I rounded this up. If there were half and quarter stars, this would be a 2.75(ish).I liked the book. I Did. It was a quick read and since I like the author, it was worth the time. However, she's written better. (Jane's Gift was awesome and Worth the Scandal was better than this one, in my opinion.) She created a great hero in Mason. I didn't really like Blake though. And here is why. She was a brat, a rich brat in fact who wouldn't tell the people in her life who treated her like crap to go to hell. I can't get passed that. Not to mention, one minute she was all "I love Mason" and the next she was icy. One minute she was stripping for him, the next she was standoffish. And the way she hid in the car, I was like, "Oh hell no, you are NOT cowering in that F-ing car. Get your skinny butt out of that car RIGHT NOW!" Yeah, I was NOT happy when they happened. Not.At.All.
Mason was hot, cool and sexy. The one problem I had with him though was how he seemed to hold back a part of himself during sex because he was worried about how Blake would react. He was an clearly an alpha and at times his inner monologues made it sound like he was also a bit of a Dom, but he held back. Denying that part of his character I didn't think was fair to him, nor was it honest. And that leads me to the next issue: the inner thoughts of Blake and Mason. There was a bit too much of it. I found myself skimming it because it was getting under my skin. I wanted to see more of the two talking, and erm, maybe doing other things...not talking.
One other issue I had with the book was the way her parents weren't consistent. One minute they treated her like crap and the next her dad was giving her his blessing. I also got frustrated that this woman, who was in her mid to late twenties, couldn't stand up to them. She kept saying she wanted to be independent, stand on her own, etc. but yet she did everything they told her. It seriously pissed me off. And staying away from the man she supposedly loved after what happened, after what he did, because she was told to?! Let me tell you, there has never been a time I wanted to throttle a heroine more. And I was seriously wishing Mason was in love with someone else, someone way more deserving. I'd have told them where to stick it and given him the TLC he needed and F the consequences about what mom and dad would think.
Anyways, even with my dislike of the heroine it was a decent read. I have read other books by this author and will continue to do so, maybe even in this series. And the sex scenes were, as usual for Karen Erickson, awesome! ;)
