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ISBN-13: 978-
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Genre: New Adult
Heat Level: Sensual
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Achievement Unlocked: Geek Virgin
When Mia Strong, proud geek-girl and popular gaming blogger, auctions off her virginity online, she knows she’ll make waves. But what she will not be making is a love connection. Her rules are set in stone: One night. No further contact.
It’s a desperate step, but it’s the only way she can go to medical school and pay her mother’s mounting hospital bills.
Difficulty Level: Millionaire CEO
Adam Drake, the enigmatic auction winner, is a software prodigy who made his first million at seventeen. Now, in his mid-twenties, he’s sexy, driven and–as CEO of his own gaming company–he’s used to making the rules. Before Mia knows what’s happening, he’s found the loophole in the rules of her auction. Every stipulation she’s made to protect her heart gets tossed by the wayside.
She can’t tell if he’s playing her…or if he’s playing for keeps.
Review
The premise of this book hooked me from the start. I wanted to read it before I knew the story behind it. What’s the story you ask? This book went up for auction but at the end of the day, Brenna Aubrey decided to self-publish it.
In reading At Any Price, I can clearly see why it went up to auction. It’s a great read, great writing and even though I knew going in that it was the first of three books featuring Mia and Adam, the ending left me completely satisfied and eager to read the next book.
Long story short, Mia auctions off her virginity online at the age of twenty-two. She needs money. Her mother has cancer and needs money for treatment as well as to keep the ranch she owns and manages. Mia herself needs money to pay for medical school. She has this Virgin’s Manifesto she posts on her Girl Geek blog (gaming blog) and the comparison she draws to how women’s virtue have sort of always been given away to the highest bidder is a very very good one. After reading it, I totally got the ‘logical’ reason she decided to auction her virginity off and get something for herself in return.
Now of course we know the winner of this big is the hero, who is Adam Drake, a software prodigy who, in his mid-twenties, is the CEO of his own gaming company. Why on earth does this sexy, hot, driven young man have to resort to buying Mia’s virginity online? Yes, there is a very good reason and most readers will pick up on this pretty soon in the book but that knowledge in no way spoils the journey we take with them.
Adam initially rubs Mia the wrong way. So much so, she’s ready to take Mr. Runner-up. Heath, her good friend and fellow gamer, tries to convince her to stick with Adam and eventually she does. What begins between Mia and Adam is this a friendship and a powerful attraction. There’s no wham bam and thank you ma’am devirginization. And it’s the building of this relationship between them that is the heart of the book. It’s sexy, it’s emotional and Adam such a great hero. There are plenty of times that Mia could have just tossed in the towel and called the whole thing off. She doesn’t. And we know why. Once the deed is done, Adam would be out of her life.
In the end, this whole auction thing is turned on its head. There is nothing unsavory about it. It’s two young people falling in love. Readers won’t be surprised at the revelation at the end as I said before, but that’s not what drives this love story. And thank goodness, we get a lovely HFN and I will definitely tune in to books 2 and 3 in the quest of their final HEA.
Great, eye-catching premise and a great read. I would definitely recommend Brenna’s debut and she's now on my author's-to-watch list.
Reviewed by Beverley