The Nameless book series by Claire Kent is told in three separate installments (though I read it all together from the boxed set), and I was hooked right from the very start. Published in February of 2014, this series makes me so glad to have rediscovered the name under which Zannie Adams is writing (the pen name under which she does not write any longer, the reason why I lost her for a couple of years), because this is as good contemporary romance gets in my opinion!

Seth Thomas, once a troubled and sullen youth who was raised by a distant grandfather, is now a successful and ruthless lawyer, viewed by many as an unrepentant womanizer. Known as the “bulldozer”, he is a man who effortlessly commands attention with his confidence and charisma, but deep inside hides the emotional scars from his upbringing.

Erin Marshall is a judicial assistant in her hometown, who transforms from a shy bookworm to a strong, independent woman following a failed marriage. The scars left over makes her value her independence something fierce, and as a result, has a cynical view of romance in general.

Erin and Seth first crosses paths when Seth is forced to move to Erin’s hometown to live with his distant relative Mac. Erin being the bookworm she is, spends countless hours at the library, where she comes across Seth, a solitary figure browsing books on various topics. A distant memory of a shared encounter is all that remains as both move into adulthood and it is Mac’s funeral years later, that brings these two back together.

The indomitable Seth is caught in a moment of emotional weakness, and it is that opening which allows both Erin and Seth to come together in intense passion that neither can deny. Weeks later, it is a shocking discovery that leads Erin to seek out Seth – that she is now carrying his child.

Erin and Seth takes on a pragmatic approach to the pregnancy, where Erin cautions that all she wants from him is to be as involved as he wants to be – and that marriage and a lifetime of togetherness is not what she seeks. However, given the strong sexual chemistry between the two, their physical relationship serves to be one of the key reasons why the two come together, leading to moments of emotional vulnerability.

Given Erin’s past and her wariness when it comes to losing control, the conflict that arises from Seth’s tendency to go into alpha mode is jarring for both of them. While Seth grapples with his desire to be more involved without fully committing emotionally, Erin finds herself becoming warier when Seth starts becoming more dependable.

With both Seth and Erin carrying their individual emotional trauma, the healing that they both undergo comes from within and through their shared experiences. The unexpected pregnancy serves as the catalyst for their relationship to move beyond a memorable one-night stand. As both of them spend more time together, each finds in the other, sides to their character which they never would have witnessed otherwise, allowing them to see beyond their initial impressions of each other. While Erin is a tougher nut to crack than Seth at some points, it is Seth’s gentle and protective side that proves to be the healing that Erin needs, to finally let go of the shackles that has bound her since she walked away from her marriage.

To say that I loved this story would be an understatement. I loved both Erin and Seth in equal doses. Erin’s journey from the shy, bookish girl to an assertive, independent woman made me like her in spades. Her past trauma while it makes her cautious to a fault, is one that women can relate to, especially given her determination to protect her independence. We have all seen how emotionally scarring relationships can make a woman lose her sense of worth. Being able to rise above all of that is no easy feat and that made me root for her big time. Erin is also witty and unflinchingly honest, making her a heroine who is both grounded and self-aware, my favorite kind if you ask me.

Seth *breathes deeply* is a hero who is intriguing, commanding, and compelling in a way that makes the female reader sit up and take notice. As romance readers, we all love the emotionally distant hero who guards his heart possessively. It is not just Seth’s childhood that makes him wary, but his adult relationships as well which had soured him of any notions of happily ever afters. Seth is sexy to a fault, delivering one of the best sex scenes I have had the fortune to read in a while.

Together, Seth and Erin a dynamite – in bed and out of it. They have a way of challenging each other’s world views, with Erin challenging Seth to confront his emotional walls and Seth encouraging Erin to trust and rely on someone without losing her sense of independence. Their witty banter adds onto the spice levels of this romance, and Ms. Kent delivers a hefty dose of the panty melting variety of sex scenes, which I definitely could not get enough of. I believe that Erin and Seth resonated so deeply with me because they are both imperfect, realistic, and deeply human. The challenges that both of them go through, as individuals and together – made this a romance worth sinking into.

