Smitten by Books

I hate him… 

I hate that I fell in love with him, I hate that he didn’t love me back, and I hate the fact that I just made a life-altering decision just so I could get the hell away from him. 

He’d always said that he was unchangeable, heartless, and cold… 

I really should’ve believed him… 

Books 1 and 2 in the 3-part serial:

    

You know you’re in deep, that you have it really really bad when you’re refreshing an author’s B&N, Apple, Kobo, Google Plus and Amazon page hours before her book is set to release.  But that’s the position I found myself in as I was waiting impatiently (which is really a mild understatement of how I was truly feeling) for the release of final part of Whitney Gracia William’s three-part serial, Reasonable Doubt.

OMG, I loved this book. ALL OF IT. It’s now my favourite book of the year, and it will take a bulldozer to remove it from that top spot. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve reread it since last Saturday.

Before I go on, I’m going to warn those offended by cursing that the F-word will be used in this review as I will be quoting parts of the book.

Let’s start with the thing that caught my attention. Yep, the first sentence of the blurb for Reasonable Doubt 1.

My cock has an appetite.

A huge and very particular appetite: Blonde, curvy, and preferably not a fucking liar…(Although, that’s a story for another day.)

Okay, I’ll admit, I was thrown. What the hell was this? Did I even want to read on? This isn’t the kind of book that would usually draw me in, but I found myself drawn. I read the rest of the blurb. Based on that and some ringing endorsements of it, I decided to give it a try. I devoured it in one sitting. Actually, I devoured part 1 AND 2 in one sitting, and was chomping at the bit waiting for part 3 to be released in two days.

Now I’m going to tell you what I loved about this serial. The story, the characters, the humor, the soup-thick sexual tension  between Andrew and Aubrey and the sizzling hot sex.

Andrew Hamilton is a man who doesn’t mince words. He knows what he wants and he makes no bones about going out and getting it. In Reasonable Doubt he wants his online, telephone friend “Alyssa”. They met on LawyerChat, which is an exclusive social network. Everyone on the board is supposed to be a lawyer and Andrew answers a “Need Some Advice” message from Alyssa. Well that leads to a personal friendship—daily emails and then telephone calls. Of course, Andrew, the player he is—wants to take the relationship further.

“I’m tired of only being able to talk to you on the phone, Alyssa…”

“I need to see you…” His voice was strained. “I need to fuck you…”

I have to say, I loved his frankness. He actually reminds me of Drew Evans from Tangled by Emma Chase. There’s a coarseness about him I found  absolutely refreshing. It’s nice to read about a hero who doesn’t say all the “PC” stuff. He’s definitely not a poet or totally sensitive to the heroines sensibilities. For me, that’s something that can get old and become a bit too over-the-top. His motto is: One dinner. One night. No repeats. This works for him until…Alyssa.

Alyssa isn’t who she pretends to be and breaks Andrew’s cardinal rule about lying. Her real name is Aubrey Everhart and she’s not exactly a lawyer. But she’s a wonderful character. I loved her because I didn’t find myself getting annoyed with her. More importantly, I was able to relate to her. She’s in law school because of her parents but her real dream is to be a ballet dancer. I love the way she handles Andrew. Her comebacks are on par with his when it comes to their email sparring.

“We haven’t talked about you getting laid in quite a while, and that concerns me. Greatly. Like, I’ve CRIED about your lack of pussy… I’m very sorry that so many women have sent you fraudulent pictures and given you a severe case of blue balls.”

I died laughing reading these email exchanges.

Part One ends on a cliffhanger. The kind that makes your eyes pop and all that good stuff. At the end of the second part, I literally wanted to strangle Andrew. I wanted him to GROVEL. I wanted to see him CRAWL.

Whitney must have heard me because I fell back in love with him in the final part. To me, he proved himself; proved he was worthy of Audrey’s love. But boy did I love some of the stuff he went through to get back in her good graces. Uncertainty. A healthy dose of jealousy. Yeah, it’s all good.

All in all, this is a series not to be missed. As I said above, if you’re faint-hearted when it comes to cursing and not a fan of a hero whose thoughts are just as dirty as his mouth, you probably won’t love this series like I do. If you’re like me, and you love a thoroughly riveting, raw, emotional and well-written story, you need to get this series now. Make this your Labor Day treat.

Oh, and you’re welcome.

I’m giving away the whole series to 2 lucky commenters. Happy Labor Day from me. 😉

Reviewed by Beverley

Heat Level: Scorching
Rating: 5 Awesome Stars

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