Before That Night: Caine & Addison Duet, Book One of Two (Unfinished Love series, 1)

Prior to seeing this book on the Kindle bestsellers list, I hadn't heard of Violet Duke before but the story line sounded intriguing and sometimes I find a hidden gem of a book by just taking a chance on a new (to me) author. At right around 200 pages, Before This Night is a fairly quick read and it's part of the two-part Unfinished Love series with the second part due out on July 7, 2016. This book is part of the New Adult/romance genre and I feel that's accurate since the protagonists are in their twenties and there is a decent amount of romance and chemistry that satisfied my love for romances.Addison Milan is twenty years old and has the very difficult job of caring for her two younger siblings, Tanner and Kylie, after their drug addict mother runs off with her boyfriend. Addison can't stand the thought of having her brother and sister turned over to social services so she does everything she can to give them the best home she can, meaning she constantly works at her waitressing job at Joe's Diner to earn money so they can move into an apartment instead of living in a rundown van. While working she meets Caine Spencer, a cop who keeps coming back to the diner for the awful, watered-down coffee just so he can spend a few minutes every day talking with Addison. It's during this time he can't help but be drawn to her and learns a little more about her life. No matter what he learns about Addison's life, it doesn't deter him from caring about her more and more every day.Overall, I liked this book and found the romance between Addison and Caine sweet and beautiful. Unfortunately, since the book is so short, there isn't as much character development as I like to see in books so I don't really feel we get to know the characters as well as we could have. I think I loved how Addison works tirelessly to care for her siblings so hard more than the romance itself even though the romance was pretty sweet and had my heart melting. This book is a bit slow moving at first but there is faster build-up around the 60% mark. I thought this book was good but not great and I have already purchased the first book in the Cactus Creek series since I love small-town romances so I definitely want to see what else Violet Duke has to offer. The romance in this book is sweet and there are some tough subjects Addison has to deal with. There is a cliffhanger to this book so if you are bothered by those, I'd suggest waiting until closer to July 7th of this summer before reading this book. Again, I feel this book was enjoyable if you are looking for a mostly light and sweet romance but I didn't love it. I'm still interested in reading the second part just to see what happens though and I want to read some of Violet Duke's other series to see how I like those.

Ok I hate when this books are free and a continuation book follows and we need to buy 2nd book. Also, is not even on kindle unlimited, because I will never find out what happened.Anyways, the story was good I like the story line, characters I just hate it was with a cliffhanger.This is the story of Addison a 20yr old young girl that is homeless with her 2 younger siblings. They live in a van and Addison works all day 7 days week in a diner, no one knows their situation. Caine is 29yr old police man that goes every day to the diner to drink his coffee and to see and talk to Addison. Eventually they start having feelings for each and start dating but a psycho that has his eye on Addison finds out her secret and try to manipulate Addison into a relationship. Addison has to come clean to Caine and reveal the truth about her life with her siblings. Caine takes them to his place and then try to come out with a plan to catch David the psycho and to find a way for Addison to keep custody of her siblings. Eventually Addison get spook and realize that her siblings will have to go to foster home and will have to prove herself to the court that she is a good guardian, so she runs away with her siblings leaving Gains behind.👩‍👧‍👦