I especially loved getting to see Seth and Erin through different stages of their lives from when Erin develops a teeny tiny crush on the teenager Seth, to an adulthood reunion, a pregnancy discovery, and transitioning into parenthood. Towards the last installment, getting to see Erin and Seth close to their fifties, navigating life together and still so into each other was beautiful in a way that is indescribable. The entire story being told in the third person from Erin’s perspective makes it just better! In my opinion Seth, is the ultimate book boyfriend.

If you are looking for a transformative experience in a contemporary romance, look no further – Seth and Erin’s journey resonates in every way that matters. Definitely recommended!

Final Verdict: Combining fiery chemistry, poignant emotional depth, and exquisite storytelling, Nameless by Claire Kent is a must-read for fans of sensual contemporary romance!

Favorite Quotes

Leaning her face forward, she pressed her lips into his. He was warm and solid beneath her, and he made a little grunt in his throat.
He tasted and smelled like Scotch, and also something fainter, more masculine.
When she relaxed her mouth on his, he murmured against her lips, “What was that?”
“That,” she pronounced, pleased she was thinking so clearly, “was a kiss.”

Seth, looking slick and professional, stood up to greet her. He gave her a cool smile, shook her hand with a courteous, “Good afternoon,” and then gestured her into a leather chair next to the desk.
This was the Seth she’d expected today—not the warmly clever, rumpled man she’d fucked several weeks ago.
Erin sat down. Took a few deep breaths to dispel the nausea. Summoned up her courage and hoped she wouldn’t start babbling.
“So,” he said slowly, giving her a sharp look and leaning back in his chair, “I can’t figure out what you’re after. A job?”
He looked so confident, so smug, that Erin’s sense of irony kicked in. The edge of amusement did a lot to calm her nerves, so her voice was clear and crisp as she replied, “Actually, no. I’m very happy with my job and have no desire to work in a law firm. Although I certainly appreciate your unyielding belief in your own importance.”

His gaze crawled up from her thighs to her hips to her belly to her breasts. When he finally reached her face, she saw that his expression was oddly hungry. The wild primitive glint she’d caught earlier in the hall had returned, and it both exhilarated her and made her a little anxious.
“Are you sure it can be this simple?” she asked. “This whole thing is complicated enough without making it any worse.”
His hands slid up to comb her hair back from her face. “It’s just sex. We’ve had it before. You aren’t secretly in love with me, are you?”
“God, no. You?”
“Not even close.”

Erin couldn’t seem to stop. She barely even recognized that she was clawing at his shoulders and making the most ridiculous sounds of effort and pleasure she’d ever heard herself make. Barely noticed that she was sweating now and that the flesh of her ass and her breasts were jiggling wildly with their motion. Just needed to feel more of him. Just needed to release this excruciating tension again.
“Fuck, Erin,” Seth rasped, his eyes open now and staring down at her body. “Fuck, Erin, you’re incredible. But you’re killing me.” His jaw clenched tightly, and he released an agonized groan as he pumped. “Slow down or I’ll lose it.” “Can’t,” she choked.
“Can’t. Need more, Seth. More.”

Feeling both her confidence and her enthusiasm return immediately, Erin adjusted herself more comfortably beside him and pulled him into another kiss. He sat on the side of the bed now, and she had her legs drawn up under her body. But they managed to share a very effective kiss, and Erin didn’t pull away from him, even when he released her lips.
She ran one hand down his firm chest to his flat belly and then to the bulge of his erection once more. As she cupped it lightly, she trailed kisses across his jaw line. To his high cheekbone. And finally to his ear.
She fluttered her tongue.
Seth bucked his pelvis up involuntarily into her hand.

He pulled off his loosened bow tie and started to work on his shirt. Erin watched and tried to be patient, but her entire body now felt on the verge of eruption. Her breasts tingled torturously, so she cupped them with her hands and tried to chaff her tight nipples through the thin fabric of her chemise.
The stimulation caused her to arch her back a little, and, when she focused once more on Seth, she saw that he’d stopped midway through taking off his shirt and was staring at her dazedly.
The look in his eyes sent another jolt of sensation down to the throbbing ache between her legs. So, as he watched, she slid her hand from her breast, past the curve of her belly, then dipped it under the fluttering skirt of her chemise until she could slip it in between her legs.
She wasn’t wearing panties, so nothing was in her way.
Seth’s entire body looked painfully tense as he watched her stroking herself.
Finally, he rasped, “Getting a head start?”

