Kim Karr

He didn’t think, he didn’t question—he just acted. What she wanted, she took—without regard. It was only one night, but it changed everything. After losing his fiancée, Ben Covington is unsure he’ll ever love again. But he’s so deeply drawn to Bell Wilde that he’s thrown for a loop. Maybe it’s purely sexual chemistry that’s igniting their spark… or maybe it’s his second chance at love. Bell Wilde has just gotten her life back on track and may not be up the challenge of Ben Covington coming back into it. However, once the spark is reignited…there’s no stopping it. But even if they both manage to pull together their frayed hearts, a secret from Bell’s past just might shatter them both.

Frayed

Anna Ureta

Frayed – the fourth and final novel in the Connections series.
 This drawn out and riveting conclusion of the series tells the story of Ben Covington, Dahlia’s ex, and his one-time lover, Bell Wilde, Dahlia’s sister-in-law. It’s a small world isn’t it, when these two lovers find each other after all that time. Can you imagine how much has changed and how much hasn’t? Like all Connection series novel, the story is about love and finding love after you think it’s gone, and finding that person you feel or felt that instant connection with after being apart. What Ben and Dahlia had was special, but what Ben and Belle have is even more special. Just how long will it take these two to realize what they have is more than just a friendship with benefits?
 
Ben and Dahlia have been together since they were children. He knew that she was in, she was his happily ever after and he was determined to marry her. But after some choice decisions he had to make in order to save her life, Ben is back from the dead, he’s come home, but only to find his fiancée in love with someone else.
 Now Ben is lost and unsure that he’ll ever find a love like Dahlia again, at least until he runs into Bell Wilde – an old flame from his college days. Everything about her drives him wild, but he doesn’t know if it their sexual chemistry or something more that he feels for her.
 Meanwhile, Bell Wilde is just starting to put her life back together and trying to start up her own business. The last thing she needs is to be confused by the oncoming approaches of Ben Covington. They have history together and that’s how Bell wants it to remain, but the moment she lets Ben in there’s no stopping him. However she’s keeping secrets from him; secrets she’s afraid if he finds out it will ruin what they have and end what was supposed to be a good thing.
 
Let me start by repeating my earlier sentiments… IT’S A SMALL WORLD.
 I mean wow, what are the odds…what are the odds. Obviously this makes for a more compelling novel where everyone is related to everyone in some way, or everyone knows everyone through a connection but, come on!
 Even back in Torn I found it pretty ridiculous that Ben and Bell had a thing back in college. Like what are the CHANCES that Dahlia would end up with River and Ben ends up with the girl he had a one-night thing with, who happens to be River’s sister. I mean HOW CRAZY IS THAT?
 
I’ll admit Frayed wasn’t my favourite novel in the Connections series, and I will also admit that it was well-drawn out and had a lot of thought put into it. Maybe even a little too much thought. Frayed ended up being the longest out of the Connection series novels, and also the one that I think has a lot of fluff. Some of the chapters I found redundant and some just there for a bit of filler. Some may argue that the series needed more filler, that there wasn’t enough substance. Not every series is for everyone and maybe this series wasn’t for me. I felt bored, and felt that the writing was maybe a little too dull for me. I’m not saying Kim Karr isn’t a talented writer, I just think this book didn’t do it for me…on an emotional scale.
 
Ben and Bell’s feelings for each other ran deep, deeper than they realized, and it’s those feelings that kept them together, however a secret from Bell’s past can easily break what they’ve worked so hard to rebuild. This, I think is because well….I’m just going to go out and say it, is because Ben is kind of a selfish prick. He didn’t take her feelings at all into consideration and was just…..a huge….d-bag. I mean the way he acted, the way he treated her, There I said it, I’m sorry.
 
At least in the end, the two were able to work out their secrets and figure out that the past is irrelevant. What matters most is the people or person you want to become now, and the person you want to become moving forward. Frayed is sexy, well-drawn out, and shows you that it can be easy to fall back into love, what’s hard is letting go of the past.
 
3/5 Hearts of Love

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I'm so pleased with this book! If you've read my reviews on other books in this series, you know I didn't have the best feelings about Ben. I wanted him to find peace and a future and redeem himself, but I didn't know if it would ever actually happen. But now I can report with absolute certainty, that my feelings for Ben have changed. He found a way out of the dark in this book and while he won't be making any of my favorite book boyfriend lists anytime soon, I can he's redeemed himself in my eyes. 

Sometimes it really is all about finding the right person. That couldn't be more true than it is with Ben and Bell. The passion he lacked with Dahlia was present in spades with Bell. They were perfectly matched – in and out of the bedroom – and I really enjoyed their story. Granted, I still take issue with him for cheating on Dahlia back when this all started, but I think I can look past it now. Regardless of how long they'd been together, they weren't right together. There was someone better out there for each of them. 

Ben began his path to redemption at the end of Blurred. He made a series of bad decisions over the past several years and he lost a lot over that same period of time. I did sympathize with him for all that he'd lost, but it didn't excuse away the behavior. I was getting a little tired of looking backward with Ben and I'm happy to say this book didn't have much of that. It was more about the future, save for a few flashbacks from Bell's POV, which didn't bother me at all. I liked Bell from the start. I wasn't pleased to learn of her history with Ben at first, but again, forgive and forget... right? 

Frayed really was about Ben and Bell dealing with their past and moving on together and finding a better future. There wasn't a doubt in my mind, before or during this book, that they belonged together and would get there. Together Ben and Bell confronted the ghosts of their pasts and realized what they had, no matter how hard they tried to fight it, was something special. They were smoking hot together. The sexy scenes were SUPER steamy and the romance was heart-melting. They were easy to root for. Ben atoned. It was time he got a happily ever after. 

The other thing I really liked about Frayed was that it gave me a chance to catch up on the lives of the other characters in this series. I loved each of them in one way or another and it was gratifying to learn where they are now. 

I can't believe I'm saying this, given my feelings for Ben at the beginning of this book, but I have to say this is one of my favorite books in the entire series. I loved the character development and the pairing of Ben and Bell. They gave me the warm fuzzies and often had me fanning myself from the passion. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a second chance story. I'm very happy with this book and I suspect other fans of this series will be as well.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Frayed

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