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Review
5 ‘you totally should’ stars
OMG, I love, love, love this book! Sexy and smart with sensational banter, fantastic chemistry and a gorgeously emotional love story, this enemies-to-lovers office romance absolutely blew me away and I loved every moment of the ride and couldn’t put it down.
Bennett Fox and Annalise O’Neil meet in less than ideal circumstances. Firstly, there’s an unfortunate yet hilarious incident with Bennett’s car, and then they learn that they are competing for the same job following the merger of their two companies. There is only space for one of them – with the other being transferred from San Francisco to Texas, and their work over the coming months will decide their fate.
It’s a perfect enemies-to-lovers set up, and there’s some fantastic teasing and taunting, but I never truly felt the ‘enemy’ thing. Sure, there is animosity and they are fighting for their careers, but with their enforced close working relationship it doesn’t take long before they get to know each other and become reluctant friends, and everything snowballs from there.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea. Sleep with the guy who’s trying to steal my job.”
“Why not? You know that old saying…keep your friends close and fuck the shit out of your enemies.”
“That’s not exactly the saying.”
There is attraction, teasing and fantastically fun flirting. Annalise is coming out of a relationship and Bennett, despite his anti-relationship stance, is the irritating but strangely helpful voice of reason. He’s the typically overconfident alpha hero, and Annalise should hate him, but she sees so much more to him than what he shows, and she can’t help but be drawn to him.
Sometimes his confidence made me want to smack him. Apparently other times it made me want to strip naked.
As for Bennett, he’s feeling it all for Annalise, but he has a painful past that he still feels guilt over and he tries to avoid romantic entanglements, believing himself undeserving. Plus, one of them will be moving in the coming months. Their situation is hopeless, but their chemistry will not be denied.
“Are you afraid I’ll fuck your trade secrets out of you?”
She mimicked my move and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “No. Are you?”
The sexual tension is fantastic, and the build-up is awesome, enhanced by the love/hate thing they have going on. But what I loved the most is the emotional connection that develops between Bennett and Annalise that makes their relationship so much more than just a workplace hook-up. Of course they want each other badly, and the frenemy thing they have going on creates an added dimension to their chemistry, but they don’t jump in to anything and by the time they do, they (and the reader) is so ready for it. It’s a delicious slow burn and so much fun, and OMG it’s so freaking hot!
Some men say the sexiest thing a woman can do is to talk dirty or submit to them, but they obviously haven’t had their hair pulled and face ridden by a woman who currently hates their guts. Nothing. Fucking. Sexier. In. The. World.
We know where the story is going to go, it’s just a matter of sitting back and watching it all play out, and I enjoyed every single moment. There are ups and downs, more hotness, a surprising amount of feels and a whole lot of soul-searching to be done, but the build-up is perfectly done, creating a wonderful sense of anticipation as we wait for Bennett and Annalise to find their way to where they are supposed to be.
“I haven’t been able to focus on anything since the day you walked into the office. You’ve starred in all my fantasies, even when I tried to hate you.”
It’s not an original story, and yes, it’s predictable, but the writing is fantastic and it’s exactly what I was in the mood for when I picked it up so it totally worked for me and I freaking loved it! It’s natural, it flows, I laughed so many times at their banter, I felt all the feels along with them as they figured everything out, and OMG, did I swoon!
God knows why the hell she’d given me her heart, but I had no intention of ever giving it back.
The audiobook is perfectly narrated by Andie Arndt and Sebastian York, and I’m so glad I listened to this book! They bring so much to these characters, and made listening to the story such a fantastic experience.
I absolutely loved it, one of my faves by Vi Keeland.
5 stars!
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