Smitten by Books

ANYTHING HE WANTS
Author: Sara Fawkes
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Erotic Romance
Release Date: November 27, 2012
Digital Price: $9.99
Pages: 288

Lucy Delacourt’s temp position isn’t quite her dream job but it pays the bills. The highlight of her day is riding the elevator in the mornings with a handsome stranger. Tall, dark, and sexy as hell, Lucy knows he’s way out of her league, but a girl can look, right?

Everything changes the day the stranger seduces her. Completely out of character, she yields without a fight, but she has no idea her wanton acts with a man whose name she doesn’t know will change her life forever. Because the sexy stranger is none other than Jeremiah Hamilton, billionaire CEO of Hamilton Industries, and one taste isn’t nearly enough to satisfy his need. As the billionaire pulls Lucy deeper into his world of high stakes business deals and ruthless takeovers, he demands nothing less than her complete surrender. But even as enemies seek deadly revenge against him, she’ll discover that her greatest threat is falling for her fiercely guarded boss…and yielding to her own darkest needs.

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REVIEW

She doesn’t know why he’s interested in her. She only knows that the connection between them is electric….

Told from the first person perspective of a data entry temp, Lucy Delacourt, Anything He Wants is a crazy, erotic trip into the world of money and sexual submission on a billionaire scale. With a lot of sex, a bit of romance, plenty of toys, and lots of guns this story doesn’t have a dull moment.

First the heroine, who’s gone through some serious ups and downs, from losing her parents, quitting college, to attempting to eck out her own path through moving in with friend in Jersey. She’s tough, a bit vulnerable and always desperate for cash.  Her sexual encounters with a mysterious man, in the elevator at work and then the parking garage, are anything but mild and leave Lucy wondering if there merely a fantasy. That is until the next day she founds out sexual mystery man is named Jeremiah Hamilton, owner of the company she’s working for. All of sudden she’s getting laid off the temp work and signing a contract that will give her ungodly amounts of money to be Jeremiah’s assistance under the stipulation that she gives him: Anything He Wants.

Jeremiah is a rude, not very nice man who seems to only show any type of compassion or gentle feeling right before he’s about to have sex; Maybe a little bit of gentleness after sex, or when attempting to get some. Fawkes made me want him on a visual, sensual level. In reality I’d have hit him with a skillet and taken all the cash he had. Now he’s very dedicated to safety and keeping those in his employ safe, so he won points there.

My challenges with the story:

The erotic moments had a bit of purple prose. The word ‘weeping’ killed me since I don’t recollect this word with anything sexual. If I’m weeping then I’m in pain, not aroused. For me this was a buzz kill since the word popped up again, at least once, in almost every intimate scene. Fawkes did ‘up’ the stakes in the erotic scenes as the story went on, so that changed things a bit, though it was hard to understand the emotional pull when I only went through Lucy’s POV.

Villain’s and the life threat seemed forced. I didn’t feel the reason for the assassin going after Lucy. The where’s, the why’s, felt a bit fake including the brother’s involvement and subsequent obsession with Lucy after he meets her.

Finally Lucy’s not very smart for a college student or at least she doesn’t act like it. I felt a disconnect between her moments of super intelligence and the rest of her when she’s overly focused on being kept in someone’s house rather than focused on the fact that someone wants to kill her.

I can see the appeal and I’ll admit the sensual aspect and smexy moments were a big draw, but ultimately this book was a fair debut. I’ll give the sequel to this story a chance, since Fawkes ended with a big cliffhanger and I’m a sucker for knowing all the answers. This book does contain BDSM elements and may not be suitable for those affected by scenes of women being restrained.

Rating: 2.5 (Fair)
Heat Level: 6 (Erotic)

Reviewed by Landra