Painless by Devon Hartford
Painless - The Samantha Smith Story by Devon Hartford
Book 3 in this series the culmination of Christos and Samantha's story but happily there is to more to come from this author and the other characters in the series.
Good God - Romeo needs his own book!
Captivated by each other from the minute they laid eyes on each other - this book picks up exactly where book 2 left off - with the uncertainlty of Christos's future, swinging like the Sword of Damocles over the two young lovers. About to face trial Christos stands to lose his liberty and potentially Samantha. Neither of which is a scenario he wishes to contemplate.
Samantha has her own problem - namely her parents and their prehistoric obsession that she do as they say and change her college course back to Accounting - instead of the Art that she holds so dear.
Refusing to back down - Samantha's financial straights are the burden that she carries- not wanting to add to Christos's plight but not knowing everything about the court case - her misery is compounded by the fact that she is unable to help him.
Valentine's Day is the day of Christos's court appearance and having only just worked out that she is the only witness to the case that Christos is facing, she spend the night surfing the internet to try and prove his innocence. Fate does its dammedest to keep Sam from the courtroom that day - but it would take a herd of wild elephants to stop her getting to her man. And get to him she does.
Tiffany is prominent in this story , her hatred of Samantha for stealing Christos's heart is tangible - he has never been denied anything in her life - except as we learn the love of her parents and she is singleminded in her decison to destroy Samantha. She embarks on a course of treachery that sees Sam accused of theft, threatened with expulsion from college and on the brink of financial ruin. The outcome - well lets just say that nobody saw it coming ! Does Tiffany have a heart after all - well that would be telling - lets just say I look forward to eventually reading her own tale.
Art is the backdrop for all that is good in this book - and Christos's father is finally introduced to us in this story. A previously hardened drinker, he appears to have turned over a new leaf and eventually the Manos men( Christos, his father and grandfather) give the art world something to sing about - their first ever combined exhibition.
Family is everything to the Manos men and especially to Christos - Samantha has been his family since the minute he met her - his love for her was beyond measure. Everything he has means nothing without her and that is a scenario that he would never accept, their love knows no boundaries - and the epilogue to the book gives us the ending that these two deserve.With one additional surprise.
A magical journey to a happy ending - set up for the continuation of the series - Well Done Devon
Rating 4.5 out of 5