He was the most charismatic man I’d ever met. Strong, tough, brave. Bold as hell. Something told me Tag Barton could have anything—anyone—he wanted…and he wanted me. It didn’t matter that he was wrong for me in practically every way possible. It didn’t matter that my father would hate it.  
I couldn’t resist him. Even if I’d known who he really was and what he was really capable of. 
When he suggested we pretend to be engaged, I thought he was the answer to all my problems. He wasn’t. And, in his wake, he left nothing but scorched earth and me, just another casualty of my father’s war.
Can I believe him now when he tells me he loves me?  Or is he nothing more than a beautiful, breathtaking lie?

I totally had the opportunity to read Brave Enough by the highly spoke of M. Leighton.  I am personally not a frequent reader of contemporary romance, but the way it was written and the flow of the story line kept me invested in the outcome of the book that I completely overlooked the missing Sci Fi/paranormal aspects of which usually dictate my choice in literature (ha! oxymoron).

              First thing that need to be said and gotten out of the way is that I did not like the names of the characters at first.  It took approximately 5 chapters to get used to their names.  The names ultimately did help, you could definitely not mistake that you were in the midst of a romance when the characters are all “Oh Taggart” and ” Oh Weatherly”.  But being in the romance realm and when I dealt with my personal issues and let it go, it led into that I loved when getting down and dirty.  Just what you expect in a romance novel as the “down” part, but it was described in a realistic aspect.  There were no hip breaking kamasutra positions or balancing on hands-in-a-back-bender-that-a-gymnast-would-be-proud-of  tricks that show the author does not frequent that amazing aspect of reality.  Tag and Weatherly brought you along and while not crazy explicit, you were in the moment with them.

              The***** scene  is my favorite, it shows how deep his feelings are getting and that she has already reached that point in her feelings for him.  She trusts him unequivocally and while I do fault her, a bit, I get where she was coming from and I cannot honestly say that I would not have followed the same steps.

              The ending was amazing, I love completions.  You know where they are, where they stand, where they will be going, and are satisfied with the journey you were on thus far; at least I was!   I would definitely read another M. Leighton.

Heather