Review: Rhoades—Undeniable by Felice Stevens

Title: Rhoades—Undeniable

Series: Man Up: Book Two

Author: Felice Stevens

Length: 326 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: Even if I never loved these characters, I understood their story and I was able to bring it full circle in my mind. I can still appreciate an author who is able to pull strong emotions out of me by their writing. I will recommend this one for all those who love truly broken characters and angst.

Reviewed By: Carrie

Blurb: Rhoades
Loneliness. The pain doesn’t simply go away with time. It’s been years, and they tell me I need to move on. But I can’t.
Blame and regret are my constant companions. Until I see him in the spotlight and everything changes. Night after night, I watch him dance. Thinking about him.
What he’d feel like.
What he’d taste like.
And now that I know, I want him even more.
And maybe…just maybe, he might want me too.
But not yet.
Not before he knows he’s more than a pretty face. Not before he knows what he means to me. I need him by my side.
The two of us.
Together.

Austin
Why can’t I forget him? His hands touching me. His mouth on mine. Kissing me. Rendering me mindless.
Breathless.
Every night I lay awake burning for him. Dreaming. Thinking. Needing him.
No—I don’t. I don’t need anyone.
I lie.
I want him.
I want more. I am more. He’s seen that, and now here I stand with my dream on the horizon. All I need to do is take that first step. Trust him.
Trust myself.

Review: Rhoades—Undeniable is a very slow burn novel which picks up where Austin leaves off. I would definitely read Austin first, as it sets the groundwork for this story, but it’s not an absolute necessity; however, Stevens knew what she was doing when she published them this way, so trust the author and read them in order.

Honestly, I flip-flopped on this one. I loved some parts of it and didn’t care for others. I had a hard time connecting to Austin. I kinda feel like the chip he had on his shoulder was overwhelming to me. It kept me from relating to him in any way. It also kept me from believing in the almost immediate transformation when he decides to drop his shields. I was just so damn disappointed in him for doing and saying some of the things he did and said. Austin was written as such a singularly selfish character that when he decided to become different, it left me shaking my head. It was hard for me to live in such a purely negative environment until the 70% mark in the book—then I got whiplash with how fast things turned around. I am, by nature, a glass half full person. Austin, by nature, is not. I feel like we got the angst for Austin in the first book, and keeping it all going so deeply into book two felt a little like setting the stage twice. Redemption does come for Austin, and at that point he confesses to quite a bit and lets some of the hurt go, and it is amazing to see. Austin has to turn himself around to be able to love Rhoades the way Rhoades needs him to, and in the end, Austin does just that.

Rhoades was a complex character. On one hand he was the sweetest, most broken person on the page. On the other, the man had stalker issues and his obsession with Austin was NOT healthy. It seriously disturbed me, the lengths Rhoades went to just to stare at Austin and know his schedule. Take a man who is in deep depression, put him in a strip club and have him become obsessed with one of the dancers, have him stalk this dancer and send him personal gifts, then try to maul him when he gets the dancer alone for the first time, and I am highly concerned that, as a reader, I am supposed to want these two to fall in love together? But, I liked Rhoades. Despite all of the above, he was relatable in a way Austin wasn’t, due in part to the fact that Stevens gives us more of Rhoades’ backstory—not all of it but enough of it. The sympathy strings are pulled with Rhoades. We don’t get the full story of Austin or Rhoades until almost the end of the book, and maybe if we had been given that foundation earlier, it would have helped color how I felt about these MCs in a positive way. Rhoades will break your heart and have you rooting for him; at his core he’s a good man and just what Austin needs, if he will allow Rhoades into his heart. Healing has to happen for Rhoades, he is on a journey back from grief, and watching him take slow but sure steps back from depression is a lesson in human spirit.

I will say if angst is your thing, then this book is for you. For me, it was almost a relief when we were able to put all that behind us and focus on the positive aspects of our MCs. And then, I started to enjoy the story. We have two MCs who are flawed in their own right, finding love and acceptance and affirmation in each other. We have beloved characters from earlier stories (Marcus and Tyler) that were great to see and revisit. And even if I never loved these characters, I understood their story and I was able to bring it full circle in my mind. This is where I have to review the story as it is written and not how I wish it had been written. I generally love Felice Stevens work, I have read and own quite a few of her books, and this won’t change just because I hit one I wasn’t a hundred percent in love with. I can still appreciate an author who is able to pull strong emotions out of me by their writing. I will recommend this one for all those who love truly broken characters and angst.

You can buy Rhoades here:
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