Tangled
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Okay so now you've read the synopsis of the book and you think you've got a pretty clear idea of what happens. Two words, you're wrong!
If you've read even one of my previous reviews, you'll know I don't necessarily write 'professional' reviews. There are a few reasons behind that. 1) I...”
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Okay so now you've read the synopsis of the book and you think you've got a pretty clear idea of what happens. Two words, you're wrong!
If you've read even one of my previous reviews, you'll know I don't necessarily write 'professional' reviews. There are a few reasons behind that. 1) I am lousy at keeping things to a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs. 2) I write based on feelings. My feelings. People come back here to read what I thought and felt about a book.
Okay, so that being said, have you ever seen Man v Food? Yes? Then you should get what I'm about to say. No? then I'll be as expressive as I can. "Why?" I hear you ask. "What on earth has that got to do with a book review?" Well let me tell you... The guy on the show, Adam, he goes round America to find the biggest, strangest, out of the ordinary foods. On this one episode in particular, he attempted to eat a portion of 6 chicken wings coated in something they called "Suicide Hot Sauce" Let me tell you, one bite of one wing and his mouth was like a raging inferno. He couldn't eat more than one wing, they were that hot. See where I'm going with this yet? No, okay. Well here's my point, Tangled is the book and Drew Evans is the Suicide Hot Sauce. One bite and your mouth is on fire. The best kind of fire though. He's hot, salacious and delicious. He's the kind of book boyfriend you can't daren't walk away from.
Now then, shall I tell you my feelings on the book, or can't you handle the heat? 'Cause you know what they say "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" Well if you can't stand the heat, don't read my review! *giggles* I really hope you can stand a little fire... 'Cause if not, you really shouldn't read this book.
If I have you interested by now, then sit back and make yourself comfortable and listen to the rest.
Drew Evans is an achiever. Maybe even an over-achiever. He's used to winning. He's disarmingly handsome (some call it 'panty-droppingly' so) and he's egomaniacal, narcissistic, the list could go on. He makes multimillion-dollar business transactions every day of his life. He's eager, he's fabulous at his job -he isn't on the fast-track to success - he's already there! He has women queueing around the block. They flaunt themselves and fall at his feet in a bid to be the one-nighter he takes home.
He has very loyal friends and is definitely a mummy's boy. To say his Dad who runs the firm he works for is proud of him is the understatement of the century.
So why has Drew now become a recluse? He's shut himself in his very expensive home and does nothing but sit and ache and wallow in self-pity. He has the money to make someone play the world's smallest violin for him - but they don't. He hasn't been out of his apartment for seven full days. Misery? Depression? Flu? What is it exactly that Drew is suffering from? Well to find that out, the author takes us back four months.
Now I have to say at this point that whether it be in a book, a film or a television programme, I do not like 24 hours earlier etc. I am just not a fan. Not to the point of not wanting to read/watch. I just find them irritating. However... and you knew that was coming didn't you? Yes, however, I ran with it in this instance. I didn't know what the author had planned so I stayed tuned.
Allow me to introduce you to the other main player in this book. Katherine Brooks. She's educated, sophisticated, ambitious and not to mention abso-freakin-lutely stunning. She is unwilling to allow anyone or anything to get in the middle of her path to success. She's a very goal-oriented woman and if you add to the mix; feisty, sharp-witted, and a taker of no fools, you have yourself an amazing young woman.
Kate gets hired as the new associate for Drew's Dad's firm. You can imagine how Drew feels when he sees this beautiful woman in front of him. But he has a rule: Don't sh*t where you eat - don't sleep with anyone at work.
When Drew's Dad calls him into the office to talk about the next big investor they have coming in for their services, he knows his Dad will give the client to him. He's the firm's most successful investment banker after all. Plus, he's his Dad's right-hand man, so it's pretty much a given. Only it's not. Drew's Dad wants to see if Kate is made of the right stuff to take on the client. Now we all know how this is going to go down with Drew - like a lead balloon. He's worked for his Dad for years, always bring his A-game to the table, giving it his all. But Kate, the associate? She's only just started. Why should she get first dibs on such a client? Oh it's nothing to do with her being a woman, this is all to do with how driven to succeed Drew is and now he stands to lose to someone - something he's not at all used to. So Drew's Dad offers him the chance to prepare to take on this client and tells him that both he and Kate have to come up with a presentation. The best one gets the client. Simple. Or maybe not.
Can you tell where this is headed? Oh yes. They have to work TOGETHER. Now that goes down worse than a lead balloon. They are both very competitive people. Driven to succeed. Eager to bring their A-game to the table - the only trouble is, they are both too stubborn and constantly butt heads. It feels like a full-on war.
