In Love by Design Review & Excerpt

Title: In Love by Design

Author: Tracy Ellen

Series: The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod #3

Genre: romance

Publish Date: September 8, 2013

Length: 328 pages

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Description (from Amazon): Anabel Axelrod returns...and she's madly in love with Luke Drake!
The sexy, blonde bookstore owner with a sassy attitude and a brain that never stops doesn't get to prove what a fabulous girlfriend she'll make for even one day before Luke disappears out of town...
...and the troubles begin!

Instead of getting to enjoy being a girl passionately in love, Anabel's shiny new feelings and trust in her boyfriend are immediately put to the test.

Who is the powerful and charismatic Luke Drake? What are his dark secrets? Does he really love Anabel, or has he been coldly manipulating her feelings to further an intricate design of diabolical revenge that has been in the making for years?

In this third volume of the series, we find the confident Anabel desperately beginning to wonder if she's wrong to believe in her incredibly hot, yet very tricky boyfriend.

Or is this one fairy tale where love cannot conquer all?

My Review: In this third installment of The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod Anabel returns with her usual sassy self. I was pleasantly surprised that this third installment has an ending unlike the other two. For this entire series I feel like I have been having a love/hate relationship with Luke. At one point I am happy with the love that he obviously has for Anabel and then the next minute I am upset by his disappearances and actions that just seem too weird and would be warning signs for me to leave him. I also really liked the action in this novel and felt that this one was much more fast paced and more enjoyable.

Excerpt: “Luke, before we continue to your house, I have a couple of more issues that we need to get squared away. Can we pull over after you exit?” Luke’s glance is quizzical, but he kept calmly stroking my hand while he exited. “Wasn’t I clear about my plan to abduct you tonight?” He looked my way again and his voice is cool. “I answered your questions about the bookstore only because there could be an issue Stella or Anna isn’t aware of that could impact your business, but that’s it.” In the revealing light from an oncoming car, Luke’s eyes gleamed and his face is set in uncompromising lines. He turned the truck west. “You are coming to my house, Anabel, and it’s not open to debate, your agreement, or any of your rules.” ‘Whoever said losing control is exciting should have their boneheaded, sex-starved brain examined.’  I counted to ten, and then twenty, while musing over why the love of my life seems so determined to think I want to run from him tonight, just like he did earlier when we were speaking of his two week hiatus. When my brother acts in this overbearing way, it’s a sure sign of defensiveness because he feels guilty about something he’s done.

Overall: Overall In Love by Design is a faster paced installment of The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod. I was happy that there is an actual ending to this novel because all of the others were cliff-hangers. I still do not think that this series is for me because I did not find it that interesting and I found it extremely hard to get into. Judging by other reviews of this series I am in the minority view so I hope others will like this more than I did. I give In Love by Design 3.5 stakes because it was enjoyable but I just don't think this series was my cup of tea.

About the Author (from Amazon): Meet Tracy Ellen...

About a year or so ago, a strange thing happened to me. It was like a switch turned off/on inside. All of a sudden instead of wanting to read about romance, I wanted to write my own romantic stories. So began my budding writing career. Soon I made another happy discovery; I absolutely loved writing! Since then, I've become a writing fiend. My self-published books include A Date with Fate, Courted by Karma, and In Love by Design in The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod series.

For those of you who may want to know some pertinent facts: I was born in Indiana, the third out of five hellions. I've always lived in the Midwest, except for six steamy months in Florida when I was nineteen. Currently, I reside in the suburbs of St. Paul, Minnesota with my family. The college town of Northfield featured in Anabel's Adventures is just down the road a jaunt.

I love connecting with readers. Comments, posts, reviews, and emails are always welcome. Follow my blog and like me on Facebook to be aware of events, giveaways, and new books I'm publishing.

@_TracyEllen01
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Get In Love by Design Now: On Amazon  On B&N

Others in this Series: A Date with Fate and Courted by Karma