brgntteva's Reviews (939)

First things first: There’s a major point in He’s a brute that you won’t find anywhere. The heroine’s “phisicality” (I’m not going into specifics, because the way it’s thrown at the reader is actually clever, imho, glimpsed but not revealed until the hero finds out) is something I’ll praise forever, because I’ve never seen it in any romance. It means being inclusive, diverse, and open-minded all in one place, and I’m all for it.
⚽️
Step back. Nairne is an MIT researcher, feisty, no-nonsense kind of woman, former
Footballer, but in Europe where football actually means something, with a heavy past. Zed is her temporary boss, soccer player, a Mafia prince and a real Dom.
🍓
Now, being Italian, I was pleasantly stunned by the amount of Italian words (some were not exactly right in the structure, but a few and I didn’t mind), but mainly I couldn’t really buy the Mafia stuff, it looked more like a Soprano episode than real.
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I loved their banter, the way Nairne thinks and speaks, all technical and scientific, how resilient and outspoken she is, and ready to get her pleasure no matter what. Although it’s very much steamy, for some reason the relationship between these 2 felt a bit cold. Maybe because they’re both uptight, and don’t give in to emotions easily, but i couldn’t really connect.
🍓
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Characters: ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Story: 🇮🇹🇺🇸
Trope: enemies to lovers
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (because of Nairne mainly)

My first CLo didn't disappoint. This must be the mother of all enemies to lovers office romance out there. The banter was hilarious, steam level on fire from the very first chapter (🔥🔥🔥🔥), and the two characters sort of grew while exchanging fluids and insults.

I must confess towards the half the story got slightly repetitive, and that's the main reason why this is not a 5 stars for me.

I'm pretty sure I'll go on reading the series, though, and I'll miss Mr Ryan and Miss Mills for a while

As much as the cover might suggest, this is not just a steamy romance, in fact the main character is not Lacey or Stian/Mr Blomqvist, it’s anorexia. And this was a nice surprise.

I was “slightly” put off at first because of the “daddy” issue. Freak control is about a mild BDSM relation, with 15 year age gap, and while I’m all for “Sir” and spanking or chokers, I just could not deal with “daddy” endearments, especially in Dirty Talk + Daddy.

BUT I have never seen anorexia, especially the aftermath of it, its consequences on relations in a romance before. I might have read things about the control of the body, how starving makes you feel, but I’d never read what it means on all other aspects of life, or in your mind. So, don’t be fooled by the easy cover, this is a dark tough one.

That said, I really liked how Mr Blomqvist fell for the little Lacey, even though I couldn’t really understand why, I LOVED all mythology references, and I LOVED that Lacey was Greek and Mr Blomkvist was basically a Viking from Sweden, I loved how his endearing words were Swedish. You don’t get to see much international/cultural background in US romance, and it’s refreshing and inspiring. So despite the Daddy stuff, I’m going to read Brianna Hale again

So my love for Charlotte Stein knows no bounds. From the very first romance I read to this one, I just like her style endlessly.
First it’s so damn real. The girl is not a funny character drawn out of a comicbook, not a model, nor a hyper-fascinating pretending to be shy kind of girl, she’s just a girl whom I could meet at the end of an alley in Britain (because of course we’re in Britain). She wears All star, looks like a punk, is soft, probably curvy, and most of all is weird! She says stuff like

God, I wish I knew how to be normal

Not weird as in excessively weird, or pantomime weird, but weird as a person who’s more into books than people kind of weird, and that’s why she’s so damn relatable! And none is rich, for god’s sake, no one. Not her, not him. No one.
Her family is debatable, she’s kind of poor with not many ambitions, she’s fucking normal.

Now the hero on the other hand is totally unreal but I always do love them anyway! He’s sweet and rough and huge and werewolf-like, and thoughtful, considerate, and a goddamn booklover, he works and lives in a bookshop, and he’s POOR, I must say it again, really, he is poor. And they smoke pot (like most people, at least in Europe, at least in my circle). And says things like:

Maybe normal is a little overrated
Or
I think the problem is that we live our lives unable to see ourselves through someone else’s eyes

And they mention Dario Argento! And The neverending story for christ’s sake! And they are goddamn weird, and ironic, and with a real sense of humour

So really, I love Charlotte Stein, I just want to read everything by her. Everything.

Definitely 4 1/2 stars, 5 to Lexington only, ooooh the swoon-worthy book boyfriend!! Thoughtful, dirty-talker, super sweet, fun, with a wide range of creative socks and boxers, flirty, ok, I'm done.

The characters were layered, the story dealing with a partner who's basically gaslighted the main character Amie, with his manipulative jerkness. Better than the first.

Will formulate later: the LOVE