Book Review: Nickolas, by Kathi S. Barton

First let me say that if you were looking for your every day happily every after romance novel, this one should show right from the beginning that it is anything but typical. The characters are strong right from the moment, and pig-headed too. They have had their own troubled pasts, one of which included being raped and abused repeatedly. This did make it harder to read for me at times, because I could internalize the anguish this character must have felt as she tried the best she could to survive the outside world when everything seems to topple down around her. But as I said this is no cookie cutter story.

I have read some of the reviews that bashed the author for her portrayal of a victim falling for someone who could very well abuse her right from the beginning. That’s life though, a life that is more realistic than someone just coming to her aid and helping her right from the beginning. More often than not people are attracted to the person who can hurt them the most and they continue to fall for them. Did I like Nickolas, the character? Not one bit, but that’s the beauty of this book. Not every man a woman meets is the best thing in the world for her and Ms. Barton did a good job allowing you to hate her character while falling in love with the brothers that surrounded him. Some may want the brothers to do more to push the moral right on their brother, but I feel like they did and if you were a realist you would understand family dynamics a little better. There are many families that sit and watch their loved ones make mistakes repeatedly, for if you intrude or force your beliefs of the situation they become volatile to the point that they push their families away from them.

Do I get this book? Yes, I think I do. I think I understood it better than most people commenting on it. It was a fast read and had characters you loved to hate. It was original in that fact. I am actually looking forward to reading about the other brothers and hoping that I am able to fall in love with them as easily as I hated their brother.