Stepbrother Mine by Mandy Lou Dowson

**This book is a stand alone. It is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18, due to explicit scenes, language and situations.

They were always taught that family was about more than blood, but when step-siblings Sophie Ellis and Logan Castle meet for the first time, their attraction is instantaneous. Forever trying to keep each other at arm's length, they discover that sometimes the best laid plans fall apart, when lovers fall together.

He's everything she's ever fantasized about, and everything she can never have.
She's all he's ever wanted, but never hoped to have.
Trying so hard to be his stepsister, she can't shake the attraction she feels.
He decides it's best to leave, but when circumstances see them reunite, and he discovers their initial attraction is still there after all the intervening years, he can't help himself. He has to have her.
Running scared, she cuts all ties.
Left behind, his bitterness grows.
When again circumstances force her back into his arms, her past comes back to haunt her.
He's determined to make her pay for leaving him.

Desires are forbidden. Loyalties are tested. Hearts are broken. And in the end, is love strong enough to conquer all.

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Review by Lorena

First I want to say that this is the second book I read with the term of "stepbrother" and I think my favorite topic to read now has anything to do with step siblings --haven't been disappointed yet.

What I liked about this book was the fact that these two kids, turned adults have loved each other since they were teenagers (since they first met) but because of so many obstacles and certain circumstances they could never seem to be together.  When they think things are starting to turn out for them, one or the other freaks out and runs away.

Sophie meets Logan when she's 16 years old and he's 18 years old.  His dad marries her mother and because Logan's dad, Harry has strictly prohibited Logan from having any romantic antics towards Sophie because to him, they are brother and sister, when technically they weren't and Logan respected his father's wishes -- at first!

Logan leaves to Uni and he thinks its for the best so he can sort his feelings for Sophie.  He knows it's not right to having "those" kinds of feelings for her and so therefore, he leaves and makes very minimal visits so he won't have to see her too much.

Well it seems like time goes by when they finally see each other again and when they do run into each other they start getting too close and Sophie always runs away.  It seems like the only thing Sophie can do is always  run from Logan.  She can not accept her feelings for him because she thinks it's wrong to feel that kind of love for him when they should be thinking about being siblings, just like his father has always inputted in their head. 

Sophie always thought that people would look at them like freaks because they would see them as being related and would think they were sick.  But when Sophie finds a letter her mother wrote to her when Sophie turned 18 (years later) she realizes that her mother didn't think that their love for each other was sick, she actually thought they were great for each other and fit perfectly as a couple.

Logan got sick and tired of acting like her brother and wanted more from her.  When the day comes and things get a little steamy between them, Sophie freaks out and leaves him and it takes him years again to see her.  He's so angry at her for hurting him so bad that he wants to plot revenge on her and this time Sophie is ready to accept her love for him.  Things get nasty between them and this is when I think that Sophie get's what she deserves.

I totally loved Logan in this story.  As much as he was a player and womanizer, deep down he always loved Sophie and he never stopped loving her.  He knew that she was it for him and he kept trying so hard to make her see that they were meant for each other.  It took all of him to make  her understand that their love was not prohibited.

Loved the whole back and forth in this story.  It broke my heart every time because they both were hurting.  But it hurt me more to see Logan suffer because it seemed like he suffered more than Sophie did over their "forbidden love".

I stayed up until 2:30 a.m. reading this book -- I was so consumed in the story that I just couldn't find the strength to put it down and it was so well worth it!  

This was a total 5 star read for me!

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