Review: Maya and The Tough Guy

Paperback, 326 pages

Published January 14th 2015

Maya Bradley is on her own now. With the help of her dear friends, Zoey and Addy, she’s determined to give her children the lives they deserve, away from their abusive father. But the journey is destined to be difficult, and she meets her first roadblock when she asks sexy, tattooed bar owner, Jayce Gilmore, for a job serving drinks.

Jayce has two reasons for not wanting to hire Maya. One: she deserves a more respectable job. And two: he’s been madly in love with her since he was a young boy. But when he finally realizes how desperate she is for work, he has no choice but to bring her on.

With Maya struggling to earn a living, get an education, and raise two children, Jayce finally finds himself in a position to help her. And though she isn’t interested in a relationship, Maya is showing definite signs of physical attraction. Jayce is sure he can keep his love hidden and fulfill her every fantasy. Unfortunately, he has severely underestimated the needs of his heart. As the moment of truth fast approaches, Maya must decide whether to break a tough guy's heart, or open her fragile soul to the risks that come with loving again.

Review

Cover: 5
Plot: 3
Characters: 4
Overall Rating: 3

Maya and the Tough Guy was a very emotional read for me. The heroine Maya was physically and mentally abused for most of her life starting from her father and then to her husband.

The book starts off with a flashback from the past and how Maya met her husband Damon, and after that is the present where Maya was going through her divorce with him. Jayce was another character I also loved because he was so loving and caring, and looks like a tough guy, but has a heart of gold.

Jayce and Maya had a history together and I loved how here in this book it was the guy who was in love with the heroine for a longer time. Jayce was really sweet and doing everything to help Maya get back to her feet by giving her a job, helping her with her kids and by agreeing to her to have a no-strings attached relationship.

One thing that really bothered me was when Maya's son Mattie told Jayce that he was also physically abused by his father. Jayce's reaction was very nice and he was trying to comfort Mattie, but the thing that bothered me was that after that chapter nothing about Mattie's abuse was mentioned anymore. Child Abuse is not something to be taken lightly and I just wished that although the book was centered around Maya and Jayce's relationship, the author could have at least given some focus on Mattie too.

Maya as said before has been mentally and physically abused ever since her childhood so she had reservations on entering a new relationship but doesn't have any if it's going to be a no-strings attached kind of thing. I know what Maya went through was tough but sometimes the way she treats Jayce was really harsh. I believe that being a victim is a matter of choice you could choose to be one or choose to become a survivor.

That was what was lacking in Maya from the start of the book. She was scared and timid, letting people walk over her so she was a victim. But later on, she didn't take bullshit from anybody and learned to stand up for herself then she became a survivor.

The romance between Jayce and Maya was sizzling but at times it was getting too repetitive. I don't think this book was meant to be Erotica but the amount of sex scenes would make you think otherwise. I guess if the sex scenes were lessened, the book could've been able to focus more on the important things like what I wrote in my spoiler. Overall Maya and The Tough Guy was a good read but not something really spectacular.

Received digital edition exchange for an honest review