Zuri Day
Auteur de Lessons from a Younger Lover
Séries
Œuvres de Zuri Day
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Its not often that I read books and feel musical inspiration, but that's exactly what happened with this one. Two songs swirled in my head as I made my way through this novel: Hungry and Tension from Fergie's 2017 album Double Dutchess, both of which are filled with delicious tension and ambition.
This book was straight-up wonderful. It wasn't just a billionaire hero and a Cinderella heroine: it was the setting (Las Vagas, Rome, London, Djibouti), it was the secondary characters (the Breedlove family, which I'm hoping will supply the other heroes for this series, and their friendship with the Harts), it was the camaraderie, it was the fact that everyone acted like grown-ass adults (except maybe the villain, but I just found him to be so pathetic that he wasn't worth it). The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because it didn't hit my personal squee buttons, but it came pretty close.
Christian Breedlove is our billionaire hero; just promoted to the president of his family company, CANN International, he has ambitious plans to expand their hotelier fortune into a new, as of yet untouched area: Africa, by way of Djibouti. This was an interesting side plot and it was a lot of fun taking in a new exotic locale, even if it was the ultra-rich fantasy version of it :P
Lauren Hart is our heroine - she is a PR whiz, and has been hired by her mother's best friend, Victoria Breedlove (Christian's mother), to be her personal assistant during an upcoming whirl of galas for the CANN Foundation, the charitable arm of CANN International. Lauren is intelligent, savvy, confident, and a hard/dedicated worker. She impresses everyone with her work, and is soon brought on board the corporate side.
Christian and Lauren grew up together, and Lauren had a puppy-love crush on him when they were kids, but he was much more interested in her older sister back in the day. Now he finds himself attracted to Lauren and wanting to do something about it. He's a very private man, and he's been hurt in the past, but he can't quite resist mixing business with pleasure. Lauren is running away from her own problems back East, but considering she's wanted his attention for most of her life, she is beyond ready to accept it when he offers it.
Everything is going swimmingly until her awful ex (our villain) tries to force her to marry him to cover up a family secret. Back against the wall, Lauren blurts out that she and Christian are married to fend him off. She doesn't count on that being Christian's sore spot (more than one woman has tried to trap him before), and it opens a rift between them that seems to be unrepairable. Luckily, we are dealing with adults here, so nobody can take the easy way out. Instead, still forced to work together professionally, Christian and Lauren manage to work on their personal relationship as well, with an ultimate HEA (but not after a few more speed bumps).
As mentioned before, I really enjoyed the entire canvas of characters: Christian has a great bond with his family, brothers and parents alike, and it really comes through here. Lauren has a similar, albeit strained, relationship with her parents, and she gets along with almost everyone she meets in Vegas. Ms. Day writes her characters so well that I feel like their must be other stories connected to this one - like Ace and London, the fashion designers, or hell, even Christian's parents! Here's hoping that his 3 brothers will become heroes in their own right - there was just enough of them on display here to make them distinct and interesting characters.
The story was structured very well, the prose was lovely and flowed beautifully. I found the love scenes a bit on the cheesy side, but nothing out of the ordinary for mainstream romance (and definitely better than the previous Desire title I'd read!). Christian and Lauren are equals in every sense of the word: there are no power dynamics spoiling the fun.
I'm definitely looking forward to more of this family and am eager to try out more of Ms. Day's work.… (plus d'informations)
This book was straight-up wonderful. It wasn't just a billionaire hero and a Cinderella heroine: it was the setting (Las Vagas, Rome, London, Djibouti), it was the secondary characters (the Breedlove family, which I'm hoping will supply the other heroes for this series, and their friendship with the Harts), it was the camaraderie, it was the fact that everyone acted like grown-ass adults (except maybe the villain, but I just found him to be so pathetic that he wasn't worth it). The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because it didn't hit my personal squee buttons, but it came pretty close.
