This week’s I Love Romance Blog review selection is Take My Heart by J.J. Sorel. Give me a book set in NYC with a relatable main character, a sexy bad boy, and a delightfully devious old woman any day.
Ava and Cassie start out this full-length novel and I was a fan of Ava from the start. Money is certainly a regular topic in the story, but whoever complained about having too much money? When Ava meets her boyfriend’s bad-boy brother for the first time, the heat in the room rises a few degrees at least.
While most (if not all) romances include a leading lady who is looking for an earth-shattering romance, none that I’ve read before had a foul mouthed, sophisticated older woman pulling the strings.
With a bad boy we can all fall in love with and extensive descriptions that leave little to the imagination, Bronson will surely be in my dreams for days.
For its well-written, fully realized characters, a great storyline and steamy hot romance – I give Take My Heart By J.J. Sorel 4 HEARTS!
Read for free with Kindle Unlimited.
Recommended Read
Book Info:
AVA – I’ve never been in love. Never felt that fire or been so desperate for a man’s touch that he’s all I can think about.
Then Bronson Lockhart walks into the party I’m at with my boyfriend, Justin. Everyone notices him. How could they not? He’s ridiculously good looking with that dark, brooding masculinity that inspires dirty thoughts of the sweetest kind…
Too bad he’s also Justin’s adopted brother.
And they clearly hate each other. Yet I can’t help but notice the way Bronson looks at me that sets my pulse thrumming. I can’t help wondering how his lips would feel on mine… My new boss: a wealthy, eccentric old woman hidden away in her opulent penthouse with only her secrets and me to keep her company, tells me to follow my heart by surrendering to my deepest desires rather than act sensibly.
But I barely know Bronson, even though he seems determined to change that.
As I submit to desire and fall into his buff arms, a battle brews between my head and heart: are those hungry kisses and caresses a con?
BRONSON – Locked up for a crime I didn’t commit, I vowed to do two things when I got out–find my birth parents and make my brother pay for setting me up. Now I’m out of jail and ready to set my plan for revenge in motion, starting with seducing his girlfriend. Not that it will be a chore.
Ava’s beauty stole my breath the moment I laid eyes on her. Sassy, intelligent, and sexy as hell, she’s got curves that fuel my darkest desires.
But what starts as revenge soon turns into something more. I want her…crave the sweet taste of her. Hell, who am I kidding? I’m falling for her. But as secrets about my adoption start to unravel, I discover a startling connection to Ava’s boss.
Was my meeting Ava a setup… or destiny?
Universal Reader link: https://books2read.com/u/mYrBJw
Here’s a peek at the book…
I enjoyed sitting out in the open air surrounded by trees and earthy, floral aromas. It was a clear night with a pearly moon that beamed a ripple onto the swimming pool.
Fanning away smoke that suddenly blew in my direction, I looked up and noticed Bronson, his back to me, puffing on a cigarette. He turned and, noticing me there, distanced himself.
My eyes were drawn to him in a way I wished they weren’t. Under the moonlight, he seemed like an almost mystical being bathed in shadow, especially when the smoke formed a halo around him.
He turned again and said, “Is the smoke annoying you?”
I put my fork down and ran my tongue around my lips to wash away the chocolate. “Um… no. It’s okay. I’m kind of used to it, anyway.”
A slight shift of the brow was his only response, and then he went back to smoking while looking up at the sky.
“I work for a lady who smokes a lot.”
He turned and faced me again. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to be left alone. He didn’t exactly give anything away with that remote stare.
“She makes sure she’s on the balcony, though.” As I babbled, a little voice within told me to stop, because he wasn’t exactly encouraging me with that gaze that bordered on blank, even though I detected a whisper of depth in there somewhere. He just kept sucking on his cigarette as if his life depended on it.
Perhaps it was the champagne and the sugar hit because I kept talking anyway. “I read for her, you see. She also makes me mix martinis.”
After a moment and one more drag on his cigarette, he said, “With an olive?” A hint of a smirk touched his lips and boy… he wore it well.
I remained transfixed. “Um… no. Hmm… that’s funny.” I chuckled in a goofy way. “I have to admit I’d never mixed a martini in my life. I hadn’t even tried one. Until now, that is. She makes me join her, which means I always leave with a smile.”
“She sounds interesting.”
“Agatha’s a cross between Miss Havisham and Greta Garbo.”
“Let me guess,” he responded, butting out his cigarette. “A lonely woman with revenge in her heart who slinks about demanding to be left alone.”
My eyes brightened. “Justin didn’t know what I was talking about when I described her as that earlier. I’m impressed.”
He shrugged. “Let’s just say I’ve had plenty of time to read.”
“Then you’re a rare being because these days not many people read. And to be honest, when I got this job being asked to do just that, reading from a book that I hold so close to my heart, I nearly broke out in a happy rash…. I…” I suddenly lost my chain of thought, mainly because he ran his tongue over his cushiony lips again.
“You were saying?” His voice had a deep, guttural resonance that suited him perfectly.
“Just that I feel blessed. It hasn’t been easy lately. I had the worst boss ever, and then I landed this job.”
“Do you always break out in a rash when you’re happy?” His lips twitched into a hint of a smile.
I giggled. “No. Sorry. I’ve had a bit of champagne, and I tend to say silly things.”
“Silly’s entertaining.”
His eyes burrowed deep into me again. And the best I could return was a cheesy tight smile. I looked down at my half-eaten cake, and strangely, my appetite had gone. “Do you have a favorite author?”
“Do you?” he asked.
“I think I love Emily Bronte.”
“Wuthering Heights,” he returned. I must have shown my surprise because he added, “Why that look? Am I giving off some kind of illiterate vibe?”
“No. Not at all,” I lied, because he was the last person I’d expected to know of Wuthering Heights. “I’m sorry. Most younger guys don’t really go for books like that.”
“I’m not like most younger guys.” His eyes darkened again. He’d gotten that right. There weren’t too many guys I’d met who read books, let alone looked like him.
He came toward me, and as I sat there staring up at him in suspense, for I wasn’t sure what he was about to do, my heart raced.
He leaned in, and placing his finger on my cheek, he wiped it gently.
“You had a brown mark there.” His eyes softened slightly. He put his finger in his mouth in a way that made me want to sigh. It was so suggestive. “Mm… chocolate. Nice,” he rasped as if he’d dipped his finger somewhere forbidden.
I wanted to speak but lost my voice due to that subtle cologne scent wafting up my nostrils, combined with his melty brown eyes boring into me.
“Um… Yeah, I…” As I stammered, seeking a coherent response, Justin and Marcus came out, holding cigars and laughing loudly.
Bronson turned to face them. The brothers’ obvious cold regard for one another made me think of the classic Cain and Abel relationship.
AUTHOR: J.J. Sorel
TITLE: Take My Heart
GENRE: steamy romantic suspense, some erotica
RELEASE DATE: January 8, 2019
PUBLISHER: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ISBN/ASIN: B07MFSZ6Z2
OUR RATING: ♥♥♥♥
REVIEWED BY: Kevin Ethan
Up Next Week: The Key of F by Jennifer Haskin
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