I received the book, My Name is Luka through the Don’t Buy My Love program for a fair and honest review. This story is told in first person through the eyes of Brad, a twenty-one year old construction worker, and Luka a seventeen-year-old high school student, soon to turn eighteen in a few weeks.

3.5 Stars


This book is the first one I’ve read in the ‘More Than Friends’ series. I was able to follow along with the story even though characters from the other books appeared in this one. I don’t think you need to read the others in order to enjoy this one.

Brad is a construction worker that is injured and needs to stay home until his arm is healed. He’s twenty-one, but seemed older than that. Maybe because he’d been on his own for a while. Brad lives in the apartment below Luka and his father, but he didn’t realize what went on upstairs until his first day at home recovering. Brad is protective and is immediately attracted to Luka the first time he sees him. Brad gives Luka a house key and allows him to stay at his place if he ever needs to.

Luka is looking forward to his eighteenth birthday so he can move out from his father’s home. Luka walks on eggshells, never knowing when his father will decide to beat him again for no reason. He is befriended one day after Brad discovers Luka sitting on the stairs after one such beating. Luka was attracted to Brad when Luka returned home from work and saw him in his living room.

I found it difficult to believe that Luka would fall so quickly for Brad, but then again I can see how it could happen. Sort of like a beaten dog that finds a human who is kind, they will then latch on to that person as their savior. I think Luka does the same thing with Brad, which works for Brad because as I mentioned, he is very protective.

The two grow close and sleep together but Brad doesn’t make any advances because of Luka’s age. Unfortunately, Luka has an ‘accident’ which sets it up so his father gets Brad arrested because of Luka’s age. What I did have a problem believing, is even after Brad is sprung from jail, he sleeps with Luka again as Brad awaits the outcome of the DNA testing. I’m really not sure why the author wrote this in because it shows how very stupid Brad and Luka are, not how much they desire each other.

The author did a good job of keeping the plot moving along and holding my attention. However, at the same time, the story didn’t feel smooth, but choppy. I suppose that could be the author’s style of writing. Since this is the first book I’ve read by her I can’t say for sure. I wish we learned more about what kind of people Brad and Luka were. Mostly the story revolved around how attracted they were to each other, the menacing father and how they were going to get Brad out of trouble.

There were some issues of odd povs. For instance while in Luka’s pov he thinks about Brad: “He reaches into a basket on top of his fridges and digs around until he finds a key.” When I read that, I read it as Luka knowing that Brad is looking for a key. But there’s no way for Luka to know this unless he was reading Brad’s mind, which of course he can’t. I didn’t mark the other situations such as this, but I think there were a couple other mind-reading povs, that need to be fixed.

Even though I had issues with the style of writing, mind-reading and almost instant love Brad and Luka had for each other, I found the book entertaining. I give it 3.5 Stars but since I can’t give half stars I raise it to 4 Stars because My Name is Luka definitely kept my interest.




( )

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

I enjoyed this next book in the More than Friends series. Even though the story is a standalone, it helps to have read some of the others if you like to know the other background characters. We see Steve, Joey, Vinnie, and Chance from previous books. It is nice to see them again.

Luka is just a few weeks away from his 18th birthday and he can not wait to get away from his physically abusive father. He tries to stay out of his father's way, but isn't always so lucky. One day, the hot neighbor, Brad, hears stuff going on and finds Luka after his father just beat him. He helps Luka, and they develop a friendship (with definite attraction that Brad won't act on until he turns 18). For a relatively short story, there was a lot of story in the pages. My heart felt for Luka, and I loved how Brad was there for him throughout all of the situations, despite the danger and drama that it caused for Brad.

I'm looking forward to reading the next ones in the series to continue getting to know these characters. ( )