Reviewer: Holly Losing Control by Jen Frederick
Publication Date: June 2nd 2014
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 300
Add It: Goodreads
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I’d do anything to keep my mother alive. Anything, including ask Ian Kerr for help. I don’t know much about him, except that he has more money than some small countries. And he’s willing to spend it on me. Just one catch: there’s a string attached, and not just the one I feel pulling me into his arms and his bed. There’s also the plan for revenge he wants my help with.
Every time he says my name, it makes my body shiver and my heart stutter. I know he’s going to wreck me, know there won’t be anything left of me but lust and sensation by the time he’s done with me, but even though I can see the heartbreak coming towards me like a train, ready to crash into me, I can’t get out of the way. I want what he makes me feel. Want what he’s offering.
This may have started out as something to save my mother, but now…now it’s about what he makes me feel. I’m in danger of losing everything that’s important. Worse? Ian's whispered words and hot caresses are making me believe that's okay.
This started out slow for me but really picked up about 1/3 of the way in. I think the blurb is a bit misleading. It makes it sound like the book is about a billionaire trying to buy a weak, virginal heroine. That isn’t the case. It isn’t even about exchanging help in a revenge plot for sex, or anything else.
Victoria (aka Tiny) is a bike courier whose sole purpose in life is to see her mother through a second bought of chemo. She’d beaten cancer several years ago, but it’s back. They’re still drowning in a mountain of debt from the first go-round, and Victoria will do anything she can to help her mother. Even ask her drug dealing step-brother for a job. It’s a last resort for her, but she doesn’t have a lot of options if she wants her mother to get the treatment she needs.
Her brother tells her he wants her for a “special” job, but won’t give her any additional details. He sends her to a warehouse to meet Ian Kerr, the man who has hired her brother for help with a special problem. Victoria is surprised to discover Ian Kerr is the man she met on the street a few days before – one she was inexplicably drawn to. He’s also a mutli-billionaire and, possibly, the answer to all her problems.
Only Ian doesn’t want her for his secret project – he wants her for himself. When she makes it clear she isn’t comfortable taking anything from him with nothing to give in exchange, he makes a deal with her; He’ll help her with her mother if she helps him with his project. She can’t say no because she and her mother need the help, but she wouldn’t say no even if she could. She’s drawn to Ian in a way she’s never been to anyone else.
There’s a great balance between strong and vulnerable in Tiny, which makes her easy to relate to. She has an amazing well of inner-strength, but the pressures of her mother’s illness are really weighing on her. She’s moving forward, doing what needs to be done, but she’s living in fear. Her pain and determination were equally strong inside her, which made her reaction to Ian so visceral. She wants someone to lean on, but she’s afraid if she lets go she’s going to break apart.
Ian recognizes right away that Tiny is hanging on by a thread. He wants to soothe every hurt, fix every problem, take away all her fear. He steps in right away to make things better for her; moving her and her mother to a new apartment, taking care of her debts, trying to get her out and about, to keep her mind off her mother’s illness. His frustration when Tiny refused to just take from him was both sweet and funny. Ian Kerr is not a man who is used to hearing no. I love that she challenged him on so many levels.
The revenge plot was kind of cheesy, as was Tiny’s step-brother, Malcolm. I understand why Ian wanted revenge, but the whole thing was kind of weak. This is a personal thing, but I also really struggled with Tiny’s name. Tiny just isn’t a sexy name for me. And really, she isn’t that tiny. She was described as being around 5’3″, which is about my size. I may not be tall, but I’m not tiny, either.
The next book is a continuation of the story, told from Ian’s point of view, but it this book doesn’t end of a cliffhanger. The suspense aspect of the story isn’t resolved, but it does have an HEA.
Despite the slow beginning, I really fell into the story. The development of Tiny and Ian’s relationship was so well done. I really loved the romance. There was quite a bit of depth to the story. Though there was some cheesy and predictable parts, overall I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for the next installment.
3.75 out of 5
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