by Naima Simone
Pub. Date: Aug. 10, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Indulgence
Pages: 186
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
My Rating:
Sultry Scale:
Billionaire Lucas Oliver is hell bent on revenge. And his plan begins when Sydney Blake—the stunning daughter of his enemy—is tricked into bidding on Lucas at a bachelor auction. Then he serves up a little blackmail...followed by a marriage proposal Sydney has no choice but to accept.
Sydney has been controlled by her family her whole life. When Lucas threatens to reveal her father's shady business, she is once again forced to do her duty for her family. But worse—oh so much worse—is the rush of lust that Lucas ignites in her blood.
Lucas is determined to make Sydney suffer, but it’s tough when he can’t keep from touching her–or thinking about touching her–all the time. She’s not fairing much better since she’s engaged to a darkly handsome beast intent on destroying her entire family...along with her heart.
I'm not usually down with revenge-plot stories, but this one wasn't too bad. For some reason I tend to be more forgiving when the male is the bad actor, but not when it's the female. Yes I know what Freud would say... no need to psychoanalyze me.
There was a thin line between love and hate. Or in their case, lust and loathing.
Sydney was a good female lead. Even though she started out with no voice and cowed to the demands of her parents and the upper echelons of society. Usually this type of heroine will annoy me, but Naima Simone did a good job here of writing an empathetic character in an otherwise aggravating situation. My one gripe with Sydney is that I could not get a picture of her in my head. She had honey and cinnamon hair, and honey and cinnamon skin. She just sounds very... monochromatic. There was a lot of honey, cinnamon and caramel floating around. It made me hungry.
Our broody billionaire obsessed with revenge was Lucas. He was alright. I just had a hard time with his wanting a stronger relationship with Sydney, yet he couldn't grasp how that was the antithesis to the way he was continuing to blackmail her. So I couldn't get behind him as much as I normally would a handsome broody billionaire. I also couldn't picture him in my head... even though he had more contrast in his dark black curls and turquoise eyes. I have never actually seen turquoise eyes so maybe that's the problem.
Anywho I was really enjoying this book for the most part... but something happened in my last hour of reading that just started aggravating with me. Things seemed a little rushed, but I'm not sure if that was the issue or if my mood just shifted into easily-annoyed. So take my review with a grain of salt that it was a solid 4 star for me... until the last hour and I got aggravated and dropped a star. It probably had nothing to do with the writing, as I'm a fan of Ms. Simone and enjoy her writing style.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Entangled in exchange for an honest review.
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