True North (North Brothers 3) by JB Salsbury-Review & Excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 9, 2022
The North name is a heavy burden. Two things I learned young—the best way to keep my head on is to keep my head down, and… never fall in love.
But I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress.
Lillian came into my life swinging. Mistaking me for my abusive twin brother, she greets me with a swift kick to the balls and a busted lip. Then she really shakes up my world.
She needs her job, but she needs a break just as much. And nothing silences my demons as efficiently as playing the hero.
To protect her from my jerk twin—her boss—I take her on a business trip and quickly learn that she’s different. Blunt. Honest. Intriguingly strange. I’m transfixed, so when she unknowingly sinks a multimillion-dollar deal, I don’t speak up. Something my family won’t forgive.
Now, I have a choice to make. I can go against my own blood and burn the North legacy to the ground, or play it safe, commit to my self-imposed rules and predestined future. Choosing her would ruin my life as I know it, but I’m starting to wonder if a life without her is worth living.
•••••
REVIEW:TRUE NORTH is the third instalment in JB Salsbury’s contemporary, adult THE NORTH BROTHERS erotic, romance series focusing on the North brothers: Alexander, Kingston and twins Hudson and Hayes. This is thirty-two year old, billionaire businessman Hudson North, and PA Lillian Gillingham’s story line. TRUE NORTH can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Hudson and Lillian) TRUE NORTH follows the forbidden relationship between thirty-two year old, billionaire businessman Hudson North, and PA Lillian Gillingham. Lillian Gillingham is Hayes North’s personal assistant but his treatment of Lillian borders on abusive and feral. With Hudson’s assistant on maternity leave, our hero hires Lillian as his assistant for a series of weekend meetings, meetings in which Lillian will offer her opinion in the face of shock and and potential loss. Truthfully blunt, and often without thinking, Lillian is always on the verge of a potential breakdown until the man in charge sends our heroine packing but not before Hudson finds himself falling for the woman that calls to his heart. As Lillian and Hudson’s relationship goes from professional to personal, Hudson discovers a betrayal at the top, a betrayal against the woman with whom he is falling in love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Hudson and Lillian, and the potential fall-out as Lillian struggles with issues of trust, believing she is Hudson’s latest project, not the woman he loves.
Lillian Gillingham is a bit of a mess. With no official diagnosis, Lillian often finds herself stretched to the limits, honest to the point of blunt and rude, and a little scattered in her every day life. Living with her brother in New York, Lillian battles between head and heart believing she is not worthy of another’s love. Hudson North doesn’t do long term relationships, in fact, it has been several years since anyone has seen our hero with someone else. Lillian is, and was, an employee of the North family, and in this, their relationship is scrutinized by the man at the top. Refusing to walk away, Hudson threatens to bring down the top when secrets are revealed, betraying the woman he loves.
The relationship between Hudson and Lillian is one of immediate attraction but Hayes presents Lillian as a lost cause; a mess, an incompetent, and a nobody who is nothing but a waste of oxygen. Refusing to accept his brother’s description of our story line heroine, Hudson, who has a bit of a savior complex, offers Lillian everything and more, an offer that threatens his position within North Industries. The $ex scenes are erotic, passionate and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including Lillian’s brother Aaron and his friend Dirk, and via the phone Lillian’s mother. We are reintroduced to Hudson’s siblings: twin brother Hayes, Alexander and Jordan, Kingston and Gabriella, as well as their father August; Hudson’s driver Carina, and escort Ellie.
TRUE NORTH is a story of dysfunctional family relationships, friendships and love; power and control; acceptance and understanding. The premise is intriguing, captivating and emotional; the romance is seductive and impassioned; the characters are charismatic and determined. TRUE NORTH ends on a bit of a cliff hanger-you have been warned.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
“Let’s head to the arts section.” She tugs on my jacket sleeve. “I want to get a souvenir—oh, look! A bouncy house!” She hooks her hand into the crook of my elbow.
I startle a little at the contact, even though, so lost in her excitement, she doesn’t seem to notice she’s even touching me.
“We have to jump in the bouncy house!”
“Why? We’re not six years old.”
She drags me closer to the jungle-themed contraption, complete with inflated palm trees, monkeys, and bananas decorating the entrance. “Because it’ll be fun.” She whirls around, her pale blue eyes dancing. “You do remember what fun is, don’t you?”
“My idea of fun isn’t making a fool out of myself in front of a bunch of kids.”
“Why not?” She toes off her shoes. “Kids don’t care if you look like an idiot.”
“You go ahead.”
“You’re missing out,” she calls as she ducks through the strips of green plastic made to look like hanging vines.
Within one minute, she’s laughing with the kids, jumping in a blur of black, with her golden hair flying in every direction. I don’t mean to stare, so I pull out my phone, sure that there’s an email I can attend to, but her laughter keeps my eyes from the screen. I’ve never heard a sound so authentic, free from the constraint of social expectation or acceptance. Have I ever met a person who gets this much joy from something so simple and childish? Lillian balks at a three-Michelin-star meal and finds a contagious kind of joy from a bouncy house.
She’s breathing hard as she has an in-depth discussion with the kids about what she dressed up as for Halloween and who would win in a fight between Sophia the First and someone named Doc McStuffins. A little girl asks her where Lillian’s mom is and if she wants to have a playdate tomorrow.
“See that guy there?” Lillian points me out to her new friends. “He’s afraid of bouncy houses.”
The group of littles reply in multiple forms of shock.
An evil smirk tilts her lips. “I think he might feel brave enough to try if you guys go talk to him.”
“Oh, come on…” I grumble.
Three kids who I wouldn’t guess to be older than five come barreling toward me.
“Don’t be scared!”
“My little sister isn’t even afraid!”
“You can hold my hand.” A small hand slips into mine and holds on. The little girl with bright brown eyes and black hair tilts her head back to look up at me, and something warm seeps into my chest. “Just hold on, okay?”
Only an asshole would say no to that face.
I kick off my shoes and let her drag me to the bouncy house. The kids are still shouting their encouragement while Lillian dissolves into a fit of laughter.
“Don’t be a wussy!” one of the boys calls out while jumping furiously.
I release the little girl’s hand and walk straight into Lillian’s space. Her laughter dies, and I watch her throat bob with a hard swallow.
“I’m going to pay you back for this,” I say low so the kids don’t hear, which makes my voice rumble.
A spark fires in her eyes. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
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J.B. Salsbury is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and two kids.
Her love of good storytelling led her to earn a degree in Media Communications. With her journalistic background, writing has always been at the forefront, and her love of romance propelled her career as an author.
She spends the majority of her day behind the computer where a world of battling alphas, budding romance, and impossible obstacles claws away at her subconscious and begs to be released to the page.
Website: http://www.jbsalsbury.com/
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