3.5 stars.

Susan Andersen's No Strings Attached is the last of the Bradshaw brothers' romances and in this outing (which is also set in Razor Bay), half brother Luc gets the surprise of his life when he meets Tasha Riordan, the woman he spent one glorious night with seven years earlier. Equally astonishing is her animosity towards him and her inexplicable belief that he is a low-life scumbag criminal. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Tasha clings to her mistaken belief in an effort to protect her heart but will their smoking hot attraction convince her to give Luc another chance?

Tasha and Luc have very different memories of their passionate encounter and Luc would like nothing more than to pick up where they left off. His confusion over her hostility towards him is quickly cleared up when she tells him the real story about what happened to her, but she stubbornly refuses to believe he is actually a DEA agent who works deep undercover. Tasha tries to avoid him as much as possible but her best friends are Luc's brothers' girlfriends and she is further dismayed to learn that he is her new renter. Confronted with irrefutable proof that Luc has been telling the truth about his identity, Tasha gives in to their desire but she is determined to keep their relationship casual.

I have been looking forward to Luc's story since his introduction in Some Like It Hot and I love his character as much as I do his half-brothers Jake and Max. Luc grew up an only child who did not learn about Max and Jake until after their father's death and he is very eager to get to know them. Although he likes both of his brothers, Luc is envious of Jake and Max's close bond but he never lets his feelings get in the way of his burgeoning relationship with them. Luc's career has kept him from romantic entanglements, but when it comes to Tasha, he soon realizes that keeping his distance is going to be impossible. Once he gets to the bottom of what really happened to her seven years ago, Luc has some important decisions to make about his future but will his future include Tasha?

I liked the glimpses of Tasha from the previous novels, but in No Strings Attached, I found it difficult to like her. Her stubbornness about Luc's identity quickly becomes irritating and once she does believe him, she uses someone else to prove that Luc does not mean anything to her. Her indecisiveness is also very frustrating and she is constantly changing her mind about whether she wants him in her life or not. She also leaps to conclusions and lack of communication on her part leads to unnecessary misunderstandings between them. Although I dislike how Tasha handled her complicated relationship with Luc, she is quick to offer help to troubled teens Jeremy and Peyton and she has great friendships with her best friends Jenny and Harper.

Overall, No Strings Attached is an enjoyable read and it is a lovely addition to Susan Andersen's trilogy starring the Bradshaw brothers. It can be read as a standalone story, but I highly recommend the previous novels as well. ( )

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Tasha Riordan's one night stand lands her in jail…in the Bahamas…for drug trafficking. Turns out the man she knew as Diego wasn't the only hot thing in the room. After two terrifying days she is released and sent back to America vowing to never lose control like that again. Seven years later she walks into her bestfriend's kitchen to see Diego passing the potatoes at the table. Diego, who is really known as Luc Bradshaw, is an undercover DEA agent and even though he was on R & R when he invited Tasha back to his hotel room, he was still technically on assignment. Thus begins a story filled with white lies, feelings of betrayal, and a rest of the book that never lived up to the fast paced exciting first two chapters.

The biggest problem I had was the main characters did not have a lot of interaction and when they did it started off as great fiery banter that slowly veered into unfunny vitriol. Tasha snaps and snaps at Luc to the point you wonder if his bedroom skills are worth it for her and Luc's feelings of lust never seem to develop into something more; towards the end I really just wanted these two to go their separate ways.

This is third in a series but can definitely be read as a standalone. Characters from book one and two get a lot of screen time, so if you read the previous books maybe you would enjoy revisiting them but for others that haven't, it could feel like just a lot of needless filler. There is also a mini secondary couple followed throughout the story involving a recovering troubled teen boy and struggling with family issues teen girl. Their story, interaction, and attraction to each other felt more real to me as they actually communicated and developed a relationship. I found myself way more invested in them towards the end of the story.

This had such a promising explosive beginning with characters that seemed to sizzle with chemistry, unfortunately, a lot tiring scenes followed. Secondary characters needed to be pushed to the side to make room for our main couple and the story should have been heavily edited; it read like a director's cut of a Peter Jackson film. Susan Andersen usually writes great banter between leads and steadfast paced books, this one, however, missed the mark for me.
( )

Very good second chance story with some fun moments. It starts with a hot vacation fling between Tasha and "Diego". Things are looking great when he's called away by his boss, after asking her to stay a few extra days. Right after he leaves, his room is raided by the Bahamian police and she's tossed in jail for two days on drug charges. She's convinced she was set up by a drug dealer.

