3.5 Stars
I've always been a fan of this author's books (more or less). She has an easy way to her writing that pulls you in right from the start. It was also a relatively short book, so the plot moved along at a good clip. The plot itself was intriguing. An enemy to lovers type of tale. Although, we are still mostly in the enemies part by end of part one. (lol) Still the couple had some decent chemistry, which makes me excited to see where the story goes in the book two.
I was a little surprised by the lack of heat in this book. I am used to this author's books being sizzling and dirty, but this one was much tamer in that department. However, I am sure the “sizzling” is coming. There was no OW or OM drama. I didn't find this particularly angsty, but there are a lot of acrimonious exchanges between these two.
Which leads me to the main issue I had with this book, and that was Easton himself. I'll admit it...I didn't like him. I didn't quite understand why he blamed Charlotte for something her father did. And the reason he was angry with Charlotte (a perceived slight) was pretty lame (IMO). Considering he saw what happened to her when she was a girl and stood up to her father, it seemed a little over the top to have that much anger towards her. Her father, ya, fine...I got that part, but the way her treated Charlotte through the whole book rubbed me the wrong way. Now, Charlotte herself I LOVED. She didn't bow down (most of the time) and I loved that about her. I was cheering her on at the end of this one and I can't wait to see what she gets up to in the conclusion.
So a bit of a mixed bag with this one. Easton (and his behavior) was the main issue for me, and I am hoping we get a (little) softer Easton in book two to smooth out some of his rough edges. I want to feel that he has some feelings for Charlotte and it isn't all about revenge and control. So we'll see...fingers crossed and all that.
