Review – Four Seconds to Lose by K.A. Tucker

Title: Four Seconds to Lose
Author: K.A. Tucker
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths #3
Previous Book: One Tiny Lie
Next Book: Five Ways to Fall(expected 2/10/14)
Source: Personal Purchase

Description from Goodreads:

When a gorgeous young dancer walks through his door, a strip club owner must decide whether to follow his rules or his heart in the third novel by the author of One Tiny Lie and Ten Tiny Breaths.Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine-year-old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.

Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her can’t get distracted by romance.

Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, and that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.

Review

After loving Ten Tiny Breaths and One Tiny Lie, I was extremely anxious for Four Seconds to Lose. I requested it on Edelweiss and checked my email like a madwoman. Unfortunately, I didn’t get approved. (I didn’t get declined either. My request is actually still pending!) So I preordered it and started it on release day.

I was so excited to start Four Seconds to Lose, and it started off with a bang. By the end of the prologue, which was only 1% of the total book, I was already heartbroken for Cain and liking the way the book was heading. I liked that we learned a little bit about Cain’s past right from the start.

My biggest complaint about Four Seconds to Lose was that it’s described as being Cain’s story, but it’s told in two perspectives: Cain’s and Charlie’s. And at times, I felt like we were spending a lot more time with Charlie than with Cain. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but it took me a very long time to actually care about Charlie, so I was getting a little frustrated with her portions.

There was also a part of the story where I just had my heart in my throat and was getting annoyed. You see, Charlie has a big secret, and as she connects with Cain, she knows that this secret is a big deal and starts feeling guilty about it. I was already thinking to myself that of course, she wasn’t just going to admit it, and it was just going to blow up in her face. Things didn’t actually pan out exactly as I was expecting, but it did frustrate me for a little bit.

However, for everything I disliked about Charlie’s story, I loved about Cain’s story. He’s such a great guy, though he doesn’t seem like he would be on the surface. I really liked him from Kacey’s story, but seeing more of him and learning more about his past, demons, and motivations, I just really fell in love with him. Even just thinking about him, he was such a great character.

The interactions between Cain and Charlie, even before anything romantic started to build were really interesting. There were definitely some funny scenes. I do like that Charlie gives Cain a good run for his money.

One thing I did notice, and I don’t know if it’s just because half the book is from a male perspective, is that Four Seconds to Lose seemed much steamier than Ten Tiny Breaths or One Tiny Lie. I mean, there were sex scenes in the previous two books, and at times they were more descriptive than I’m used to (reading mostly YA), but there weren’t a ton of them, and they didn’t feel quite so descriptive. There were several scenes in FStL that I felt like I needed a cold shower. This is not a good or bad thing, just an observation. It’s definitely steamy at times!

I wasn’t completely thrilled with the ending. After all the tension that I had built up while reading the story, I felt like the ending was just a little too easy. I mean, on one hand, I was nice that things weren’t overly dramatic, but it just felt a little anticlimactic.

Overall, I really enjoyed Four Seconds to Lose, but I felt like it was missing something from the other two novels. I’m not really sure what exactly it was that I felt was missing, but I just didn’t love it as much.

Tagged: 4 stars, Atria Books, contemporary, Four Seconds to Lose, KA Tucker, NA, review, Ten Tiny Breaths