Seven years later, she finds "Diego" visiting her best friend's fiance, claiming to be his half-brother Luc Bradshaw. She is still furious with him over the jail thing, and now believes he's trying something fishy with her friends. It takes a lot of effort for Luc to prove who he really is, and that he was on an undercover assignment when he met her. He's been mad at her too, believing she had broken her promise to stay, since she was gone when his boss went to help her leave the island. When he finds out what happened to her, he's furious and determined to get to the truth.

As angry as she is, it's obvious that the attraction between Tasha and Luc is as strong as it was before. Neither one has forgotten those days when they felt like they had truly connected. Luc is determined to show Tasha that they can still have something good together, but every time she looks at him she remembers those horrible nights in jail. She's really pretty hard on him, but it isn't too long before Luc's intention to regain her trust starts to soften her up.

There were moments when I loved Tasha, and others when I really wanted to smack her. I loved her independence, her strength of will, and her loyalty to her friends. I loved seeing her on the scene at her pizzeria. She has great relationships with her employees - there was a terrific part at the beginning where she stood up for one of her teenage employees against one of the snobby set. However, she spent far too long holding what happened against Luc, especially once he explained. But once she finally accepted it, things really started to pick up.

I really liked Luc. I loved seeing him get to know his brothers. It was a bit heartbreaking to see his insecurity over whether he fit in with them. I also liked that he really was an honorable guy. He had tried to do the right thing back in the Bahamas, his mistake was in trusting his boss. He hadn't forgotten Tasha at all, and often wondered about her. He was floored when he saw her again, and really confused about her anger until he heard why. I loved the way that he refused to give up on getting her to forgive him and seeing if they could still have something together.

I loved seeing the relationship grow between Tasha and Luc. At first they tried to keep it purely physical, because Luc would be going back to his undercover work and Tasha didn't want to risk her heart. But Luc soon finds that the idea of not going back to undercover work is growing in appeal. All he needs to do is convince Tasha to take a chance on him. Tasha has to face up to her own fears before she can allow herself to take what Luc is offering. While her confrontation with Luc was hard, I liked the way she was able to be honest with herself and admit the truth of the things he said. Once she did that, then she had to decide if she was ready to take the risk.

I also enjoyed the secondary story of Jeremy and Peyton, Tasha's two teenage employees. I loved Jeremy's determination to overcome the issues that had put him in the group home. He had his pride, but he was also willing to accept the help offered by Tasha and her friends. I really enjoyed seeing the part he played in the story. I wasn't sure about Peyton at first. She initially came across as one of the snobby crowd, but showed what she was really made of early on. Her attitude was actually a cover when she was nervous, and I loved seeing it start to fade as she made a place for herself at the pizzeria. The romance that developed between the two of them was pretty sweet, but not without its problems. I really liked seeing the way they dealt with those problems and how it made them stronger. I'd like to see them again in a later book. ( )

Susan Andersen writes popular contemporary romance, but distinguishes her stories with interesting twists and H/H's who are also flawed individuals. She also weaves secondary romances into her plot, that provide comic relief, contrasts from the main characters' relationships, or draws parallels between the couples, different only by their respective generations. This book is funny and also bittersweet. Very enjoyable. ( )

Luc Bradshaw
Tasha Riordan

The Characters
Tasha seemed like an awesome person, she was a bit too introspective for my taste. It was bordering on annoying. Luc seemed like a great guy but even with our peak into his mind I still never felt like I knew him or really bonded with his character. The break out stars in this book were definitely Jeremy and Peyton.

The Story
This series has more than once had me ready to pack up and move to Razor Bay. If only there were more Bradshaw brothers there waiting to find their one and only. As much as I liked Peyton and Jeremy I kinda feel they were only included to fill out the story and make it a full book. I really thank Tasha and Luc's story could have been a novella (a long one) but I'm thankful that Jeremy and Peyton got to be included. If you have to have filler at least make it good, right?

Randoms
I wonder if this is the end of Razor Bay?

Read With Me: No Strings Attached

Overall I give this book 3.5 Stars. ( )