunk he decides a few days in a cute beach cottage on a Washington island would be the perfect place to relax and think for a while...
Enter Getty. She's been living in that cottage for three months now.
Three whole months of finally being on her own.
For the first time in her life, she's the only one who decides what to do and what to wear and what to say. She finally ran out on her super-controlling mega rich husband Ethan - and her equally strict dad.
She's now happily living in the cottage and working at the local bar.
The first meeting?
Yup, you guessed it - not really all that friendly. And of course both were kinda naked at the time. ☺☺☺
For every step they take to a possible friendship, something happens, or some words are said, that pull them apart again. It's easier to fight and argue than to tell the truth to a stranger.
But that's why both ran away .... to get their lives back on track again. To talk about their problems with someone who understands....
And even if those kisses are extremely hot, they're not yet ready to bare all the deep, dark secrets of their past.
But living in the same house, they can't help but get to know each other - and like each other....
What will happen with Getty & Zander?
Will there be a HEA?
Or will there be a horrible Cliffy?
I'm not telling you that of course ☺ ☺
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Such an adorable book!
A book can't be bad when I already start crying in the prologue.☺
But I also wanted to shake some sense into Zander for yelling at our poor Colton!!!!
But he gets his act together pretty quickly. He's staying at the cottage to think about things and to work through everything that happened to him when he was a little boy.
Same with Getty. She's there to escape a horrible marriage.
They're both so perfect for each other. But of course it takes them a while to trust the other.
But they have lots of fun on their way to their Happily Ever After.
Lots of fighting, arguing, storming out of the house furious at each other...but also lots of sexy looks and kisses and touches....
I loved it.
The perfect romance with the right amount of mystery, suspense, drama, sexiness and heartbreakingly moving moments!
Yes, of course, the whole '2-strangers-share-a-beach-cottage' has been romance-noveled many times before, and pretty much nothing that happens in the book is surprising or new, but we love those books. They're cute and moving and sexy ... what's not to love?
We already loved Zander from the previous books and now he's here with his own story, and of course we have some Rylee and Colton in it too. Perfect for fans of the series, but also perfect for readers new to the Donovans!
DOWN SHIFT was such an adorable and funny and moving romance! Zander and Getty are finally ready to be grown-ups, to be responsible for their own lives & mistakes. Ready to face the past....
Run to your nearest amazon for your own dose of Zander!!!
Run to your nearest amazon for your own dose of Zander!!!
If i had to name something I didn't like...just a few expressions that bother me - and probably only me ☺
It's that thing where an author says that a guy THROWS HIS HEAD BACK AND LAUGHS - ugh - I hate that. No idea why. I just can't imagine a hot guy doing that. And I have never ever seen a guy do that in real live. It would look totally ridiculous! And Zander does that a LOT in this book :/
ARC received for an honest review
Remember the sweet little boy from Driven, the one who didn't speak for months?
Well now that sweet little boy Zander is all grown up and all man... and pretty much a broken man at that.
I had tears when I was reading just the prologue - oh how my heart ached and we hadn't gotten to the nitty gritty of the story yet!
Enter Getty - she has had s crappy past ad has been emotionally broken down to the woman she is today.
An unexpectedly being lumped with a stranger as a room mate is NOT what she was after.
But oh my goodness, the sparks that fly between Zander and Getty! The snarky, the barbs, the fighting and door slamming... all extended foreplay really! They really could be perfect for each other.
The room mates to friends to lovers storyline is not a new one, but the twists and turns in Zander and Getty's story had me enthralled from the minute I started reading. I just had to know what would happen with them next.
And to finally find out why Zander ended up in foster care, why he didn't talk - just gut wrenching!
I loved that we got more of Colton and Rylee and Zander's "brothers" throughout the story.
So can Zander and Getty get their "chequered flag"?
Nope, for that you will have to read for yourself, but do yourself a favour and race to your bookseller and buy this book! It is perfect for fans of the Driven Series, but even if you haven't read them you will love Zander!
