SUNNY: BOOK REVIEW - "Off Limits" by Sawyer Bennett

SUMMARY from Goodreads:
“There is a vulnerability there, hovering just below the surface. And I want to pick at it until I expose it. Then I want to kiss it."

Two years ago, Emily Burnham, had an epiphany about the shallowness of her life. And she made it her mission to become a different person…a better woman. Out from under the controlling thumb of her mother, Emily is tasting the real world for the first time. And she likes it.

Nixon Caldwell has served his time in the Marine Corps, surviving two brutal tours in Afghanistan. He is back home, surrounded by what he likes best…isolation. It's certainly the best way to avoid confrontation of the consuming guilt that is weighing him down.

When an accident brings Emily and Nix together, he soon learns he is not the master of his own fate. Struggling with his own pain, Nix tries to guard himself against Emily’s charms. He wants her in his bed, but he doesn’t want her in his heart.

Having grabbed life by the horns, Emily wants it all. But is she willing to accept just the small part of himself that Nix is offering? Can she reach the part of his soul that he has deemed to be Off Limits?

REVIEW:
Sawyer Bennett must be a nice person. I say that because it comes out clearly in the genuine kindness of her characters.  Characters like Danny Cross (Off Sides) and Emily Burnham speak from a place deep in the heart.  I think that is why I keep getting drawn into her books.  

In this story, the sweetness of Emily is juxtaposed against the harshness of Nixon.  Dear Nixon, who is healing from a traumatic brain injury, is a loner.  In an attempt to keep his emotions under tight wraps, he isolates himself and pushes everyone else, except his immediate family, away.  Emily manages to breakthrough, not because she helps him peel his layers away, but because she saturates him with her love and caring; and this soften him to open up.  

This story has just enough spice to make the room get a little warm.  (Just like I like it.)  And it is Sawyer Bennett's straight forward writing style that continues to draw me in.  I've said in a previous review, and  it bears repeating, that Ms.  storytelling is refreshing and palate-cleansing from some of the overcomplicated "New Adult" books out there.

IN A NUTSHELL: 
At its core, this is a winning story that connects the mind with the heart.