Book Review – Good Karma by Donya Lynne

Good Karma by Donya Lynne | Blushing Geek

Good Karma by Donya Lynne
Series: Strong Karma, #1
Publication on July 25, 2014 by Phoenix Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Erotica, New Adult
433 pages
Format: eBook
Source: Freebie
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Find on Goodreads
Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vM3IkK

Bashful Karma Mason has been too concerned with college—and now work—to embrace her sexuality. Bullied as a child, she hides behind an unremarkable wardrobe and relegates herself to the shadows. But when her best friend convinces her to attend a charity benefit in Chicago wearing a stunning red dress that catches the eye of every man in the room, she discovers a surprising side to her personality. One that adores the spotlight but has no idea how to handle the attention.

Mark Strong, a wealthy Chicago businessman, is brimming with confidence. He’s in total control. Nothing—and no one—escapes his notice. However, Mark carries a heavy, painful burden. After finding his fiancée with another man six years ago, he’s erected a fortress around his heart, unwilling to let himself fall in love again. But when enchanting Karma snares his gaze from across the room, he has no idea she will shatter his carefully ordered life.

What starts out as a casual flirtation takes a series of surprising turns as Mark and Karma embark on a sensual journey destined by fate. Mark is driven to know Karma, understand her…educate her, and Karma is his willing student, eager to experience the pleasure he promises. But when the student becomes the teacher, Mark has to make a choice between taking another chance on love or a future alone.

Review

I always love the idea of a guy who got his heart broken and can’t seem to move on, but after meeting “the” girl, all of that changes. Cliché I know, but I love it, haha, sucker! This story has that idea and imagine my excitement, yep, I’ve been on cloud 9 reading the first few chapters. Yep, just a few chapters, because when I resume reading after a good night’s sleep, the story kind of changes and I can’t find the reason why I like it in the first place. That was also the reason why it took me 3 days to finish this story, which normally just took me a day!

Karma (yep, that’s her name) and Mark first meet at a charity benefit in Chicago. They both thought that they’re not going to see each other again but were shocked when Mark turned out to be their company’s consultant. And yep, that’s how their sexy ride started. Why sexy? I’ll tell you why in a few minutes. *wink

In the second chapter, Mark was introduced as a guy who’s obviously hasn’t moved on even after 5 years. He tried so hard to be unaffected but after seeing his happy pregnant ex with her husband, he lost it all. Reading all of those, I’ve been expecting a hero that is so messed up that he can’t think clearly or someone who causes trouble but was baffled to find out how a good “teacher” he is to Karma. If you can get what I mean? Haha.

Karma is an attractive woman but because she’s too focused with her studies and now her work, she never got the chance to explore and experiment on her look and with her “other” life. In other words, her life is boring and so is her wardrobe, but all of that changes when Mark comes. He didn’t just motivate her to really dress up and to stand up for herself but she also learned a lot about pleasing herself and her future man. I don’t know if I said that right but I am making this review rated PG as much as possible, haha.

Honestly, I’m not totally in love with how this story was woven but I love the idea. I love the idea of two broken people (messed up in their own ways) found each other and tried to fix themselves together. It’s just too bad that the other one was not yet ready to move on and to finally commit. But hey! There’s still book 2 coming! 

And surprise! surprise! I didn’t find something in this story that I really hate. There’s no third party but there’s a douche and b*tches, but I’m so happy to read how Karma faces them all and put them to their proper places. I also love to read each character’s improvements, especially Karma. I love to read about her transformation especially on how she stood up against the nasty Jolene and her douche of a brother. I don’t really have any negative comments about her character because all were portrayed pretty well and so convincing.

Mark on the other hand isn’t what I expected. When I first read about him, my first impression was that he’s so messed up, but I was wrong. Well, partly, he’s still hang up with his ex but after all the explanations, I can totally sympathize. You know, sometimes when I guy is so heartbroken, instead of moving to the right direction, they end up on the wrong side of the road, but with Mark? He’s not. He’s doing great actually, but still a little messed up. I really love that he came into Karma’s life and how he makes her see what a wonderful woman she is. I’m not head over heels in love with his character but I adore him so much that I am praying for him and Karma’s happily ever after.

You know what I also like about this story? It tackles a sensitive life experience that we can all relate, and that’s bullying. It’s just bad how people can be so mean and say and do some bad things. Those experiences traumatize the victims and some of them are still haunted even as they get older, but I’m so glad that both the characters dealt with it and were able to overcome it. 

This story was both taken from Karma and Mark’s point of views and I don’t feel left out. All were properly explained and I love the fact that all the things I hate about romance stories aren’t in here. There were of course some few foreign words for me, but so far, I still find this story very easy to read excluding the sexy scenes, which I’ll warm you, there’s a TON. It was so intense that my face is still red haha.

It took me a lot of time to finish this story. Sometimes an idea of just putting it off permanently comes to mind especially when I’m on the part where a too intense sexy scene is present. But I’m so glad that I succeeded and read the whole story. I’m sure I would have given it a perfect 5-star rating if their arrangement would have been different, you know, minimizing the number of sexy scenes? haha.

The ending was something that will really make you look forward to the second book and I’m actually tempted. But after what I’ve been through with those abundant sexy scenes, I guess I could use a month or more before putting myself in that situation again, hah!

Well, I’ll be leaving a 3-star rating for now. It’s been my first time from the author but so far, it was a good experience. It’s good but is totally not a kind of book that I could tuck in when I’m bored while working or I won’t get any work done because I’m too flushed with the intense sexy scenes, haha.

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12 Comments
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Cindy's Book Binge
7 years ago

The book sounds good but what a great review! Thanks for your review, I enjoyed reading it.

Vanessa
7 years ago

Aww, thanks Cindy 🙂

Carole's Random Life
7 years ago

Great review! This sounds like one of those books that wasn’t bad but didn’t click with you for some reason. I am glad that you had a good overall experience.

Vanessa
7 years ago

Yep, this one did. I’ve read some positive feedback on Goodreads and Amazon and I really thought I would feel the same. But atleast it wasn’t a total waste of time 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Carole !

LilyElement
7 years ago

I’m glad to see she put them in their places! So many times I see the character get passive in that type of situations

Vanessa
7 years ago
Reply to  LilyElement

Actually, I keep on reading those parts and I have this hidden part of myself that is cheering her for what’s she’s doing hehe.

kimbacaffeinate
7 years ago

I love the premise. Is the next book the same couple? I am not a fan of those type of stories.

Vanessa
7 years ago

Yep, the second book continues their love story. I’m not fan of those types too, but fortunately, this one isn’t a total turn off. The ending wasn’t a cliff hanger so I guess it’ll do 😉

Lily B
7 years ago

well at least it wasnt a complete loss and you enjoyed the premise, so probably what saved it

Vanessa
7 years ago
Reply to  Lily B

Yep, atleast hehe. But I’m still taking an indefinite leave to read the second book hehe.

Alyssa Susanna
7 years ago

I clicked on this post because OMG his eyes. 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 I bet the number of sexy times wouldn’t bother me… maybe? Was it too excessive? Mind you, I love adult romance. 😉 It seems like this one was pretty good? Hopefully you read and enjoy the next book!

Have a wonderful weekend, Vanessa. =)

Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

Vanessa
7 years ago
Reply to  Alyssa Susanna

Yep, too excessive hehe. I’ve read some reviews in Amazon and Goodreads and they’re all good. So if you love adult romance, you’ll probably love it 🙂