About twice a year I get in the mood for some serious romance. And by that I do not mean the sweet kind - I mean the trashy, explicitly sex-infused, not the world's best writing sort of romance. Some people cuddle up with cozy mystery stories when they get in this mood...I go for something a little different. I chose this series because I have read other books by Christina Lauren that have been legitimately good contemporary romance. The type of romance that, while still getting you a little weak in the knees, is also ok to read in public (i.e. - Love and Other Words). I can say for sure that this comes nowhere close to LaOW in quality. And, since this came first, I can say with complete confidence that this pair have absolutely grown as authors. Regardless, this was, in fact, exactly what I needed right now. A little raucous love-making with a thin background plot and the beginnings of a relationship that are most definitely not very healthy. I did, in fact, almost stop reading after the first couple chapters because I was worried that the alpha male thing here was seriously just too much/the woman too "weak." But it was fast going so I decided to push through. And I do have to say that things got better. The guy learned some lessons and the girl grew a little bit of a backbone. Although it's definitely not anything that could be considered "feminist," by any stretch of the imagination, and the writing/dialogue did get cringe-worthy at some points, this book did fit the quick (I read it in one sitting), steamy, guilty pleasure unrealistic fantasy-inducing type book I was looking for. It's not high literature....but I read a lot of that and sometimes I need a break. Plus, I did like a few small things, like the back and forth POV between both the guy and girl - two-sided insecurity is much better than one-sided insecurity. If you go in with the right mind-set, this fills the "I need a palate-cleanser" hole.