Marked Men, Book 4
From the publisher:
A Second Chance, Former School Bully Romance
from the Series That Inspired the Upcoming Film “Marked Men: Rule and Shaw“From New York Times bestselling author Jay Crownover comes the fourth book in the Marked Men series.
Saint Ford has worked hard to achieve her childhood dream of becoming of nurse. Focused on her work and devoted to her patients, there’s no room for love. She doesn’t need a guy making waves in her calm, serene life—especially when he’s the unforgettable hottie who nearly destroyed her in high school. Dark, brooding Nash Donovan might not remember her or the terrible pain he caused. But he turned her world upside down . . . and now he’s trying to do it again.
Saint has no idea that Nash isn’t the cocky player he once was. Uncovering a devastating family secret has rocked his world, and now he’s struggling to figure out his future. He can’t be distracted by the pretty nurse he seems to meet everywhere. Still, he can’t ignore the sparks that fly between them—or how she seems so desperate to get away from him. But the funny, sweet, and drop-dead gorgeous Saint is far too amazing to give up on—especially since she’s the only thing in his life that seems to make sense.
When Nash discovers the truth about their past, he realizes he may have lost her heart before he could even fight for it. Now, Saint has to decide: is Nash worth risking herself for all over again?
This is the fourth book of the Marked Men series and I just can’t stop reading them. “The Marked Men” series is based around a group of friends, most of whom work in a tattoo shop in the Denver area and have various body modifications. This book centers around Nash and Saint. Nash is one of the tattoo artists in the shop, and Saint is a nurse in the hospital where Nash’s Uncle Phil has been taken. He has cancer, which he neglected to mention to Nash, and he is devastated. He runs into Saint and doesn’t really remember her at first, but boy, does she remember him. They went to high school together, but ran in very different crowds. Saint was overweight and bookish, and Nash ran with the wild bunch. But senior year their lockers were next to each other, and Nash, unlike the rest of his crowd, was always friendly and kind to her.
What Saint doesn’t know is that Nash always thought that she was out of his league – too smart for the likes of him. What Nash doesn’t know is that Saint had so few friends that his kindness was a big deal to her, and she had a major crush on him. When he asked her if she would be at a party one Friday night, she took that to be an invitation and said yes. But when she got there, he was drunk and making out with someone else. Distraught, she took off, only to overhear him talking to his friends. He made some very disparaging remarks about a girl, and she assumed it was her he was talking about. It devastated her to the point where she still had no self-confidence, even though she was a grown woman. Childhood traumas can be lasting, that’s for sure, especially during the teen years.
Nash is strongly attracted to the beautiful nurse, but she wants no part of him. But they keep running into one another, and the kindness that she can’t help but show him leads to real sexual tension between them. They are at Rule and Shaw’s wedding when Saint has a bit of a panic attack and leaves. Nash goes after her, and the next thing you know, they are in bed together. He gets her off, and she is so shocked that she orgasmed with a man that she bursts into tears and takes off, leaving him, shall we say, unfulfilled.
Nash is the only man Saint has ever had real feelings for. There is a great scene when her boss pressures her into going out to a party with the hot doc at the hospital, and she agrees, only to walk out on him and his pretentious friends. I liked seeing Saint grow a bit of a spine, which carries over to her relationship with Nash. Eventually, they find their way to one another, but it is a difficult journey for both of them.
This book wasn’t as good a read for me as the previous books in the series, but it was still very enjoyable. I’m looking forward to Rowdy’s story next!
2/2025 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
NASH by Jay Crownover. William Morrow Paperbacks (April 29, 2014). ISBN: 978-0062333032. 400p.
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 