ORDER A COPY: Rush (THE BREATHLESS TRILOGY)
Publisher: Berkley Sensations
Publishing Date: February 5, 2013
Paperback: 416 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Gabe, Jace, and Ash: three of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the country. They’re accustomed to getting anything they want. Anything at all. For Gabe, it’s making one particular fantasy come true with a woman who was forbidden fruit. Now she’s ripe for the picking…
When Gabe Hamilton saw Mia Crestwell walk into the ballroom for his hotel’s grand opening, he knew he was going to hell for what he had planned. After all, Mia is his best friend’s little sister. Except she’s not so little anymore. And Gabe has waited a long time to act on his desires.
Gabe has starred in Mia’s fantasies more than once, ever since she was a teenager with a huge crush on her brother’s best friend. So what if Gabe’s fourteen years older? Mia knows he’s way out of her league, but her attraction has only grown stronger with time. She’s an adult now, and there’s no reason not to act on her most secret desires.
As Gabe pulls her into his provocative world, she realizes there’s a lot she doesn’t know about him or how exacting his demands can be. Their relationship is intense and obsessive, but as they cross the line from secret sexual odyssey to something deeper, their affair runs the risk of being exposed-and vulnerable to a betrayal far more intimate than either expected.
Gabe Hamilton, Jace Crestwell and Ash McIntyre have been friends forever and have built their corporate empire together. They have supported each other through Ash’s horrible family life, the death of Jace’s parents, and Gabe’s very scandalous and very public divorce. But Gabe is about to make a choice which could destroy the foundation of that friendship.
Gabe has lusted after Jace’s little sister for years now, but he was always quite aware of the age difference between them. Now Mia is 24 and quite the grown woman, and Gabe is willing to risk his friendship with Jace to finally have her in his bed.
Gabe is very demanding in his desires in the bedroom. After Gabe’s wife publically announced Gabe’s dominance and control over her to the world, Gabe now requires his lovers to sign an agreement. When they walk into his bedroom, they do it with eyes wide open and a very thorough understanding that they will be turning over control to Gabe completely.
When Gabe approaches Mia, his offer is two-fold, she will come to the office and become his assistant, giving her a chance to use her degree, but she must also agree to sign his contract and become his sexual partner. She must agree to be at his beck and call and do whatever he instructs and be open to try all his sexual preferences.
Gabe has not been the only one lusting after this affair. Mia has had her own sexual fantasies starring Gabe for years now. Can she agree to all Gabe’s terms in order to have a chance to see if the man lives up to the fantasy? Can she risk the relationship between her brother and Gabe if Jace ever found out about them?
THOUGHTS:
I usually don’t grab books out of the erotica section unless they have a very interest storyline. I have been avoiding the bondage type stories which are all the rage. Sweetheart, shifters don’t need to tie you up. If they say stay, you stay. 😉
I love Maya Bank’s KGI series and she writes very passionate characters so I thought if I was going to try this type of book, she was definitely the author I would go with. When I am reviewing a book I try not to read other reviews since I want to give my own impartial thoughts about the story, but considering my wariness about the subject, I did peek at a few reviews.
The one complaint I noted was the lack of “romance” and true connection between the characters. Keep in mind if you are looking for a sweet romance, there are hundreds of books out there under the genre of romance. This is found under erotica. But anyway the storyline is going to be a more sexual story so you need to keep that in mind. There is a real emotional detachment in Gabe. It is all about his fantasies and desires and how he uses the women who sign his contract to fulfil his lust.
Regardless of the sexual situations, some of which I was a little put off by-I’m not much for the tying up or the hitting/spanking and Gabe was pretty rough with Mia in that “I am so worked up over you” way-I finished the story because I was interested in seeing how it all worked out with Jace finding out, because you knew he would, and Gabe does eventually come to have real feelings for Mia and that does come through.
I have a copy of Book #2, Fever, which is Jace’s story and I look forward to learning more about Jace and his issues (it appears his likes to share his women with Ash).
As I expected from Maya Banks, there is definitely more to the storyline than just bondage and spankings but keep in mind if you are looking for romance that is just hearts and flowers, this is probably not for you.
I will still be very selective with my erotica selections, but Maya Banks does know how to write her characters with a lot of depth.
Received ARC from netgalley.com, courtesy of the publisher. Thank you.
Favorite Scene:
Gabe watched as Mia’s gaze swept the room, her brow furrowed in concentration as if she searched for someone. A server stopped and offered her wine, and she took one of the elegant, long-stemmed glasses but she didn’t put it to her mouth.
She was outfitted in a killer dress that hugged her in all the right places complete with fuck-me shoes and an upswept hairstyle that practically pleaded for a man’s hand to tug it down. Dark tendrils floated softly down her neck, drawing attention to the slender column that begged a man’s lips. He was damn tempted to stride across the room and wrap his coat around her so that no one else would see what he considered his. Jesus, and if that didn’t make this even more insane. She wasn’t his anything. But that too was going to change.
The off-the-shoulder cocktail dress drew attention to her breasts, and he damn sure didn’t want anyone else looking. And men were looking. Already she’d drawn the attention of others. They stared-like he did-their gazes predatory.
She wore a delicate chain with a diamond solitaire around her neck, and diamond studs adorned both ears. Both had been a gift from him a year earlier. For Christmas. It gave him satisfaction to see her wearing the things he’d bought for her tonight. For him, it was one more step in the inevitable direction of her being his.
She didn’t know it yet, but he’d waited long enough. He’d endured enough time of feeling like the worst sort of criminal for lusting after his best friend’s baby sister. When she’d turned twenty, it had marked a huge difference in the way he viewed her, but he’d been thirty-four and he knew she was still far too young for what he expected from her. And so he’d waited.
She was an obsession, and it made him uncomfortable to admit, but she was drug in his veins he had no desire to cure himself of. Now that she was twenty-four, the age difference didn’t seem so insurmountable. Or so he told himself. Jace would still go ballistic-after all, Mia would always be his baby sister-but Gabe was willing to take the risk to finally taste forbidden fruit.
Oh yes, he had plans for Mia. He had but to put them into action.