Erin looked at him over her shoulder. “I don’t mind,” she said. “I’ve never been a fan of excessive control.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” He shifted slightly and his hand settled on her belly. “But the lack of control would be counterproductive in this particular instance. We’re supposed to be taking care of your needs, aren’t we?”
“Yes,” Erin allowed, feeling strangely shy for some unaccountable reason. “But maybe we can tackle your needs at the same time.”
His hand slid up over her breasts and then to her face, and he pushed some of the damp hair off her cheeks. “Very kind of you, but my needs aren’t something you want to fully tackle.”

Seeing and hearing him so uncontrolled was almost as thrilling as her own pleasure. Erin reached behind her thighs until her hand found and closed around his balls.
“Fuck,” he grunted, as she squeezed once very lightly. He was pushing more than thrusting now, and Erin knew he was right on the edge.
So she squeezed again, harder this time. He froze. Then his whole body throbbed, from his cock to his hands on her flesh. He choked on an incoherent sound as he fell into release.

Her body was tensing up in preparation for climax, but she turned her head as far back as she could. “Seth. Seth…” She tried to put into words what she wanted. Couldn’t. Couldn’t possibly.
She was feeling too much. Too deep, too tight, too full, too stretched. Too much.
“Erin.” Seth pulled up his shoulders until his weight rested on his bent elbow. From this position, he leaned over to where she was trying to look over her shoulder at him.
He was able to capture her lips in a kiss.
It wasn’t a skillful or a controlled kiss. Erin was far beyond concentrating, and she couldn’t do more than press her lips against his and gasp into his mouth.
His lips clung to hers hungrily, though, when her pleasure finally peaked. And he was still kissing her when she shook through her orgasm.

For a moment, she caught a glimpse of something in his eyes: something deep and molten and unspeakable.
Then she couldn’t see anything at all. Because he was kissing her, and her eyes had fallen closed. Her breasts pressed into the hard line of his chest, and her hands wound around his neck before she could begin to stop them. Her tongue darted out to meet his, and her mouth became urgent and hungry.

Yeah,” she gasped, realizing he was on the verge of coming but was trying to fight against it. “Yeah, Seth. You come too.”
At her words, he stared up at her face—just a few inches from his—and their eyes met. His eyes were wild, feral, almost pained in their need. But he held her gaze as he let out a muted roar and jerked his pelvis up into her a few more times.
He came, and she saw the transformation on his face, in his eyes. The tension breaking and a flood of raw pleasure overwhelming him.
It was like nothing she’d ever experienced, and the pleasure Erin felt from watching him almost rivaled the lingering feel of her own orgasm.

When Erin looked up blurrily, trying to focus through the rising haze of her deepening pleasure, she saw more in his expression than she’d ever seen before.
There seemed to be everything there—a rich, overwhelming flood of feeling—all of it visible, tangible in his gaze. All of the feelings he always suppressed, that he hid behind his cool control. More than he’d ever admitted to. More than she’d ever dreamed possible. All of it—there—in his eyes.
Erin closed her own eyes against it, the depth and magnitude of the emotion terrifying her. She wondered how she’d ever thought this man was cold and unfeeling.
Wondered if anyone else had ever seen what she’d just seen in Seth—all the raw, naked power of it.

With a thick, helpless groan, he opened his eyes and started moving again. The thick silence of his breathing built into rough, animalistic grunts in time with his rhythm.
Erin felt like the whole world was shaking with their motion. She felt helpless, out of control. Until the rough friction of his drives inside her and the jostling of her breasts, ass, and clit coalesced into a new kind of orgasm: one deeper, more intense, not far removed from pain.
Matching the rich, swelling ache in her heart.

