Review: Defined by AlTonya Washington

Defined by Altonya WashingtonAlly Fleming
Published by Amazon Digital Services LLC on September 4th 2018
Genres: Fiction, Multicultural & Interracial, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 338
Format: eBook
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four-half-stars

The opinions of others had never much mattered to LuCarolyn Young. Then she met Rutger Eliades. Rough, brooding and undeniable, captivation was a given emotion with arousal hot on its heels. Lu had a past, though-one that defined her-one Rutger already knew way too much about. Anything beyond one night of no-strings sex, was out of the question and she very much wanted more than one night. Rutger Eliades was absolutely not a man to be toyed with, underestimated or tolerant of a woman with a past like hers, or so LuCarolyn assumed. Especially when she had a past that was about to come crashing in with a vengeance.

While our past is important and is integral in a lot of the situations we may find ourselves in and the decisions we make, it doesn’t have to define us. We see this in Ally Fleming’s aka AlTonya Washington’s latest novel, Defined. Rutger and LuCarolyn’s “desire not to be defined by their shortcomings but their desire to triumph over them” was ever apparent in the latest installment of the Sleeping Giants series.

I’ll warn you now. If you haven’t read the first two in the series I suggest you stop now, read those and come back to this review.

I’ll wait.

You’re back? Ok, great.

We’ve gradually fallen in love with these eight individuals and so far we’ve witnessed the blossoming of two couples in Intoxicated and Conquered.

I must admit that Defined took me by surprise in a great way. We got a lot of backstory in the prologues for both Lu and Rutger. That automatically set the tone for this novel and let readers know that ripping off the bandaid would be a lot harder this go around.

I expected Rutger Eliades to be the most mysterious and perhaps the most complicated guy out of the four male friends. Without getting Slayte’s story yet, I think I may be right. Mercuri, Pope, Rutger, and Slayte have been through it all together and have found a way out of the darkness that has surrounded them since they were young boys. They’ve all handled their demons in different ways and while I wouldn’t consider any of them necessarily expressive, Rut was definitely different. He’s a bit more lethal, with more brute force, and the willingness to go to the extreme and suffer less remorse than the others. Maybe.

He’s content to live a life of isolation because he thinks it what he deserves as he waits to exact his revenge on people of the past. Subconsciously after seeing two of his friends fall in love, he wonders if maybe, just maybe, something like that awaits him.

LuCarolyn Young has a larger than life personality. She’s a smart, take no prisoners movie producer in Hollywood perfectly fine with being alone while making sure her three best friends, Bear, Prin, and Tee get the love they deserve, especially after the horrific night they endured years earlier. She doesn’t need love once her friends have it, at least that what she thinks. Blame it on her misplaced guilt.

Without making a long review even longer, Lu and Rut were bound to fall for each other. The passion and attraction was evident from the first time they laid eyes on each other. In Defined, they fall into a relationship that is intoxicating and dangerous. We pick up where we left off with the various mysteries and with old foes appearing out of the woodwork once again.

AlTonya aka Ally knows how to write a romantic suspense and we are not left wanting with this novel either. The twists and turns don’t stop coming and more breadcrumbs are sprinkled in this novel.

If you are a fan of the series, you will like this latest addition. If you are not familiar with these couples, start from the beginning with Intoxicated, to avoid confusion.

When I first began this series I always knew that Princess Holland would be the most mysterious friend and the little pieces we got in this novel proves that I will be right. I am looking forward to reading her story which I assume may be the last in the Sleeping Giants series.

However, we’ve seen a nice number of secondary characters thus far in the series that I wouldn’t mind a spinoff series or two. Just putting it out there. 🙂

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Natalya

Natalya is an Account Manager by day and an editor and author's assistant to passionate creatives by night. When she is not adding to her enormous book collection or stationery supply, she is catching up on her favorite television shows.

Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.

You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.