3 stars

“…how I hated her, how much I craved her…”

I feel like I have to run and hide after I say this but, in all honesty, I was a lot less “wow-ed” by this book than I was expecting to be. It wasn’t bad at all, I just really didn’t feel anything for it or the characters. I mean, okay, maybe a LITTLE, obviously, I mean I did care for the characters, but nothing that made the story ‘stay’ with me or make me overly attached to them.

I’m still giving the book a 3.5 – 4 star rating because while nothing jumped out at me that I just fell in love with, it also wasn’t bad either and nothing ever rang any of my alarm bells, it just didn’t really make my heart race… which I usually want.

I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book and I guess I can honestly say that I can truly understand both the really low and the really high ratings… I mean, I guess its about your mood of the moment maybe?

It was basically a light-hearted (but not funny) enemies-to-lovers story that centered largely around the sexual escapades of a boss and his intern. 

I guess to describe it, its the story of Chloe who is working towards her MBA while being the assistant to Bennet Ryan – a “womanizing, arrogant, pigheaded asshat who assumed everyone around him was an idiot.” … in other words: a Beautiful Bastard.

Despite their intense physical attraction, they have an strongly antagonistic relationship at first…. until one day, the UST* snaps and (around 5% into the book) they pretty much just break down and have angry sex in the board room. Then in the stairwell. Then in the elevator. A fitting room. The backseat of a car. Two bathrooms. Almost a shower. And then about 10+ times in bed…. In case you were wondering, this book has a LOT of sex in it. I mean a lot. Its hot but not kinky – just very very frequent and often very very angry. Did I say a lot yet? … hmmmm, maybe, honestly, even too much at times? Or possibly a better way to say it would be too much, too soon.

But about half way through, emotions start to seep into their relationship – or, rather, positive and more romantic emotions and basically, the more they gave into their bodies, the more their hearts slowly began to catch up with the program and they began to fall for each other.

“He looked so different – still my asshole boss, but also someone else now: a man, in my bed, looking like he was ready for round… Four? Five? I couldn’t keep track.”

“Tell me what you want.” My voice is rough with need. “Tell me the things you want me to do to you.”
“I don’t know,” she whispered into my mouth. “I just want to see you come apart.”

Chloe and Bennet had a highly dysfunctional relationship… but one that kinda worked for them. I mean, they spent the first half of the book pretty much hating each other and trying to fuck each other out of their systems which, consequently, disconnected me a little from strongly “feeling” for them because THEY weren’t really feeling it yet. You know?

“So here were the facts: I felt possessive of her. Not in a romantic sort of way, but in a “hit her over the head, drag her off by the hair, and fuck her” way. Like she was my toy and I was keeping the other boys in the sandbox from playing with her. How sick was that? If she ever heard me admit to that, she would cut off my balls and feed them to me.”

It was nice that the story was told in alternating POVs though and that we got to see the man behind the bastard so to speak. It helped soften the way I felt towards him, understanding his frustrations with Chloe that made him act the way he did. That being said, I did really like that Chloe was a smart and sassy heroine who pretty much just threw all his asshatery back in his face so there was no ‘doormat’ syndrome going on here 😛

There were cute moments, some sassy banter, a lot of lust-hate-sex-lust-hate-sex… and some things I couldn’t help but laugh at (like Bennet hoarding all her torn up panties in his drawer *shakes head* LOL)… but I felt a little disconnected from the story. It took a long time (really right up until the VERY end) for them to actually be in a real relationship together and I guess I just usually want more actual romance in my reads.

I feel like I would have gladly traded in some of the sex scenes for more character development I mean, neither of them really ‘grew’ much as people (except to stop hating each other) and neither of them had damaged pasts or had anything in their past that was a mystery or affected their lives in any way… the story has no twists or anything, its really just a straight up enemies-to-lovers story. I guess I would have liked to know WHY Bennet was so mean to her – I mean, yeah, it was sort of explained but I would have wanted a bit of a deeper reason for that degree of asshatery.

There is a happy ending (no cliffhanger) but I did feel it was rushed and abrupt. They kind of solved their problem and then the book was just over. I feel like I really could have used an epilogue.

But… at the same time, I know I’m griping a lot but it really wasn’t a bad read. It just won’t be making my favorites pile and didn’t leave a lasting impression on me or really ever touch my heart emotionally.

