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Review

4.5 Bastard vs Bitch stars

I have seen a lot of mixed responses about this book. Because of that, I took the unprecedented (for me) move, of skipping this book and starting this series with book 2. Now that I am a dedicated fan, I really wanted to go back and see where it all started, and I absolutely loved it!

Bennett and Chloe have a unique relationship and I think, having read the other books in the series, I had a good understanding of them and the way they are together, so I sort of new what to expect going in. And I loved seeing the way they came together.

Bennett Ryan is an Executive at his family’s highly successful media firm. He is ruthless, tough, demanding, and yes, a bastard. Chloe is his intern. Incredibly intelligent and career driven, she is determined to survive his assholery, get her MBA and get the hell away from him.

From the very beginning, they have a fantastic dynamic. They genuinely hate each other, and their interactions are spite filled, but they secretly crave each other, until one day the UST explodes in a lust-filled encounter in an empty boardroom. It’s hot, it’s rough and it’s dirty, but it opens a door that neither of them are able to close again, and then it’s all on.

“For some reason, the two of us arguing was like some sick form of foreplay.”

The sex it up anywhere and everywhere and it’s explosive! It’s pure, passion-filled hate sex, but they have a connection when they’re together that neither of them have experienced before. It pisses them both off, because neither of them really want to be with the other, they just can’t get enough of each other. There’s plenty of panty ripping, rushed encounters, secret hook ups, and lots of dirty talk, but they never hide their contempt for each other and they bitch and banter at each other the whole time. And it’s so freaking funny!

“Why do I love it when you talk to me like that? You’re such a prick.”

“The look in her eyes told me that under any other circumstances, I would either already be naked with her on top of me, or lying in a pool of my own blood on the rug.”

I found the whole thing so entertaining. But I also loved watching things slowly change between them. Their steamy encounters start to become more meaningful, they both start to realise that what they’re feeling is deeper than they ever anticipated it being, and feelings start to shift.

“So here were the facts: I felt possessive of her. Not in a romantic sort of way, but in a “hit her over the head, drag her off by the hair, and fuck her” way. Like she was my toy and I was keeping the other boys in the sandbox from playing with her. How sick was that? If she ever heard me admit to that, she would cut off my balls and feed them to me.”

The book is written in dual POV, which I loved. Seeing these two hardasses start to soften towards each other, and open up and admit to themselves what they were feeling was really gorgeous.

“Tell me what you want.” My voice is rough with need. “Tell me the things you want me to do to you.”
“I don’t know,” she whispered into my mouth. “I just want to see you come apart.”
I wanted to tell her that she was witnessing it now, and in all honesty she’d been watching it happen for weeks.”

But the road to a happy ending isn’t easy for two such stubborn and determined people who antagonise the shit out of each other, and they have their ups and downs to manage – especially with the nature of their forbidden boss/intern office romance. It’s a wild ride full of hot and furious fireworks, but it’s so damn entertaining!

“I don’t want to walk out that door and lose what we found in this room.”
His simple words rocked me. He wasn’t declaring, he wasn’t promising, but he said exactly what I’d needed to hear. We might not know what was happening, but we wouldn’t leave it unfinished.

I am so, so glad that I went back and read this book. I have enjoyed each of the books in this series, and I like that way that the authors mix the stories up to give us something different every time. Bennett and Chloe’s relationship is certainly different – and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Loved it – 4.5 stars.