Decadent Dreams

I adored this book, and so much more than I expected to. I was hooked very early on. I was invested in the characters and their story. I wanted to know what was going to happen. Although this starts as an office romance it's so much more than that. In fact, only the first portion of the book is set in the office. It's a contemporary romance with a twist. It has moments of suspense that will have you holding your breath. You'll cheer and you'll cry. It really is the complete package. Nicole Garcia really blew me away with this book, she writes characters that you can't help but become invested in and a storyline that will keep you on your toes. This book is so incredibly well written, I cannot wait to read more.

When I started listening and was like, yeah, an office romance, let's see how this is going to play out. It was cute, Nico was grumpy and Phoenix didn't take his crap, I just knew I was going to love it. And then things escalated, something happens to Phoenix that turns the story completely upside down and back to front and it's perfect. That's when you see a different side to Nico and let me tell you, he is swoon-worthy. I really didn't anticipate the suspense aspect of this book, it threw me for a loop and it was great, I love that we didn't know, I mean, I guessed who it was, the clues were there, but the reasoning, that's what I wanted to know and I liked how it was more a backdrop to the story and not the main focus, it was very clever.

Nico is such complex character, I honestly didn't know whether to love him or curse him, I found myself doing both and often. He was a grumpy arse that needed to learn some manners, but then he was a sweetheart that I couldn't help but swoon over. He has secrets that he's kept hidden and they're eating away at him, even though he doesn't realise it. It's not until Phe becomes a part of his life that he starts to cope. He's built such a wall around his heart that he tends to overreact and underthink things...nobody can be perfect! His jealousy is quite endearing as is his ability to apologise when he knows he's in the wrong.
Phoenix, I just adored her. I could relate to her on so many levels. She was strong, sweet, smart and vulnerable. She didn't take any crap. Her interactions with both Nico's nana and father was sweet and really showed what a kind-hearted person she is and why it was so easy for Nico to fall for her. And for his family to adopt her as their own. She puts up with a lot from Nico but she understands he has those walls built high, she's not afraid to scale them and wear him down. Her character experiences a lot in this book and not all of it is good, but she comes out stronger because of it. She's a rock star and I love her!

The supporting characters were a welcome addition; Gio, Josh, and Derrick each was very different but brought so much to the story and the dynamics of Nico and Phe's relationship. I loved them and the interactions, I'd love to read/ listen to more about them. Nana, nana was a freaking star and her health issues were handled beautifully, it's a horrid disease and it was handled sensitively. Which was lovely to see.

The chemistry between Nico and Phe is crazy. You just know they're meant to be together and want to bang their heads together at times. Some of the sex scenes fade to black, which I liked, it saved the full-blown sex scenes for when they were necessary and I really liked that about this book. It didn't use sex as a filler to make the book longer or to shock when it was called for, the sex was there... and let me tell you, it was hot and written incredibly well. You won't want to be in a public place.