Book Review: Four Seconds to Lose (Ten Tiny Breaths, #3)

Four Seconds to Lose (Ten Tiny Breaths, #3): K.A. Tucker 

Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine-year-old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that. 

Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her can't get distracted by romance.

Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, and that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.

This was my first K.A. Tucker book. I saw her in a panel at BookCon with Colleen Hoover and other New Adult authors, and her books seemed very similar so I figured I'd give them a try! While her books are in a series, you don't have to read them in a particular order. You won't be confused or miss anything, each book just features other characters in that world if I'm making sense. I just picked this book first because … it was was on sale at Book Outlet at the time! lol I just bought another of the series that is up on Book Outlet too, score! 

It seems lately that New Adult books are either big hits or big misses with me. Like some are just really generic, they seem to almost have a formula to them. Four Seconds to Lose was a huge hit with me, ranking right up there with Ugly Love and Maybe Someday. K.A. Tucker takes two emotionally wrecked characters and brings them together in such an amazing way. Charlie and Cain both have dark pasts -  Charlie is trying to run from hers and Cain is trying to forget his. Soon everything just gets really complicated, and Charlie may not want to run anymore. The plot was literally SO intense, I don't think I've ever read a New Adult or for that matter contemporary or romance book that was as intense as this book was. I devoured this book in less than 36 hours, and I was freaking out! I mean - I could feel my blood pressure rising I thought I was going to have an aneurysm lol. This is not really a spoiler, but did anyone who read the book almost feel like the whole "Penny" twist was too much? 

The characters are seriously so sexy. Cain always watches Charlie dance every night, and he never watches any of his other dancers, even though they are practically begging for it from him. He really just wants to help every girl there get out of whatever situation they're in, but helping Charlie would put him in danger so she tries to stay as far away as possible. And it's actually funny because the book makes it seem like every single stripper out there is misunderstood, like really? lol. Even the secondary characters I thought were really amazing, I think the book after this is Ben's story. He is HILARIOUS! I hope even Ginger gets a story somewhere down the line because I think she deserves a happy ending, too! All of the characters there do really! 

All fans of New Adult have to read this book! You won't regret reading this, it's so amazing. Four Seconds To Lose will keep you up all night to find out what will happen to Charlie and Cain - and you won't be expecting it, either! I seriously can't wait to read the rest of the series and her Burying Water series as well. I love finding great New Adult authors, so if you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them! :) 

- Jocelyn