Review: Grounded (Up In The Air, #3) by R.K. Lilley

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Review

Hooray for swoony HEAs!!!!

The conclusion to the Up In The Air series, this book picks up at the same scene that ended Mile High, and we are thrown straight back into the tumultuous, obsessive and passionate relationship between quietly confident Bianca and hotter-than-hot, controlling, dominant, sexy billionaire James Cavendish.

I had some mixed thoughts while reading this book. I was a bit weirded out by some of James’ early behaviour. He was very much in severe Dom mode for a lot of it, and although Bianca is fully on board with the lifestyle that they share, and it works really well for them, I felt a bit detached from it.

But, thank God, they finally open up to each other, and tell each other what they are feeling – particularly Bianca. Although James hasn’t said the words up until now, he hasn’t hid how madly in love with her he is, and Bianca, with her devastating backstory, is the one who has been scared to put herself out there. We had to wait almost two and a half books for it, but it made it all a bit more epic when it did actually happen, and it was swoony as all hell. So from that point on, I got caught up in the romance, and got a lot more involved in the story. That’s not to say that ‘Mr Cavendish’ the Dom didn’t make any more appearances, because he did, but I could understand his motivations, and his need to control and possess her was based on his mad love and his fear for her safety. And Bianca understood that, and actually blossomed with his attention, so who am I to judge? I was just happy that things seemed a lot more settled between James and Bianca, with them both safe in the knowledge that they love each other and committed to a future together. And I loved seeing them so functional.

And then there’s the sex… wow. Yep, there is so much of it that it needs its own paragraph. James and Bianca are both insatiable, and they have A LOT of sex! Some of it is glossed over, but most of it is pretty explicit, and pretty freaking hot. There is a mix of vanilla and kink, and a lot of it is pretty original. I guess when a book has this many smutty scenes in it, you need to mix it up a bit, so well done Ms Lilley! Although I must say, there was one scene in this book that turned my stomach, but I’m not gonna dwell because it was just one scene in the larger scheme of things, and it did have a deeper meaning (even if it was totally gag-inducing). Right, moving on.

The smut was balanced nicely with some great scenes with James and Bianca being playful together, and I loved seeing James so happy and mischievous, and so open about his love for his girl.

“The director cleared her throat just a few shots in. “Um, so, is there anything you can do about that, Mr Cavendish? This is not an X-rated publication…”
James, shameless bastard that he was, seemed completely unfazed. “You’ll just need to shoot me waist up. You were the one who wanted my girlfriend in the shot, putting her hands on me. What did you think was going to happen?”

Stephan is awesome as always, and I loved seeing him get his HEA as well – and we even get some chapters from his POV! And I loved the time spent with Tristan and Danika (can’t WAIT for their story), as well as Frankie, Lana, and even Blake and Clark. And I cheered when Bianca finally got her chance to smackdown mega-bitch Jules from the last book. That was epic!

And speaking of epic… holy God, that ending was INSANE! I was expecting something big to happen, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite that big. My heart was racing, and even though I knew how it was going to turn out, it still didn’t stop me from getting completely freaked out at how it all went down. And getting the ending from Bianca, Stephan and James’ POVs was awesome, because each of them were effected in different ways, and I loved seeing it all.

But, as always, it was the romance that won me over…

I fell in love with your eyes first because I looked into their depths and saw the other half of my soul.”

There are some massively swoony moments in this book, and I loved it! And then not one, but two gorgeously beautiful epilogues, just to completely sate the romantic in me.

I have really loved this series! In watching James and Bianca come together, find their peace in each other, and figure out the perfect balance to make their relationship work, they have both grown and changed so much from the first book. Their love is deep, and all consuming, and yeah, it’s obsessive, but it works for them. They both knew what they wanted, and they worked hard to get it, and I love that about them.

I want so much for this to last – for us to stay together. I’m desperate for it.”

4.5 swoony stars.

 

The Up In The Air series

In Flight  Mile High  Grounded  Mr Beautiful

In Flight (#1)
Review
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Mile High (#2)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Grounded (#3)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Mr Beautiful (#4) (alternate POV book)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

 

Tie-in novella:

LanaLana
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

 

 

 

Check out our R.K. Lilley Author Spotlight for more great reads from this author

 

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