I adored this book! Lots of mystery and intrigue with a wonderful romance at the core.

David Hennings has never quite fit into his family's dynamic. His decision to become a defense attorney rather than follow in his father's footsteps has broadened the rift. He's trying though. He's back in Chicago and working hard to fit in with his close knit family. When his mother asks him to get involved in a case and find an artist to complete a skull reconstruction, he can't say no. That's when he meets Amanda LeBlanc. A fabulous artist who lives a carefully balanced life. Her attraction to David has her saying yes to him rather than playing it safe. If she only knew how crazy her life was about to become!

This is one I highly recommend. ( )

Loved this book, the latest in the series about the Hennings family and their friends/coworkers. It begins with a Chicago detective finding a skull while walking his dog. Five years later the victim has still not been identified and the detective is looking for help. Enter Amanda, an artist and sculptress, who the detective asks to do a reconstruction from the skull. She initially refuses, but is overheard by Mrs. Hennings, David's mother. She talks him into seeing if he can convince Amanda to take on the project.

David has just moved back to Chicago after living and working in Boston for several years. He has never felt like he fit in with his family of rather intense criminal lawyers. As the oldest, he was expected to join the family firm, but that wasn't what he wanted to do. Being able to live his own life took moving far away from his family. But now he wants a chance to mend fences and connect with them again. He doesn't expect his mom to rope him into her latest project. He especially doesn't expect the instant attraction between himself and Amanda. I really enjoyed seeing how he showed his individuality, and loved the motorcycle riding, bad boy image.

Amanda is very reluctant to take on the forensic sculpture job. Her mother had done that before her death and Amanda remembers all too well the emotional trauma that it caused her. Thanks to her mother's extreme emotional highs and lows, Amanda has led a life that she works hard to keep on an even keel. She avoids anything that could wind her up, until David appears at her door. The man is seriously sexy and has a way of overcoming all her misgivings. As soon as she agrees to help, her life goes completely crazy.

Within hours of her agreement, the building where she lives and works is shut down, her bank accounts are frozen, and the plaster cast of the skull is stolen. Many of her paintings are destroyed in another attack. Throughout it all, David is at her side as they try to track down who is doing these things, and why. David is determined to protect her from whoever is causing the problems. As they try to track the clues they uncover, it becomes obvious that someone doesn't want her to finish what she started. It was really interesting to see the way it all came together. I was totally surprised by who was behind it and the reasons for their actions. I could not put it down until I finished it.

I loved seeing the relationship grow between David and Amanda. The chemistry was hot from the very beginning. I liked the way that David accepted it and wanted to pursue it. I loved the way that he saw her hesitation and understood what caused it, but he wasn't going to give up. Amanda fought her feelings hard. She didn't want to deal with the riot of emotions that being around him brought out. I loved seeing the way that they balanced each other. David brought a sense of fun and spontaneity to Amanda's life, and Amanda's calm helped to temper David's volatility. I loved how they realized that neither was perfect, that their relationship would always be a work in progress.

The family dynamics were wonderful. David was mentioned in previous books, and I always got the impression that he wanted nothing to do with them. In this book we got to see what had driven him away. I loved seeing him come home wanting to be part of the family again. The relationship he has with his mom is a good one. I loved seeing the way that she was able to get him to do exactly what she wanted him to do, and that he saw what she was doing and didn't resist. He gives a great description of his relationship to his mom when he's talking to Amanda about her. I liked that he and his brother didn't really have any problems between them and got along well. It was the relationship with his sister Penny that had the most turmoil. There were times that I wanted to smack her, because she really seemed to be doing her best to piss him off. She definitely came off as being something of a spoiled brat. David made up his mind that he wanted to fix things, but stopping the bickering was harder than he thought it would be. There were a few moments when I thought they were never going to get through it. Once again their mom steps in, and I loved seeing her lay down the law. ( )

I loved everything about this book. I must admit I am not always into romance novels but this one had me craving more. It was very well written. You have intrigue, suspense,mystery,and romance all rolled into one great book.
I fell in love with these characters. You have Amanda, an artist who is normally very status quo and likes to live in her neutral, safe zone. Then you have David Henning who is a sexy independent civil law attorney trying to come back to town and set up a private practice. He is the rebel of the Henning's family. Everyone else has followed in dad's footsteps and become a defense attorney but not David.
Amanda is introduced to the Henning's at a fundraiser and catches the attention of Pamela Henning. Pamela is known for solving cold cases with the help of the police department and wants to get Amanda to do a reconstruction on a cold case skull found by detective McCall. David is sent to Amanda's studio to convince her to work on the skull and sketch. After she agrees to help her life is turned upside down. Everything starts to go wrong. She is told her building is mold infested and she has to leave immediately, her bank account is frozen, and she gets locked out of the hotel that she is staying at because her building is closed. Oh and she is attracted to David like a magnet from the instant they saw each other.
Why is all of this happening now? Is the police department some how involved? When will the craziness stop.
Will Amanda take a leap of faith and leave her safe zone or just return to her neutral life?
Who is the person behind the skull and will they be able to take them home to their family or will someone make sure the past stays buried?
If you want a great read that you won't want to put down you need to read The Rebel.
I received an ARC of this book to review. This is my honest review. ( )

The Rebel by Adrienne Giordano

Witty wonderful dialogue between two charming characters while the chemistry sparked between them made this romance so much fun! David is tall, dark and handsome but also brilliant, into leather and loves his Ducati and he does not fit into the mold his parents created for him. Amanda is blonde, beautiful, talented and also afraid to enjoy the highs and lows life might offer. She prefers to live her life in neutral – that changes when she meets David. David and Amanda come together over the solving of a cold case and by tackling it they set events in motion that will put them in danger when they pull the sleeping bear’s tail – the bear being the murderer. This is the first book I have read by this author but it will not be my last!

I was gifted a copy of this book for an honest review. ( )