Unavoidable Chances (Running Into Love #5) by Annalisa Nicole

A Review by Wendy

4 Making the Time for Sunshine Stars 

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Work/Balance.... this is a term which seems to be brought up all the time... but is so hard to do...and what is the balance... is there one? When goals and dreams are set... when do we realize they sometimes need to be adjusted to allow a life... and love...

These are thoughts running through the mind of our driven attorney, Ava Wellington. She has been working non stop from the beginning... from grade school, high school, college and law school... always at the top... always meeting her goals and now she has the biggest... to be the youngest partner in her firm. The partners have put this carrot out there for the grasping... and she just has to get through an unwinnable case... To do this... she has to break the promise she made her dad... to cut back on her 100 hour work week... and she is torn...Her dad has passed... she wants to make amends by living up to her promise...and life keeps throwing hurdles in her way...

Like the beautiful, rugged and sexy as hell, Jaxon Landry. He is ex-military, turned chef of a very popular place Ava and her family go to... and somehow she keeps running into him... No, for real... she runs into him while holding her special coffee drink before court ruining her lucky yellow blouse. Then she smacks into him at the mall while carrying breakable wine glasses which of course break and also has other encounters... always making her feel unsettled, turned around, hot and tingly... not focused on what she should be... 

Ava isn't the only one feeling different ... Jax is shocked by the immediate change in how he feels... for he has been living in black and white... in a life of devotion to his two daughters... for nothing was how it was supposed to be... He was a para-jumper in the Air Force... going into place which needed his help... he was happily married to a wonderful woman who gave him two amazing girls... They were happy and then in one fell swoop of life... he was injured in the knee overseas and she died because of her appendix bursting... Jax came home to no career, two little girls he needed to father full time and his love gone... But this constant plowing into Ava has caused a shift... because he has felt and seen color for the first time since coming back... Ava, with all her fussing and control has caused him to feel sunshine... and that is what this woman is to him...and it is powerful.

This two keep butting into each other, each time more of an intense connection until it leads up to some very serious, sensual, steaming combustion...and from that moment... nothing is the same for these two...

This story is part of a series of very engaging brothers and sisters. The books tell the story of all the couples... but I really didn't feel as if I had missed out on anything which ruined this particular tale. If you are the type when reading series you do not want to know anything at all about up coming couples and their outcomes... then it might be better to start at the beginning...I was ok with just focusing on these two.

They have chemistry and there is one scene which was friggin' hot... I am talking slamming into floor to ceiling glass hot...

The biggest hurdles and life lessons were the time element... how much is too much when we work... Attorneys work insane hours... and when trying to make partner..especially as a woman... I think it can be more than just challenging... this was presented well in the story. The dealing with the loss of your soul mate and how to move on was also there... Jax reinvented himself as a chef/owner and figured out how to do it all with his adorable daughters. There was a lot to this story and most of it was heartwarming.

The series continues and it shall be interesting to see which brother is next. 

A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review.

About Annalisa Nicole

I am an “Indie” contemporary romance author. I live in California with my husband and two teenage boys. I love being a stay at home mom. My husband and I enjoy wine tasting and camping with our kids with our four wheelers in the middle of nowhere, where you can find me with my pink Ryder BB gun! We have a handful of pets, a dog named Lucy (who is in my books) and a guinea pig named Flufy (my son spelled her name that way) and a cat who adopted us many years ago and has never left. She is a spoiled outdoor cat with her own two story house and a heated bed.

I never liked reading as a kid. I only started reading romance novels in the past few years. My Kindle and I are inseparable now. A thought occurred to me in December of 2012 that maybe I could write a romance novel. So I went to work with the encouragement of my husband and my sister-in-law. It didn’t take long to figure out that I really enjoyed writing. Today I am a self published author and it has been an amazing journey.