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Review

Oh, how I loved being back with the Ross siblings! This book features Gabriella, the (never before mentioned) older sister to Evan and Brian, and we meet her on the day of her wedding, where she is heartbreakingly and humiliatingly left at the altar.

36 year old Gabby is a planner, and months later as she is still recovering from “the wedding that wasn’t”, and trying to come to terms with the fact that that life she wanted, the life she had planned for herself, isn’t going to happen. And instead – “living in the moment had become her thing. Fuck the future”. She starts reclaiming her life by getting a tattoo – a phoenix rising from the ashes, and who better to “fuck the future” with than her smoking hot tattoo artist, Ian – gorgeous, built, inked, sweet, and a younger man no less! (He’s 28). Perfect for a temporary fling.

Ian is relatively new to Dermamania, the tattoo parlour owned by Brian Ross, and is the only one brave enough to ink the skin Brian’s older sister. Gabby is the hottest woman he has ever met, but he considers her way out of his league… and the boss’s sister as well. So when she tracks him down at a bar later that night, he tries to resist her very obvious seduction, but the man is only human.

Gone was the woman of five hours ago. In her place was…Satan. He stared at her a moment, uncomprehending, fighting his way back from whatever haze of blind lust she was dragging him to. What the fuck was this?

“You never mix business with pleasure,” she supplied. “Got it.”
The way she purred that sentence in between sips of her drink, focusing on the “pleasure”…Oh goddamn, he wanted to mix it. He wanted to mix it hard.

And so they share one steaming hot night together. An encounter that leaves them both changed forever and sets in motion one sensationally hot and swoony love story.

OMG I loved this book! Gabby and Ian are fantastic together, and I loved the way their story unfolded. The emotion between them is beautiful, and I loved that we got to see every little detail of them together. Of course there is lots of sex, but there is also fun teasing, some gorgeously sweet moments and a whole heap of swoon!

“I’d give you any fucking thing you wanted, if it was in my power.”
“Everything I want right now is well within your power, Ian.”

And the best part about it is – they are so functional (for the most part… more of that later). They both go into their night together knowing what to expect, but they can’t deny the intense connection that they shared, and they’re open and honest about what they’re feeling, and there are no games. It was so refreshing to read!

“Pardon me for saying so, Ian, but you are the hottest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. It just seems unfair and cruel of me to not let you know that.”
He barked with laughter. “Well, it seems unfair and cruel of me to not let you know that I think you ruined me for all others.”

And of course, there is lots and lots of hot and explicit sexy time! Cherrie Lynn certainly knows how to write a love scene, and the books in this series have provided some epically hot moments. This one certainly doesn’t disappoint!

And OMG, I love Ian! Clearly he can rock a mattress (among other things), and he likes his dirty talk. He is a sensational mix of sexy, funny, beautifully tender, and swoony as all hell! And the way he loves Gabby is just gorgeous.

“You’re the phoenix rising from the ashes. I’m honoured I could be the one to let you express that.” He grinned. “In more ways than one.”

But about that stupid… *sigh*…

Spoiler

Gabby’s family are not happy with the blossoming relationship of their only daughter, and although it shouldn’t, it does cause problems between them .

I get that there has to be some sort of conflict in a story, but this one just seemed really lame, and God, I was annoyed. At both of them actually. It’s clear that Ian’s heart is in the right place, but some of his decisions left me shaking my head. And although for most of the book, I really liked Gabby, I lost a lot of respect for her during this whole part of the book – for a lot of reasons. Honestly, they just both needed a smack! It didn’t take away my overall enjoyment of the story though, and I was happy with the resolution, and the HEA left me grinning like an idiot.

I am happy to say that there is a fair bit of Brian and Candace in this book, and their story continues along nicely. Ghost makes a few hilarious appearances, ant there is also a fair bit of Kelsey and Evan, as Gabby and Kelsey are great friends, and I enjoyed getting to see them all again – particularly the boys in ‘protective brother’ mode.

I love this series! I’m hoping that Cherrie Lynn can drag up some other long-lost family member, or friend of the family just so that we can get more. There is an epilogue, but there’s one little part of a storyline left undone which leads me to hope that we may get something at a later date to finish the whole thing off.

But in the meantime, I am content to dream about Evan, Brian, Ghost and Ian and all of their swoony hotness.