All the Way: A Romancing Manhattan Novel

3.5 stars--ALL THE WAY is the first instalment in Kristen Proby’s contemporary, adult ROMANCING MANHATTAN erotic, romance series focusing on three brothers and attorneys -Finn, Carter and Quinn Cavanagh . This is forty-year old, attorney Finn Cavanagh, and thirty-two year old, singer/dancer/ Tony Award winning actress London Watson’s story line. Told from dual first person perspectives (Finn and London) ALL THE WAY follows the building relationship between forty-year old, attorney Finn Cavanagh, and thirty-two year old, singer/dancer/ Tony Award winning actress London Watson. Several months earlier London Watson would come face to face with her future, her father’s attorney, and the man with whom she would fall in love. But the tragic death of her parents, and the subsequent disaster that left our heroine with permanent injuries, finds London Watson recovering in the family home on Martha’s Vineyard. Enter attorney Finn Cavanagh, her next door neighbour and the man with whom London would fall in love. What ensues is the quick building relationship between London and Finn, and the fall-out as another potential disaster threatens London’s long fight for peace and rehabilitation. Finn Cavanagh is a successful attorney whose down time spent on the east coast with his niece Gabby finds our hero falling for the woman next door. Hoping for something more than a summer fling, Finn offers to follow London, as she is offered a role on the country’s west coast. London Watson is an extremely independent and forceful heroine who isn’t above telling it like it is. Growing up in a controlled environment, she refuses to ‘allow’ anyone, including the man with whom she is falling in love, to control any aspect of her life although ‘control’ is a questionable action –in this, I struggled to sympathize with our story line heroine. Her acerbic condemnation of Finn’s actions were just short of rude, condescending and b*tchy. The relationship between Finn and London begins as a seaside romance, a romance that will continue after Finn’s return to work, and London’s offer to work on the west coast. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic, language and text. We are introduced to Finn’s brothers and fellow attorneys: widower Carter Cavanagh and his ten year old daughter Gabby; Quinn Cavanagh, whose over protective nature pushes all of his mother’s (Margaret Cavanaugh) buttons; London’s friend and colleague Sasha; superstar Jeffrey Cameron, and London’s brother Kyle. ALL THE WAY is a story of family, friendship, betrayal and pain. The premise is entertaining but the conflict resolution, and the building mystery was predictable and disappointing. The romance was seductive and provocative but I struggled with the heroine’s attitude and need for control-there is a fine line between independent and strong vs b*tch; the characters were colorful and charismatic. I am looking forward to a happily ever after for both Quinn and Carter.