Then she meets mathematics grad student Reed Pendergraft.
Reed is everything she’s not looking for. Serious. Headed for a low paying university job. Boring. Caroline spent the first eighteen years of her life wondering where her next meal was coming from. She sure wasn’t getting trapped in that life again with a man living on a professor’s salary.
An encounter with Reed in a club proves she might have pegged him wrong. He brings out a lusty side she never knew she had. But just when she’s about to give in to her hormones, Reed makes a fool out of her.
When she shows up for the first committee meeting for Southern University’s Fall fashion show, a fundraiser for underprivileged kids, Caroline’s horrified to discover the insufferable Reed is the committee chairman. While she refuses to tolerate his totalitarian rule of the committee, she’s not sure she’ll survive the month with her heart—and her pride—intact. Just when she thinks she has everything figured out, she finds that her entire life has been redesigned, thanks to Reed Pendergraft.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Denise Grover Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in the area until she was nineteen. Then she became a nomadic gypsy, living in five cities, four states and ten houses over the course of ten years before she moved back to her roots. She speaks English and smattering of Spanish and Chinese which she learned through an intensive Nick Jr. immersion period. Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in own her mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children. (Quite badly if you believe her offspring.) Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads you to believe.
4 out of 5 stars
First let me say that this book is part of a series, but I did not read the first book and I was still able to thoroughly enjoy this second book. I will however, go back at some point and read After Math, book one… mostly because Tucker seemed to steal every scene he was in in this one.
Okay… to the book at hand. Redesigned is Caroline Hunter’s story. She’s a senior at Southern University and completely unlucky in the love department. Although that may have to do with the criteria she demands of her dates more than anything. She’s looking for someone who comes from money and who has the drive and determination to make more money.
Caroline spent her early years wondering if she would get to eat dinner and wearing hand me down clothes and she was teased for the life she had. She was bound and determined to get out of that life and she won’t ever go back.
When she meets Reed Pendergraft at her friends party, she is immediately attracted to him… until she finds out he’s a mathematics grad student who hopes to become a professor. She immediately turns down his request for a date and he calls her on it.
As a fashion design major Caroline has been appointed to a committee that coordinates the annual fashion show which is also turned into a fundraiser for underprivileged kids… and when she finds out that Reed is one of the members of the committee she isn’t quite sure they will be able to work together.
I found myself going back and forth on my like/dislike of these characters throughout this story. I struggled with Caroline. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t explain her past to the people she was involved with. She continued to hold back that very important part of her and ultimately it cost her a relationship… so I’m not sure why she didn’t learn her lesson there. I get that she didn’t want to acknowledge it and she didn’t want people to judge her based on it, but it frustrated me about her.
Reed… again, frustration. I knew from the get-go that he was hiding something and it’s very apparent throughout what it is. Sometimes I really dislike knowing the truth before the main character, but I guess this didn’t bother me too much in this story. But I just felt like I understood why he wasn’t telling Caroline based on their first encounter. But Reed isn’t your typical college frat boy hero… he’s a math nerd. And I loved it.
The chemistry between Reed and Caroline was wonderfully done. They finally give in to their attraction and who knew Reed was a bit alpha in the bedroom lol!
“I told you I want to see you naked in bed.”
“But alas, no heels.”
“This is so easily taken care of…I want to be on top, watching your face as I fuck you…You like it when I talk dirty to you, don’t you?”
and how about this…
With a sigh, he lifts his head and kisses my forehead. “You’re my addiction, Caroline Hunter. The more I see you ”—he leans into my ear and lowers his voice—“the more I taste you—“
I shiver. “—the more I want you.”
I thoroughly enjoyed the secondary characters here too. Like I said, Tucker kind of stole every scene that he was in. And I really liked Lexi, Reed’s sister, too. I’m hoping maybe the next book will be hers?
Anyway, if you’re looking for a really well-done NA, definitely check out this series. I know I’ll be going back and reading the first one for sure!
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