Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsHard pass on "Jim" and Emily's version of the classic one night stand.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 9, 2023
Several points turned me off to this storyline:
1) Jim screamed rich, successful, hot player; Emily's vibe was his opposite, yet she's flippant, bordering rude, to him, and blabbed about an 18-month dry spell since her ex, her real name, and other little tidbits of her life. Point is, she gave off vibes and behaviors that were contradictions on top of contradictions. Her being so young, full of bravado, ultimatums, and disrespect, from day one, for his obvious wealth, power, and position, made her character unbelievably unrealistic.
2) Emily wasn't likeable to me. Also, nothing in her history supports her becoming so self-assured (aside from her first day nerves), physically attractive enough to capture Jameson's attention, much less keep it (come on - he dogged after her, as though she was a young, reincarnated JLo or Angelina!), nor was there any explanation that excused her getting away with being flippant, rude, or disrespectful toward the CEO and his management-level brother by using their first names without their invitation to do so. Surreal, really, that Emily brazenly got away with acting like royalty or as though she was their equal, THE VERY FIRST DAY SHE (supposedly) MEETS JAMESON, THEN TRISTAN. Ugh. Just. Not. Believable.
3) The vague meet, hook-up, relationship Emily involves herself in with Robbie, the lost, hurting-in-more-ways-than-one former athlete who she leaves in California to move cross country to NYC, purportedly very shortly after her encounter with Jameson, for nearly twelve months. (Actually, I wasn't clear about the tenure of their relationship; only that their last meeting had been twelve months prior to their current one. I'd have to agree with the reviewer who thought involving either of or both of their exes in this story since neither had loved their ex-boyfriend/ex-fiancee.
My absolute favorite couple in this writer's repertoire would be the Drs. Stanton - now, their sexual scenes, encounters, relationship were the absolute epitome of a hot, spontaneous, mesmerizing and intensely raw, sexual connection, with a dramatic storyline that was very believable, given their gritty and tempestuous journey. T.L. Swan set her own bar high with that series, and in my opinion, this book's FMC didn't make it past realistic. I did think Jameson/Jim was sorta irresistible and yummy. One of this writer's greatest talents is her ability to graphically depict and bring to life her male characters (Huh - Epiphany! She isn't as expansive on details with the females as she is with her male sweeties!)Five
So. I clearly could not get past my annoyance and real dislike of Emily's mannerisms, behaviors and actions (yes, there are differences: the first would be the things she does out of habit all the time, without thinking; the second's tied to the last, as things she makes the choice to carry out, and actually do. She's a walking contradictory mess who tries to be practical and organized, but allows her fierce pride (why she has this stubborn hubris is a mystery, because she thinks Jameson's the most gorgeously perfect male specimen ever created, and he will not be satisfied with her forever. See? Contradictory.) to get in her head and out of her uncontrollable mouth that needed a ball-gag most of the book.
,
Two stars. I am really disappointed and think I've wasted money on thia series, which I purchased as pre-orders. Worse, I didn't read them right away, and kept one-clicking, pre-ordering.
