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Blurb
If he hates me for what happened 8 years ago, just imagine how he feels now…
Do I feel bad for accidentally hooking up with the one who broke my heart?
… No.
Should I feel bad about blackmailing him for a job?
… Probably.
But to be fair, I need the money.
Life’s kind to some people.
Exhibit A: Devon Leo
Hot, brooding loner in high school → hot, brooding, billionaire tech tycoon who’s an international mans!ut.
Exhibit Me: Skylar Kay
Your everyday average nobody → college dropout, moonlighting stripper nobody who’s drowning in debt.
The least he can do for breaking my heart is give me a job.
Yeah, the one I blackmailed him for.
I just didn’t think the job was for a position under him.
I’ll have to be careful not to get under him. Again.
Because this time, his reputation isn’t just on the line.
My heart is.
Review
3.5 stars!
An enemies-to-lovers/second-chance-romance that is intense, dramatic, fun and super sexy. This is a looooong read (579 pages on kindle), but a satisfying one, and I really enjoyed losing myself in Devon and Skylar’s insane chemistry and rollercoaster relationship.
Skylar Kay has had a rough time and is struggling to get by. She’s just lost her day job, and her night job as a stripper isn’t providing enough income to cover her family’s debt and medical bills. A night out is just what she needs. But when a flirtation in a club leads to a wildly hot, intense and passionate hook-up with a masked stranger, she gets the shock of her life when the mask comes off and she realises she’s just been with with her high school crush, the boy who broke her heart and the one that got away, Devon Leo.
Devon was the school loner who went on to become a tech billionaire and celebrity playboy. Skylar has watched him in the tabloids for years, and has fantasised about him since they parted ways eight years ago. And when she learns that she has something of his, she decides to use their past to help her and she blackmails him for a job in his company.
We already met. We already kissed, touched, fucked.
But it feels like we’re meeting for the first time all over again.
Properly … Eight years later.
My body temperature goes up just from the sheer force of my blood pumping furiously through my veins.
I want her for the first time all over again.
Devon’s night with Skylar was a huge mistake, but it was also some of the hottest sex of his life, and he can’t stop thinking about her. When she comes to work at his company and is placed in the role as the PA he doesn’t want, it puts the two of them on a collision course of epic proportions as years of pent-up anger, betrayal, longing and lust all come barrelling out, with the two of them trying their hardest to stay away from each other and protect their hearts in the middle of the madness.
She brings out raging, gut–wrenching emotions out of me that I don’t understand. I can’t bear her presence anywhere near me, and sometimes, knowing she’s right outside my office door pisses me off like nothing else.
And on the other hand, every fiber of my being can’t stand not having her in sight. I can’t keep my eyes off her. I have to fight myself to keep from touching her.
She’s never far enough or close enough. I’m both ends of the magnet when it comes to the force that is Skylar.
It’s a great set-up, and the enemies-to-lovers/second-chance-romance aspects of the book are tied together really well to create an intense read with chemistry that drips off the page.
There’s more than sexual tension between us. There’s potential.
As long as this book was, I did appreciate the slow burn. I loved the lusty glances and the silent longing which built the sexual tension and created fantastic chemistry, so that by the time Devon and Skylar finally acted on it, I was so ready for them to throw themselves at each other… and that’s exactly what they did.
This book is so freaking hot. It’s on the erotica end of the romance scale, and there is lots of descriptive steamy time as Devon and Skylar give in to their insane passion for each other. But there is also a strong emotional connection that deepens throughout the book, and watching the characters give into that gives us some great development for them.
I still want her. I’ll still want her years from now. I think. Who really fucking knows? But if I think about the future, she’s the only one I wouldn’t hesitate exploring that possibility with.
And she’s the only one who’s ever made me feel that way.
I have a weakness for broody, a-hole heroes (especially when they end up falling really hard), and Devon is a wonderfully complex character that you cannot help but love. He is closed off, but he feels deeply, and he has a fantastically dry sense of humour that comes out only occasionally, which makes every smirk and wisecrack so much fun. His character progression is closely tied to the development of the relationship, and it’s really well done. Skylar was a bit of a mixed bag for me – she had moments of showing great strength, but then she flipped and was the complete opposite – I feel like parts of her story wasn’t really explained or finished off as well as they could have been, but for the most part she was a great heroine, and I really enjoyed her. These two really do experience extremes with each other, but I loved watching them go through it all, experiencing all of the feels and finding their groove together.
The mystery of their past and how they both ended up so broken hearted is hinted at throughout the book, but the reveal is left to the dramatic ending, tying in to what is going on between them in the present. There’s a bit of drama, but it’s handled well and the book ends in a really great place.
There’s a great bunch of side characters, and I particularly loved the interplay between Devon and his colleagues, who are so much fun. His intriguing best friend and business partner, Eli, is getting the next book in the series, and I’m keen to explore him in a bit more detail.
This was a really solid read. My first by this author, and I really like the way she writes. This is book #2 in the Only You series, but it absolutely reads as a standalone, so feel free to dive right in!
I really enjoyed it – 3.5 stars.
An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
About Vic Tyler
Vic Tyler is a new author of contemporary romance novels.
She has a tinkering sense of wanderlust and loves to travel to new places, explore new cultures, and most importantly, eat delicious new food (yummm). Her dreams include finally having nice handwriting, owning a collection of onesies, and making a croquembouche.
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