↓ LiNKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR ↓
EXCERPT
“You don’t know anything about me.” My voice is slight but strong, my need to assert myself front and center despite his calling me on the carpet.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Socks. I might not know where you’re from or why I ruffled your feathers today, but I know you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. Whatever it is that you ran from back home, you did it. You got out and are making it on your own. That takes guts and you deserve mad props for that. I know you like things messy and are goddamn cute when you’re tipsy. I know you’re stubborn as hell and gorgeous as fuck. And that your kiss tastes like an aged whiskey: something I want to sip slowly, feel on my lips, savor on my tongue, and take my time with before I get drunk on it.” With a lift of his eyebrows and a nod of his head, he walks past me, leaving me with my mouth agape and eyes wide.
I can’t move. Just stand staring at the door in front of me as I try to process what he just said, what he meant by it, and yet there’s no use because we just had a whole one-sided conversation and that need to banter with him is gone. Lost to the tingling in my lower belly and the wild spinning of my thoughts.
“Oh, and, Getty?” Zander calls out to me from the kitchen, refusing to continue until I turn to face him, standing there unabashedly shirtless. “If you ever call me pretty again, we’re gonna have a real problem. I guarantee you there is nothing pretty about me.”
I almost smile at the fact that out of all of the crappy things I said to him, that is the one that bugged him the most.
“You are kind of pretty, though,” I murmur, unable to resist goading him further, needing to try to get us back on an even playing field. Because hell if right now I don’t feel like I’m on the low end of the teeter-totter.
His immediate response? A snort to signify that his chiseled abs and the tall, dark, and handsome thing he’s got going on are nothing more than average.
“Last warning, Socks.” His eyes flash with mirth. And what looks like desire.
An unexpected part of me—the one who usually hides and doesn’t ever take a chance—wants to say it again. Just to see what he’d do if I did.
“So damn pretty.” I don’t know who’s more shocked at my comment, him or me, but we stand there for a moment, gazes locked, unspoken words warring across the distance between us.
He walks toward me with a predatory gleam in his eyes and a salacious smirk on his lips that catches me off guard. “I know I said you were brave, Getty, but now you’re just playing with matches.”
I draw in a long inhale as he steps right in front of me. I can’t look at him. My nerve is suddenly gone. Outside, rain pelts the roof. The constant drip into the bucket in the hallway serves as a metronome to this anticipatory silence we are dancing in. The goose bumps on his chest are the only thing I can focus on.
When his thumb and forefinger direct my chin up so I’m forced to meet his eyes, every part of me hums from his touch. From the want of something I don’t quite understand myself and couldn’t ever put into words. Our eyes meet—his intense, mine searching for answers that aren’t his to give—before his gaze flicks down to my mouth and then back up again.
“Not yet, Getty.” He closes his eyes for a beat, and I see what I think is restraint reflected in his grimace, before a ghost of a smile spreads on his lips. “I don’t think you’re ready to light this fire just yet.”
...if you haven't read any of the #Driven books yet - start with the first one NOW!!!!
New York Times Bestselling author K. Bromberg writes contemporary novels that contain a mixture of sweet, emotional, a whole lot of sexy and a little bit of real. She likes to write strong heroines and damaged heroes who we love to hate and hate to love.
She’s a mixture of most of her female characters: sassy, intelligent, stubborn, reserved, outgoing, driven, emotional, strong, and wears her heart on her sleeve. All of which she displays daily with her husband and three children where they live in Southern California.
On a whim, K. Bromberg decided to try her hand at this writing thing. Since then she has written The Driven Series (Driven, Fueled, Crashed, Raced, Aced), the standalone Driven Novels (Slow Burn, Sweet Ache, Hard Beat, and Down Shift (Releasing 10/4/16)), and a short story titled UnRaveled. She is currently finishing up Sweet Cheeks a standalone novel out at the end of 2016.
Her plans for 2017 include a sports romance duet (The Player (#1) and The Catch (#2)) and the Everyday Heroes series (Cuffed (#1), Combust (#2), and Cockpit (#3). She’s also writing a novella for the 1,001 Dark Night series that will be out in February 2017.She loves to hear from her readers so make sure you check her out on social media.