In Nashville the men are strong, the women are bold, and love comes to those willing to fight for it.

Russ Green is an expert at keeping people out – physically and emotionally. After a career-ending injury, the former quarterback was lucky to find a place as a bouncer at Words & Music. All he wants to do now is stay out of the limelight – alone. With his background, he’s nobody’s Prince Charming. His life is routine, and he likes it that way. Gym, work, home. No surprises. Until a bar brawl lands him in the emergency room, and in some very capable hands…

Nurse Joslynn Wright found her calling during a childhood bout of leukemia. While the fast-paced ER keeps her adrenaline pumping, it’s nothing compared to being with Russ. Her illness made her cautious, though, and Russ’s closed-off nature certainly doesn’t make things any easier. But she can’t help being intrigued by the contradiction of a burly bouncer who can gently strum a guitar. If she’s learned anything in Nashville, it’s that love may take work, but the rewards can be well worth the effort…

Titles in The Nashville Dreams series include:  Can’t Walk Away – Can’t Let Her Go – Can’t Fight the Feeling –

Title:  Can’t Fight the Feeling
Series:  Nashville Dreams #3
Author:  Sandy James
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  May 8, 2018
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing – Forever Yours
My Rating:  4 stars

Can’t Fight the Feeling is a romance with emotional punch and characters who, at times, may take actions that are difficult to really understand.  I think it’s very much a walk in my shoes story in some aspects because I do not know how I would react to Josie’s life fighting and winning the battle against leukemia and still living in fear of it returning to wreck  havoc on her life once again.  I do, however, have a better understanding of Russ having taken care of a beloved family member up to their death who suffered with Alzheimer’s .  To be frank, I lost my grandmother long before her actual physical death, and this dreadful disease that steals lives and memories is brutal beyond words.  So, I “got” Russ, Josie took a little longer for me to warm up to due in part to her fierce independence streak.  My reaction to her was quite honestly, if you aren’t going to let anyone in, let them get close then you’re wasting that second chance at life you’ve been given by living in fear.  But we can’t talk to characters, they do what they will and learn their own lessons.

Josie and Russ felt right from their start.  It’s going to be a rough road, and that road is full of potholes, before they work their way to their happy ending.  Two stubborn, hurting, people who need each other.  There will be mistakes made,  There also will be hearts healed along the way.  This is a very realistic romance that doesn’t hold back on the reality of diseases or our reactions to them.  I was easily captured by this world, and even though I hadn’t read the first two books (yet) I still got a sense of the tight friendships and caring between all of these characters.  If you’re looking for a story that digs deep into human emotions, if you want a couple that will fight just as hard against falling in love as they will to stay in love then you’ll enjoy Can’t Fight the Feeling.  I’d recommend this story to any Romance reader who enjoys realistic romance, sometimes tough to like characters and finding that person who really “gets” you even when you push them away.  I have the first two stories on my TBR pile now and it will be interesting to see how I view this story after learning the whole picture.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

Available for the Kindle