However, I read it in one sitting (about 4 hours) and did enjoy my read so, all in all, I am glad I read it… I just won’t be doing a reread.

Rating: 3.5 — 4 stars

*UST = Unresolved Sexual Tension

CASTING –>  click here

Click covers to purchase. Books listed in reading order.

3.5 stars.

“Just tell me one thing before you leave, Ava.” His voice prickles at my senses… His face is serious, but still stunning. “How loud do you think you’ll scream when I fuck you?”

I’m not a fan of comparing books, I prefer to let each one stand on its own. But in the case of this book, after the huge impact of the last 2 mega-successful controlling billionaire series, its inevitable that some comparisons will be made. But, personally, if I were to do so, I honestly feel like Jesse was maybe a bit more like a non-kinky Knight (by Kristen Ashley) than Christian (by EL James) or Gideon (by Sylvia Day).

Let’s start out from the beginning. Because I felt differently about this book in the beginning than I did at the end.

To say that the beginning melted my panties and set my heart a-flutter is a mega understatement. I swear, after their first meeting, I was ready to just throw a 6 star rating at the book. I was hooked and utterly captivated by their chemistry.

When Ava, an up-and-coming interior designer lands a job at The Manor in the country side, the last thing she expects is for the proprietor, or Lord of the Manor, to be drop dead gorgeous. He is beyond intense and she is so strongly affected by him that he just takes over her mind every time she sees him. She jumps to several conclusions about him and decided though that its all too much for her and walks away. But Jesse is not one to be deterred from getting what he wants. He relentlessly peruses her until finally the combination of his determination and her intense desire for him make her give in.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers softly… “I lied, I’m sorry. I told you, I can’t stay away… I need to have all of you, Ava. Say I can have all of you.”

Jesse gave me shivers!!! He was a gorgeous, controlling, domineering, self-assured British billionaire with a husky accent. I mean, holy hell, can you just picture that?? *fans self* But… he was also an unreasonable control freak and pretty much a stalker. I do love me a controlling, possessive hero but… I felt he went too far. Even I was feeling stifled and I wasn’t the object of his attention.

He was just … too much sometimes… like too stalker-ish, too rude, too demanding, too extreme, too unreasonable, too neurotic, borderline immature (especially at the end). And Ava just gave in every time. I wish she stood up a bit more.

And honestly, if he told her to “Watch your mouth!” one more time… *mimes throttling* . I mean, its not like he was a saint or anything. He swore all the time, but every time she’d swear at all, he’d yell at her. Every. Time.
It got old real fast.

Let’s just say that, in real life, I’d personally actually put up with a Christian or a Gideon, but a Jesse would have been kicked to the fucking curb if he said/did the things he did in this book to me. That being said, this is fiction. And, in the spirit of appreciating him for the fictional character that he is, I tried to be more lenient in my judgement.

But I guess I just found Jesse too extreme overall. At the same time, I really did like him and felt like I wanted to know where his story went, but I couldn’t really look past a few of his demands.

Ava. hmmm I don’t know what to say about her. I didn’t like a lot of what she did but at the same time, I didn’t dislike her. She didn’t make me mad or anything, but her actions/reactions just didn’t make me admire her. First of all, I’m really surprised she didn’t see the “twist” at the end. I had my suspicions from the beginning and after that, there was a lot that hinted at it and she never had a clue. Second, I didn’t like how, on her own she was an intelligent, relatively strong, independent woman, but the second she shared the same air as Jesse, she pretty much turned into a doormat. So many moments when he’d say things to her like “Who has the power?”, I really just wanted her, at some point, to stand up to him, but she completely gave in every time. Even when she did “rebel”, it was always relatively short-lived. I felt that Jesse took things to an extreme  and what would have been needed to balance him out was someone that wouldn’t like outright defy him per say, but that would have stood on her own enough to not give him complete and utter power.

Also, with many other such controlling, possessive heroes, I guess what makes me accept them so readily, is that, no matter what extremes they’ll go to to control their women, they are still always thinking of the woman first. But there were several times here where I felt that Jesse put his need to control her above her comfort.