But eager to prove to the boss that she can compromise and work well as part of a team within the firm, Kate finally submits. She doesn't give in to Drew, no, she reaches compromises. It's all that could be done in their situation.
Drew still wants her something bad. He's willing to forget the rule about not sleeping with co-workers. Trouble is, he's all one-night stands. He never lets a woman into his bed on general principle that he has to sleep there afterwards. There's never a repeat performance. These girls count themselves lucky that Drew would look their way at all, so he's gone on about his life this way for as long as he can remember. He doesn't have girlfriends or feelings. He doesn't want marriage, babies, the whole enchilada. He wants more or less 'wham-bam-thank you ma'am' - this has never been an issue. Until now.
When Drew looks at Kate, he wants her. When he's alone in his office, he's thinking about her. She's the only woman that he knows (other than his sister) that can go toe to toe with him and not back down. She's a first-class, beautiful woman who won't put her hands in the air and say 'Okay Drew, you win' just to get out of arguing with him. No, she'd rather argue. She has fire in her veins. How could he not find her sexy?
But did I neglect to mention, she's also engaged! Okay so she's engaged to a complete and utter spineless moron. But she's spent over a decade with Billy, they're like a comfortable pair of slippers. Maybe a little worn but they hold together. Billy is a singer in a band. Drew sees him as worthless and pathetic. I have to say, I wholly agree with him. Billy isn't a successful, driven, eager young man who's beating heart pumps fire through his veins like Kate. You couldn't want for a more mismatched couple. But Kate won't cheat. She won't even admit she likes Drew, but if she did, she'd be unable to act on those feelings. She has morals.
Then just when it seems as though Drew is going to get everything he wants, his ego threatens to pull it all down around him like a pile of rubble. Everything he expertly crafted like a well-built house of cards is going to topple and what can he do except wait for the inevitable and watch it fall?
Will Drew be able to admit that for the first time in his life he has real feelings for a woman, that she's not just some one-time thing, never to be repeated? Will he bare his soul and what will happen if he does?
Emma Chase has brought the best male POV book I have ever read to the table and let me tell you this will take some beating. I don't even know if her own sequel can live up to the standard of this book. All I can say is, I damn well hope it can. I want to experience more of the same raw and edgy, yet tender and passionate feelings that this book made me go through.
In all honesty, this book was like a riding a very tumultuous roller coaster with a blindfold on. You don't know what's coming, all you know is what you feel. Sometimes you feel high like you're on top of the world, other times you feel like your stomach has been upturned - you know the feeling I mean - and when you get off the roller coaster, you don't know whether to laugh, cry, or get on the damn thing again.
I won't tell lies and I won't sugar-coat things either. Drew is no angel. There's a reference made within the book about there being 3 varieties of the male species, boys, guys and men. I won't tell you the definitions of each, suffice to say, Drew is a guy who grows and becomes the man that you as the reader want him to be.
His story makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me feel like punching the snot out of Drew... see, told you I wouldn't lie. There's a such a range of emotions to be felt within these pages, ranging from but not limited to lust, arousal, tenderness, passion, happiness, elation, regret, betrayal and deep-seated hurt.
I am in awe of Emma Chase right now. I wish I had the guts to try and write in this genre never mind as brilliantly as this is written. If I was rating her as an author, on a scale of 1-10, she'd be off the scale at about a 12. As for rating this book, I can hardly bear to rate it a mere 5 because it deserves more. Honestly, I implore you to go and purchase this book right this minute. (But if you are one of the few who won't like it then please don't blame it on me as this is obviously only my personal opinion - I don't have mind-meld powers to make you go out and do my bidding. Oh how I wish I did *evil laugh*)
This definitely isn't your Mills and Boon romance, nor is it pornographic. It is simply an eloquently written book that happens to contains some brilliantly written sex-scenes. Some of you may think that it was reading Fifty Shades of Grey that got me into reading the genre and let me tell you, you'd be wrong. Yes I read and loved Fifty Shades but I was reading smutty books well before EL James published those. I guess if I'm being honest though, I feel I can be more open in telling people that I am reading something saucy. That fact probably is down to EL James and I think a lot of us can thank her for that.
I personally thank Emma for writing from Drew's POV not Kate's. Though I wouldn't mind book #2, Twisted, being from her POV. I think it's amazing that as a woman, she basically wrote something akin to a diary of a man (though we know men don't write diaries... do they?) I also feel she's imparted some vital information. This book is entertaining and informative. You can't get much better than that. Which bits are the vital pearls of wisdom? Don't ask me, find out for yourself.
Okay so it's time for me to go now. I've kept y'all here far too long and I need my bed anyhow. I hope you enjoyed my review and I hope you enjoy the book.”
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