From USA TODAY BESTSELLING authors of Cruel and Beautiful, A.M. Hargrove and Terri E. Laine bring the next book in the Cruel and Beautiful series. It is a new full-length standalone New Adult Contemporary Romance.
Womanizer, Man Whore, Player, Heartbreaker are all familiar names to Ben Rhoades. He prefers Money Man or Sex God, but he doesn’t let other people’s opinions rule him. And he’s only gotten worse without his compass, his best friend, whose devastating death at a young age has taught him a valuable lesson about not getting too close to anyone … ever. Until one smart and stubborn woman with eye-catching curves throws him for a loop and refuses to be tamed.
Samantha Calhoun has her life on track even after the shattering break-up with the guy she’d thought she’d wanted to marry. With her chin held high, she focuses on her career, building her business and making a success of it all. Only a chance meeting has her lost in a set of alluring steel gray eyes that have her steps faltering and her heart leaping out of her chest. Forewarned by not-so-flattering rumors plus his no-holds-bar rules, she tries desperately to play his game while guarding her heart.
Only they have no idea of the journey they’re about to undertake when their lives collide. Ultimately they’ll tackle the biggest test of their lives because she is his game changer. The one, who through the ensuing wreckage, can domesticate the mess of a man that he is.
Once again, I read this book with Cátia @The Girl Who Read Too Much, as buddy read, so check her blog soon to read her review of this book.
I don’t know what’s happening here… I honestly don’t know if I just had a bit of bad luck and read two bad books in a row, or if I’m just not in the mood and judging too hard. But I don’t think so, I’m honestly blaming the books here.
I couldn’t connect with the writing AT ALL. I’m very easy to please in terms of writing, but this one just didn’t do it for me. The speech and way of narration was too curt and blunt, there wasn’t enough dialogue, the transitions were weird. Also, and again, not picky here, the sex scenes were weirdly written… I just couldn’t connect and that took away a big chunk of my enthusiasm about this book. Also, I found it kind of crass?! I never thought that about a book before… and I read a lot of dirty dirty books.
I haven’t read book 1 of this series – and now I’m pretty sure I won’t – but I was expecting this book to be a tear jerker. It wasn’t… not really, even though it deals with very VERY important subjects, such as loss, cancer and the importance of an early diagnoses. I felt like this very important issues were a bit lost in everything else in this book, and that was a shame.
About the characters… yeah… no… I was kind of liking Sam until a point when she gets all weird about sex, does a bit of slut shaming, and then proceeds to give false hopes to an ex she has no interest in. I mean, what the hell Sam?! I could sympathize with her a bit, which was easy when a certain someone was being a jerk, but she was just too much of a push-over, even when she tried not to be, and she let a lot of people have a say in her life, while she didn’t quite assert herself… I don’t know… it was a bit weird to me. Now onto Ben… yeah… no! Ben had his moments, especially when he was opening up to Sam and actually doing some talking that didn’t involve boobs, but he is a jerk several times, and I honestly couldn’t get past some things that he did and said.
The plot of the book was a bit meh for most of the time, though I did like the main conflict, even if I didn’t like what was said and how it was resolved. Some things were dealt with very conveniently and the resolution itself was a bit weak in my opinion. I needed a lot more talking and a lot more “getting to know”… but well… I wasn’t a fan of all the side characters either and their respective roles in the plot, and I’m still not sure how Karen and Nick were important for the story.
Ultimatly this was a very meh book to me, the characters were frustrating, and I couldn’t connect with the writing. There’s a moment in the epilogue that kind of made me cry, so I’m giving it an half a star because of that.
This one just wasn’t for me, but it does has some great reviews on goodreads, so it obviously appeals to a lot of people. If you’re interested, check those out, ok?! 😉
My Tiny Obsessions 
Is it bad that you saying it’s crass has me curious? Is there a quote you could share that’s scandalous? It does sound like an interesting book by blurb, but I’ll trust your opinion!
lol, i don’t have a specific quote. Ben is just very harsh and crass in his general speech… and not always in a good way. For instance, in Hustler the guy had a foul mouth, but it was never bad. Here I thought it was bad, you know? Still, the book has awesome reviews on goodreads… it just didn’t work for me at all. 😦
Oooohhh, I get it.