There are a few examples, but the one I’ll reference is the scene at 25%. I found it very unrealistic and unbelievable. I don’t have any problem with butt sex – if its done well. But the fact that it was her first time doing it, that it was only their second time having sex at all, that she wasn’t even like ‘looking forward’ to it and then he just rammed her so suddenly like that (and that was after it was made very clear how well-endowed he was)…. I didn’t like how he handled it. I mean sure the scene was hot, and she did enjoy it in the end but I guess it was about as un-realistic as their always-perfectly-timed mutual orgasms… lol, I felt sometime like they were taking a photo or something “three…two…one…COME!”  o_O

This book takes place in England and has a LOT of “Bristishisms” –> Sodding. Knickers. Jumper. Quiff. Plum. Posh. Tart. Tube. Lush. Dribble. Bloody. Tosser. Bin bags. Knackered. Bird. Shag. Cheeky fag… there’s a lot. It didn’t bother me or anything, this isn’t a complaint, but it definitely jumps out at you.

The plot wasn’t overly gripping. The whole story was about them figuring each other out. Again, it wasn’t bad, I just didn’t feel like there was too much change in the characters by the end of the book and wasn’t really sure if the story had gone anywhere except at the very end.

There was only one thing in the books that really made me mad. Now, I understand that this book came out after Fifty Shades and that it’s got to fight to be appreciated on its own terms and not be labeled a copy or a wanna-be. But regardless, there IS the blatant fact that it is in a similar genre and, although it did stand on its own, it is without a doubt along the same lines and as such, given the context, I did NOT appreciate the blatant dig at putting down Dominants. I thought it was petty and disrespectful because there is NO doubt what was being referred to there. I hope that if this book ever gets published officially (currently, it is self-published) that that line gets taken out.

That being said, you should know that this is not a BDSM book. In fact, Jesse is relatively anti-kink. Its all straight-up, albeit intense, vanilla sex.

Parts of this book thrilled me and excited me. Parts of this book annoyed me and frustrated me. I’m torn here because I know a lot of people rated it with 5 stars. But I’m just trying to really be honest and something about the book didn’t fully sit right with me. At the same time, I did like it. I really did. I didn’t hate it. Please don’t think I hated it. Its not a bad book. I just had some issues with it.

It really helped that Jesse was totally hot. And when he wasn’t being overly control-y and stalker-y, I could really see myself falling for him. He had him moments of tender and sweet to be sure and I really did get the feeling like he was just out of his league with this relationship.

“I want to look after you forever,” he whispers, pressing his lips against my temple.”

I am intrigued by him. I do want to know more about his past. Where did he get that scar?? How old is he???? What happened in his past to make him so utterly terrified of loosing her? There are a lot of questions still to be answered and I’ll definitely be going on to the next book. I hope he gets over some things though in it. I didn’t feel like he ‘grew’ at all as a person in this story. In fact, you could almost say it ended on a major low point for him. So I’m really, really hoping that in the second book (that is supposed to be out in December, so thankfully not too long a wait) he makes some progress at learning to be more reasonable and finding a more balanced way of being controlling and possessive.

• Buy THIS MAN on Kindle 

CASTING:

Here is his description: “This man is so perfect, I’m almost in pain. His dirty blond hair looks like he’s half attempted to get it into a semblance of a style but given up. His eyes are sludgy green, but bright and way too intense, and the stubble covering his square jaw does nothing to conceal the handsome features beneath it. He’s lightly tanned and just… Oh God, he’s devastating.” 

Almost 4 stars (3.5-4)

“My dad once told me that one day I’d meet someone who drives me so crazy I want to strangle her and yet never would because I can’t bear for her to be gone. Well, that’s when I’ll know I’ve met a woman worth keeping.”

I felt a little torn about this book. I did really like the story, I was into it and I did care about the characters  but I wish it had made me feel more emotionally connected to it..  If I could, I’d give the first half of the book 4-4.5 stars, and the second half of the book 3 stars.

I really liked the beginning of this book. It had a bit of a sad background so a serious enough mood was set but as soon as the hero and heroine met (first chapter), I was smiling and grinning. They really didn’t have the smoothest of introductions and pretty much started out disliking each other. He found her uptight and abrasive and she thought he was an annoying womanizer. But despite that, neither of them could get the other off their mind and so they set about exploring what might be happening between them.

Lena was an interesting character. Deeply hurt and scarred by an accident she was involved in nine years ago in which her sister died, she cut herself off emotionally from relationships and came off as abrasive on the surface in an effort to guard her heart from losing someone else that she might establish a connection to. Consequently, when she first met our hero, Mason, she did her best to push him away… but luckily, he’d have none of it.