“Love,” Erin cried out, feeling hot and wild and erotic and free and at the same time strangely secure. Her hips pumped desperately, trying to intensify the friction, and she huffed out a series of sounds to their rhythm, sounding like, “Uh huh.”
“Erin,” Seth rasped, the one word a hoarse guttural. His head tossed with a jerk as he tried to hold himself back. Obviously lost the effort as he finally released a hoarse, desperate moan. He pushed into her a few final times, his thrusts hard, choppy, and forceful.
“Love…you,” he grunted, before he came with a long shuddering breath.

When his chest was bare, she caressed the hard, smooth lines of his shoulders and ribs. Then reached down to the button of his jeans. With a little fumbling and adjusting from both of them, his hard cock was free and accessible.
She rolled her thumb over the tip, making him grunt and buck up into her hand. “Erin.”
She gazed down at his tense face and sprawled body. Felt a surge of love, power, and possessiveness overwhelm her.

All of the gathered urgency at her center pushed her to ride him for real, to claim the aching orgasm that was waiting for her. But she kept her motion slow, minimal, increasing their need and extending their pleasure.
“Erin,” Seth choked, one of his arms reaching out to fumble for purchase on the cushion beside him, as he visibly struggled to suppress his drive to thrust, to claim her, to fuck her. His face twisted, and his pelvis almost squirmed beneath her rocking. “Fuck, Erin.”
“Yeah,” Erin breathed, searching out his lips in a hungry, clumsy kiss. Her tongue dipped into his mouth, stroking into it in a rhythmic, instinctive pattern.
Seth grunted, as he buried the fingers of one hand in her hair.

With a desperate sound, she found Seth’s mouth again. Needed to feel him. Love him. Be as close as she could possibly make him.
She was kissing him hungrily, frantically, when her orgasm finally broke. She didn’t pull away from his mouth as her body started to convulse.
She heard Seth make a helpless, choking sound into her mouth as Erin whimpered with the waves of pleasure. But she kept her arms around him. Kept kissing him.
And was still kissing him when she felt him come too.
His hips pushed up into her clenching muscles, and his arms tightened around her so suddenly she grunted in surprise.
Then she felt the tension in his body release itself. Heard him moan—long, low, and guttural. Felt the pulsing of his cock against the tight clasp of her body. Felt him come in short spasms inside her.

Arching his neck in effort, Seth stared down at her twisting body and contorted face. “Erin,” he said thickly, squeezing the flesh of her hips in his hands as he rocked into her. “Erin, baby, can you come?”
“Think so.” She shamelessly shook her body to get the kind of friction she needed. “Just stay…right there.”
He did. He didn’t thrust. Just held his cock in position and kept pushing in tight rhythm against her g-spot. He was coiled so tensely he was shuddering with the pressure, but he managed to hold them in position as the rich pleasure gathered between her legs.

“Erin,” Seth muttered, his eyes almost agonized as he held onto his control. “Beautiful. Beautiful. Missed you so much.”
She released a few loud sobs—the flooding of her heart mingling with the intense physical sensations—then she cried out a frantic, “Seth! Seth!” She felt the pleasure finally erupt inside her, sending out waves and spasms of overwhelming sensation.

“Seth. Oh God, again.” Her body seemed to have lost its connection with her mind, and—despite the blurred chaos of her thoughts—her body still knew what it wanted.
“Yes,” Seth bit out, clearly on the edge of his control. “Yes. One more, baby. Come for me once more.”
She was going to. It was happening even now.
Erin sobbed with pleasure and effort and need, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle the overwhelming sensations. Her breasts were swinging wildly with their primitive motion, and she’d tossed her head so much that her damp hair was covering her face.
As the final orgasm build up inside her, she kept choking out sounds that were louder and louder. Tried to stifle the noise. Couldn’t. Felt the world start to shudder all around her.
Then she fell over the edge, her body jerking in clumsy desperation as she tried to hold herself upright on trembling limbs.

Just as she was on the edge, not quite coming but too far to draw it back, Seth raised his head from between her legs. Before she could react, he’d moved over her, burying his hard cock inside her and rearing up above her on straightened arms.
The sight of his strong body, intense, hungry expression, and familiar face all combined with the sudden sensation of being filled and stretched by his cock.
The orgasm that had already formed erupted with shattering intensity.

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