Move over Mother Teresa and make way for Saint Addison. Heresy you say? Maybe, except I think you can easily see the sarcasm dripping off the page. Addison is all things good: selfless, kind hearted, a model employee, an exemplary rolemodel for her younger siblings who she’s been “mothering”practically their whole lives and everyone loves her - customers, boss, co-workers, and especially Caine the policeman that hangs around for hours at the counter drinking really bad coffee just so he has an excuse to spend some time with her. And the crowning touch is the bizarro scheme she’s devised to keep everyone who knows them in the dark about the fact the three of them have been sleeping in her old van because they’re temporarily homeless. Now I know homelessness is a serious societal issue so I’m not making light of it but you have to admit that the odds are squarely against them being able to maintain that charade and go undetected.In “Before That Night” author Violet Duke has come up with a good storyline involving Caine and Addison. Her brother Tanner and sister Kylie are minor characters but their roles are a necessary part of the plot. And like their older sister, they’re model children, get good grades, would never think of hooking school or complaining about the lack of a tv or asking for clothes like their classmates wear. A parent’s dream for sure.Just so you don’t think it’s too saccharine to be true, there is a bad guy. He’s stalking Addison and in brief, he’s a certifiable nutcase. His appearance in the story is a harbinger of major changes for all concerned. So good readers, brace yourself as this is book one of a duet. Ranting and raving is a waste of good energy so prepare to download book two. The good news is, both books are FREE to Kindle Unlimited members.As an aside, author Duke’s bio says she was formerly a Professor of English Education and my response is well! I’m guessing she has at least a masters degree which should’ve made her a better than average writer of correct syntax, etc. But her incessant use of redundant phrases, especially “the reason why” and dangling participles, began to grate on my nerves. Some people will argue that “the reason why” is perfectly acceptable but I point out that the “reason” is the “why”. In the question “WHY did you do that?” one is asking for the “reason”. So its my opinion that THE REASON WHY is a redundant phrase that should be banished from our lexicon.Due to the above comments and “Before That Night” being a slow starter, my rating is three and a half stars. That said, I’ve already downloaded book two of the “Unfinished Love” duet, “Every Night Without You” Just sayin’.

Addison had a tough start in life she has two step siblings that she has brought up since they were born. With a drug abusive mother being no help. She fights to gain employment as a waitress, she finally gets the position of closing the cafe. Addison and her brother and sister sleep on her van she keeps secrets from everyone until see meets a local policeman who slowly she come to care for. There is one customer called David who scares Addison he acts weird towards her almost possessive one thing leads to another and her life is put at risk to capture him, but he manages to grab a hidden police officer who was hiding inside her van. David holds him by pressing a knife at his throat Addison is forced to put herself at risk to capture him. The police arrest David but he has put the children lives in the hands of the social services she panics and ends up on the run. The author has written a powerful exciting scary story can't wait to find out more about the lives of Addison and Caine her love

A really sweet, heart rending tale of a young woman, Addison, desperately trying to keep her young brother and sister with her after their drug addled mother finally abandons them.She meets a police officer, Caine, who’s a regular customer at the diner where she works. The attraction between them turns to lust, and the two of them tiptoe towards a relationship.However, Addison isn’t old enough to be her siblings legal guardian. When Caine finds this out, he vows to do whatever he can to keep the family together.This story has all the feels. It’s sweet, sexy, heartbreaking and cute all rolled into one. The book ends on a cliffhanger as it’s part of a duet. I couldn’t click purchase on the next book quickly enough.

I want to say OMG! Followed by NOT LONG ENOUGH! Why? Because I could've continued reading this book forever. It is fantastic, I had finished books by my favourite author and was looking for a book as equally as good. I wanted a storyline that would grab me from the beginning and not let go. I wanted a romance that was realistic and characters that I'd love to learn more about. AND I got it in spades!If you too are looking for the same things in a book, then this book is as perfect for you, as it was for me....now, onto book 2!

Addison takes charge of looking after her 2 siblings, they are living in camper van and Addison is doing everything she can to keep the social from taking them into care.Cane is the local police officer and he and Addison have chemistry that they cannot deny.A stalker also takes an attachment to Addison and threatens to take everything away from her.Will Cane be able to keep Addison and her family safe and living together without putting his career in jeopardy.Downloaded the second book, cannot wait to see how this ends

Addison finds a small town to live in and keep her brother and sister with her away from her mother. She gets a job working all hours and strikes up a friendship with a local cop. No one knows they are living in her old van and she isn't old enough to be their guardian for another year. There is an incident and because she has fallen for Caine she has to run away.