**spoiler alert** I liked this one slightly more than I did the first book in this series. This one has a fun enemies to lovers vibe. They verbal spar**spoiler alert** I liked this one slightly more than I did the first book in this series. This one has a fun enemies to lovers vibe. They verbal sparring and banter between Natalie and August was fun. My favorite part was that August falls first. I love it when the hero falls first.
Natalie and August have good chemistry together throughout. If you enjoy Tessa Bailey books I think you'll probably like this one as well. It's got all of her signature elements
No OW/OM drama No cheating No scenes with others No 3rd act breakup (there is a hiccup but not a breakup) No separation HEA Epilogue
**spoiler alert** Disney didn’t disappoint. It’s really hard to maintain the strength of a series as you go. I’m not easy to please. Most series, I ab**spoiler alert** Disney didn’t disappoint. It’s really hard to maintain the strength of a series as you go. I’m not easy to please. Most series, I abandon by the second book. Sometimes, I don’t even read the second one. I adored Lincoln’s book. I loved Ari’s too but some of the stuff near the end made me dock half a star, nothing egregious but just enough to dull the shine for me a bit. Disney has brought it back home. A full 5 stars.
This one has some seriously triggery stuff as part of the back story, so definitely check those out. They are mentioned multiple times in the present. I’m incapable of writing reviews without spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
Olivia was a sweet heroine. She definitely carried a lot of emotional damage from her childhood and abusive mother & manager. Some of the scenes with them made my blood boil. You are definitely cheering on their downfall as Walker executes his vengeance for Olivia upon them.
Walker was dreamy. He definitely fell at first sight for Olivia. His planning and manipulation with guidance from his “circle of trust” was perfect. The texts between the guys were hilarious. Walker brought his A game with stalking, birth control tampering and investigation against Olivia’s mother & manager. He was a man with a plan. I love how insanely possessive these guys are with Grandma airways, female bodyguards, not even liking their own family - or each other to hug their ladies too long.
I was on pins & needles waiting for Olivia to find out about Walker’s shenanigans behind her back. What she discovered, she handled remarkably well. She cracked pretty quickly after he handcuffed her to himself.
Fast burn (they hook up the first time around 22%) No virgins No manwhore H Birth control tampering resulting in pregnancy No OW/OM drama No sex scenes with others No cheating No separation once they couple up but it doesn’t take some maneuvering from Walker to facilitate their physical reunion after the first ONS they had.
Safety - triggering backstory aside this is safe. No cheating or OW/OM drama. However, Olivia was abused physically and SA’d by her manager in her backstory. It’s referred to multiple times. She carries a lot of shame. The manager does beat her once on the page because she smells like sex after her ONS with Walker. Walker gets him back tenfold later in the book...more
**spoiler alert** No. Just no. I’m surprised I read this entire book. I have no patience lately bad pacing but this whole ass book is so poorly paced **spoiler alert** No. Just no. I’m surprised I read this entire book. I have no patience lately bad pacing but this whole ass book is so poorly paced in the name of this author being able to justify a trilogy. That’s just sad, pathetic and gross. Greedy too. Yuck.
The hero is an asshole. The heroine is duller than dull. He forces her to marry him. Acts like a douchebag to her for 80% of the book. She’s surrounded by assholes except for his mother and sister.
He’s weak and can’t accomplish anything. He’s supposed to be looking for answers and protecting her. He fails at both.
They finally fuck at 80% and it’s underwhelming. In a final TSTL act she runs off and gets her dumb ass kidnapped.
**spoiler alert** This was a pretty solid read overall. The h had some physical limitations from being hit by a car years prior. She worked at a casin**spoiler alert** This was a pretty solid read overall. The h had some physical limitations from being hit by a car years prior. She worked at a casino as a blackjack dealer. H was her boss and definitely stalking her.
He sees an opportunity to strong arm her into marriage and takes it. He lost a bit after that. He was so hot and cold with her. There’s an element of mystery that hangs deep into the story and I was tired of it but the big reveal. I didn’t even think it was that shocking.
After H finally comes clean with everything I liked him more because he finally stopped intermittently pushing her away. That was getting tedious.
Medium burn, I think he takes her vcard around 55%
Virgin h His sexual history was very vague No OW/OM drama No cheating No scenes with others No separation HEA
**spoiler alert** I wanted to like this more than I did. It had potential but it fell flat. At the core of it, none of the central characters are lika**spoiler alert** I wanted to like this more than I did. It had potential but it fell flat. At the core of it, none of the central characters are likable. The H/h are both unbearable. Their families are worse. Her family is filled with caricatures of cartoon villains and she’s mistreated, misunderstood and abused. H’s family isn’t much better and that includes his brothers and I’ve read 2 out of the 3 other books. I’m honestly not sure how I keep on getting suckered back into reading them. They aren’t like completely terrible but also not really good. The only one I haven’t read is Grant’s books and you couldn’t pay me money to read it.
The only reason I rated this 3 stars instead of 2 is that Sebastian does grovel. Now, I wouldn’t have personally forgiven him here but this author - like so many others - isn’t skilled at writing a grovel so they don’t try. I’ll give an e tea star for effort. Why wouldn’t I forgive him here? He took too fucking long to realize he shouldn’t be doing what he did. If this had been me - I’d have accepted what he did to fix his colossal betrayal and then told him to fuck all the way off and never grace my presence again.
His betrayal? He actively worked to oust her as CEO from her company, soliciting help from his douchebag brothers. In the beginning his plan was understandable because he felt she had trapped but he starts to see things for as they truly are pretty much immediately and he continues to plot her downfall because he’s a pathetic manchild.
There is mild OW drama. He’s dating someone when the whole arranged marriage thing happens. They weren’t in love or anything so it was easy to break off. OW is scattered throughout the book but he doesn’t want her back nor does she really want him but it’s a device to hurt the h because she thinks H loves her. ...more