Title:Undefeated

Author :Claudia Y. Burgoa

Series:Unexpected #5

Release date:April 18th 2016

Rating : 5 Stars

Blurb :

Porter

“Porter, only you can help yourself. We’re here to guide you, but we can’t take you to the next level if you refuse to work.”…there’s nothing they can do for me. No matter what I tell them, what I do or whom I talk to, my woman is gone, my kid is dead, my career is over and the only family that loved me, now despises me. I was once the nation’s biggest musical sensation. An International heartthrob. Now, I’m a skeleton of a life I once lived. Porter Kendrick: the man, the myth, the legend. A fallen branch of the Colthurst-Decker dynasty. The demons of my past haunt me. Do I have the strength and will power to put them to rest? Can anyone really have it all?

Mackenzie

Love is a four-letter word more powerful than the energy of the sun. Love can move mountains. Love can conquer all. But there’s also the other side of the story, the sad truth. Love can destroy. Once, there was this boy I met with a set of amber eyes and a bright smile who took my breath away. It wasn’t love at first sight. No, we fell in love slowly, through the day-to-day contact. Leonard Brooke promised to be my prince charming, as long as I could save him when he needed me. No other man could make me feel strong, safe, loved, and cherished. But Leonard Brooke died, leaving me to figure out how to handle the grief of his loss. Inside though I’m incomplete. Broken. My sassy-fiery daughter, and my creative-sweet son are who keep me afloat. Trying to find a new normal without the love of my life, I head to Oregon. Leaving behind our old life and dreams. Am I strong enough to start over? Can I turn my back on the only man I’ve loved?

Review :

When you read as many books as I have – you reach a certain point where you feel that you can not be surprised anymore. Its not that you stop feeling with the books your read – its just that you start categorizing books and place them in certain folders.

But then every once in a while you get reminded that there can be something new and different at any given time. And I just found that “something” just nowI read “Undefeated” the 5th book in the “Unexpected” series by Claudia Y. Burgoa – and now comes the “NEW thing”

I discovered while reading it.

NEW is that it is my first book in that series and I AM HAPPY ABOUT THAT and I will most probably NOT READ any of the others…

OK .. hmm wording it like that sounds bad …when it is actually FAR from it – so I guess I have to explain myself.

When you read a series that consists of standalones there are basically only a few given reactions.

You start with book 1 – go with the flow and read them in the right orderYou start with a book in the middle and then stop because it was only OK and you do not feel the need to read more or you go backwards and read them all because the book was so good that you crave more

But since yesterday I learned that there is a third reaction …

You start with reading a book in the middle of a series (or in this case the last book as the author explained at its beginning) and once you finish it you refuse to read any of the other books BECAUSE that book was so good.

Yes that still sounds strange but I will explain myself if you give me a moment… – I need to gather myself and wipe away some stray tears

As I said – I did not read any of the other books (my co-blogger did though) – so I did not know Porter but from the storytelling of this author and the way the story developed I have to assume that he was mentioned often in the other books. And I am quite sure that it was not in a good way.

And then there is me – I feel like Mackenzie – Porter enters my life with a clean slate – I did not know anything about him . So I was open to see him for the person he is now. I listened to his story the way he told it to Mackenzie and I could feel for him.

If I would go back now to read any of the previous books – I would probably see him the way he was before. And even though I KNOW how he was, I guess it would like almost physically hurt to see him like that.

But it is not only him…It is also the resignation of his family, all the people that cared for him and how they must have developed this hard shell to protect themselves from the hurt he put them through.

I am not sure I could read all that happening once I know him now – the way he is now.

So this series actually leaves the reader only once choice – even though they work as standalone novels – you need to read them in the right order.

For me – this recommendation is to late – I can not got back – and undo what I learned about Porter and maybe that is also a good thing – because I am not sure that I could have felt for him the way I do now If I had known him from book 1.

He must have been a prime example for a selfish bastard. But the way he presents himself in this book, I am happy I entered this journey without prejudice so he has me on his side.

I guess this book teaches a lot about forgiving.

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