“I don’t know why, Lena, but you’ve done something to me. I can’t get you out of my mind.”
Lena shook her head slowly, even though he couldn’t see her, and whispered softly, “I’m truly sorry for that. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
So softly she almost missed it, he whispered, “Let me in, Magdalena O’Donnell. I want to know all of you.”

Mason was a local-celebrity chef. As the owner of a popular restaurant, Exquisite, and one of Chicago’s most eligible bachelors with a bit of a Casanova reputation, he was used to women tripping over themselves to be with him and was very intrigued by this woman who seemed genuinely unaffected by his charms.

“You’re so button-ed up, professional. You make me want to unbutton things.”

I did love that they didn’t just fall into each other’s beds right at the start. In fact they almost had some sort of “anti-attraction” thing going for a while… but once they started to actually started dating a little, ho boy did it get hot for a while!! Kissing, talking, touching, petting. I needed a cold shower.

And speaking of showers. Holy shower scene. I mean, really! This scene is proof that something can be panty-melting hot without one single bit of touching in it!

Overall though, I liked seeing them fall in love, their bedroom scenes were hot!!, there were few moments that made me squint skeptically and go hmmmmmm, and one serious WTF moment (I mean, really, that whole hair/cock thing was just plain weird! … haha I’ll let you guys wonder about that one 😛 ), I didn’t like that in the middle of the book the story skipped forward 6 months because I felt that further disconnected me from them both individually and as a couple, and then towards the last 25% there was a big misunderstanding that was really both their faults and although it was an understandable and believable human error at first, I felt it became far to drawn out and then after that, the book ended so soon that it just felt a little rushed.

I did however like what that misunderstanding did for them as a couple. It gave it a great turn around because neither of them were perfect and each had qualities that ended up helping each other out. Mason saved her in the first half of the book, and then in the second half, it was Lena’s turn to save him.

“Let me be what you need… Let me save you from yourself.”

It was a good book, but I just wish I felt more connected to it.

• Buy EXQUISITE for Kindle (Amazon)

CASTING:

• Mason –> Click here
• Lena –> Click here

• Buy SEDUCING CINDERELLA (Kindle)

This was a yummy 3 star read for me.

“Heart. Any fighter can win against any odds if he has more heart than his opponent.”

It was short, predictable and more-than-a-little cheesy, but still, it was cute and had a fuzzy HEA.

Reid is a highly successful, smokin’ hot MMA fighter. He works hard at his job, is dedicated and right now does not have the time to be injured. Which is what leads him to Lucie. Lucie works as a physical therapist. She’s a cute, clumsy bookworm who is utterly infatuated with another doctor at her clinic who won’t give her the time of day and lacks the confidence to do anything about it. With Lucie desperate to go out with her doctor love and Reid desperate for more time around Lucie, he offers to move in with her so that she can give him around the clock physical therapy and he can give her “hands on lesson[s] in Seduction 101” *rolls eyes with a smile* … hmmm… I’m guessing I don’t need to spell out where this all going, riiiight?? 😛

“Maybe the best way to teach you how to seduce,is to let you feel what it’s like to be seduced.”

There are a lot of “picture perfect” things about this book… I mean, its got “Cinderalla” in the title… its a little fairy-tale over the top perfect – cute and clumsy girl meets fuckhot tattoed filty rich bad-boy-with-a-soft-artistic-side fighter… moves in with him instantly… just can’t resist the chemisty etc.  But at the same time, if you just approach it as a fun, light read then its pretty cute.

I did really love that Reid wasn’t just pure fighter – he cooked, painted, sculpted etc. He wasn’t afraid to show all his sides and it only added to his hotness!  Seriously, I need to find me some more MMA fighter guy books!

“Because when I make you come for the first time I don’t want you holding back. I want to hear every hitch of your breath… Every moan… And I won’t be satisfied until you scream my name.”

The sex is hot and there’s a fair bit of it.  There were several moments where I wanted to slap or throttle both of them but the ending is all wrapped up in a little bow and there are no surprises or twists to the story.

I liked it, but I found it very easy to put down and I prefer my stories with a little bit more depth. But if you are looking for something light, short, with steam and a HEA, then this is might be the book for you.

• Buy SEDUCING CINDERELLA (Kindle)