Bite & Release by Cory Cyr

Ryan Chase left Fairbanks, Alaska, when she was 21 years old to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Somewhere along the way her dreams of stardom crashed and burned, along with her life. Thirteen years later she is forced to return to Fairbanks because her unforgiving and emotionally-distant father has suddenly died. Ryan seizes the opportunity to not only escape her abusive husband but to be able to attend her best friend's wedding. What could go wrong? It's only Fairbanks, Alaska... While wishing she was anywhere but her father's funeral and wake, Ryan is struck senseless by a stunning, drop-dead gorgeous man. Her thoughts turn carnal and she desperately wants to know him in every way-and position-possible. There's only one problem... He's the devil's spawn. He's the one who marked her for life. He's the kid she used to baby-sit. And he's hotter than hell! Shea Michaels has loved Ryan Chase for most of his life. After surviving an unspeakable childhood, he became a man of whom she could be proud of...if she ever came back. Now that she's returned, Shea pursues her with a vengeance, undaunted by the thirteen year age difference that Ryan uses as the shield between them. Confusion, guilt and lust bombard Ryan as she battles the memories of the little boy she used to know while still being drawn to the heart-stopping man he has become. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1359486615      4 Stars!

This is definitely an erotic romance book, although.. I'm not sure there was too much romance! Just so you know and not go letting young people read it. They can admire the gorgeous guy on the front like the rest of us :)

There are things I loved about this book and things that annoyed me. **SPOILERS**

You have Ryan Chase who was born in Fairbanks, Alaska and lived their with her father until she was old enough to quit college and head off to New York to try to become an actress. Uh.. that didn't work out. Anyhoo.. Ryan's mom died in childbirth so her father was the only one to raise her. They got along great until she got into the crazy teens and left. Things didn't work out for Ryan in New York, she didn't become an actress and she married a man who beat her. She didn't speak to her dad for 5 years because she didn't want to hear him say "I told you so." Ryan had a best friend named Trina that lived next door to her dads house and she used to babysit Trina's little brother named Andrew, but Ryan called him Shea. Shea used to spend a lot of time with Ryan's father because his own father would beat him and his mother. He never touched Trina in any way though. Shea told Ryan's father at 8-years-old that he was going to marry Ryan some day.

13 Years Later:

Ryan is coming home for her father's funeral. She didn't even know he was sick. She was upset that Trina didn't tell her. She never got to say anything to her father before he died :( So Ryan comes back for her father's funeral, for Trina's wedding, to get the house in order to sell, and basically running away from her husband and file for divorce.

Ryan sees Shea at the funeral and wonders who the hot man is.. she says something more but I'm not putting that in my review :) When she finds out he is little Shea, she about craps herself. Now, here comes the annoying part! Throughout most of the book Ryan keeps saying I can't think this about Shea, I can't be with Shea, I was his baby sitter when he was a kid. OKAY, we know that so shut-up and get over it! She is 34 and he is 21, live it up!

Shea is working at a veterinary office and going to school to become a vet. He's a good guy for the most part, but he has a lot of issues. I think he handles them all very well. I loved that he helped animals and cared about them.

I loved most of the book, but let me tell you, every other page is about explicit sex. Looking at the gorgeous guy on the cover helped with the mental picture! LOL ...but at some point I was like.. can we move on to something else. And I wanted to smack Ryan several times for keeping her marriage a secret from Shea until it comes out when it shouldn't and all this stuff goes down.

Later on they find out that Ryan's dad left her a lot of money and a secret comes out. What could it be? It's a good one and not the one I was worrying about. Some bad stuff happens at the end, but it eventually worked out just right. I loved it. I thought the ending was so sweet.

I'm definitely reading the next book!