Christian Breedlove is our billionaire hero; just promoted to the president of his family company, CANN International, he has ambitious plans to expand their hotelier fortune into a new, as of yet untouched area: Africa, by way of Djibouti. This was an interesting side plot and it was a lot of fun taking in a new exotic locale, even if it was the ultra-rich fantasy version of it :P
Lauren Hart is our heroine - she is a PR whiz, and has been hired by her mother's best friend, Victoria Breedlove (Christian's mother), to be her personal assistant during an upcoming whirl of galas for the CANN Foundation, the charitable arm of CANN International. Lauren is intelligent, savvy, confident, and a hard/dedicated worker. She impresses everyone with her work, and is soon brought on board the corporate side.
Christian and Lauren grew up together, and Lauren had a puppy-love crush on him when they were kids, but he was much more interested in her older sister back in the day. Now he finds himself attracted to Lauren and wanting to do something about it. He's a very private man, and he's been hurt in the past, but he can't quite resist mixing business with pleasure. Lauren is running away from her own problems back East, but considering she's wanted his attention for most of her life, she is beyond ready to accept it when he offers it.
Everything is going swimmingly until her awful ex (our villain) tries to force her to marry him to cover up a family secret. Back against the wall, Lauren blurts out that she and Christian are married to fend him off. She doesn't count on that being Christian's sore spot (more than one woman has tried to trap him before), and it opens a rift between them that seems to be unrepairable. Luckily, we are dealing with adults here, so nobody can take the easy way out. Instead, still forced to work together professionally, Christian and Lauren manage to work on their personal relationship as well, with an ultimate HEA (but not after a few more speed bumps).
As mentioned before, I really enjoyed the entire canvas of characters: Christian has a great bond with his family, brothers and parents alike, and it really comes through here. Lauren has a similar, albeit strained, relationship with her parents, and she gets along with almost everyone she meets in Vegas. Ms. Day writes her characters so well that I feel like their must be other stories connected to this one - like Ace and London, the fashion designers, or hell, even Christian's parents! Here's hoping that his 3 brothers will become heroes in their own right - there was just enough of them on display here to make them distinct and interesting characters.
The story was structured very well, the prose was lovely and flowed beautifully. I found the love scenes a bit on the cheesy side, but nothing out of the ordinary for mainstream romance (and definitely better than the previous Desire title I'd read!). Christian and Lauren are equals in every sense of the word: there are no power dynamics spoiling the fun.
I'm definitely looking forward to more of this family and am eager to try out more of Ms. Day's work.… (plus d'informations)
Crystal Caress is a tale of two people that have to learn to put trust and instinct before anger and pride. Have read a couple of Ms. Day's books in the past. Did not enjoy them as much as I enjoyed Teresa and Atka's story. I thought that it took a lot of strength of character for Teresa to strike out on her own. To try to become her own person without relying on family. What both characters had to learn is that sometimes seeking guidance can be the best decision any person can make. Good book.
Driving Heat is a contemporary romance about more than just a man and woman; it's also about knowing what your heart wants, and what's right for you. Cynthia and Byron are as different as night and day, but when opposites attract and the chemistry pulls, you can't control who you love. I love the whole blue collar - white collar issue. I'm a firm believer in love can conquer all, and that love is love. I hope that it sends a message to those who think that dating & falling in love with someone who isn't in your tax bracket is absolutely fine! I thoroughly enjoyed the story from front cover to back, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a good love story!… (plus d'informations)
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 35
- Membres
- 174
- Popularité
- #123,126
- Évaluation
- 3.6
- Critiques
- 9
- ISBN
- 127
- Favoris
- 1
This is the second book in the Sin City Secrets series. It stars Adam Breedlove (brother of Book #1's hero, Christian), who in addition to his roles in the family empire is the cowboy of the bunch. He runs the Breedlove ranch and as the book begins is in the final stages of setting up his own on-premises meat-packing plant. This is all on the eve of launching Breedlove Beef, the ultra-luxurious meat supplier and Adam's baby. He is involved in all aspects of the family ranch, and is eager to carve out his own niche.
He runs into old friend Dennis Washington one evening at the CANN casino and when he learns that Dennis is in the meat-packing industry, he sets up an appointment to talk shop. Dennis brings along his younger sister, Ryan, hoping to sweeten the deal. Ryan is a vegetarian, so she's not exactly impressed when they meet at BBs, the local diner the features Adam's meat. She's also not too wild about being used to further her brother's ambitions, because Dennis is pretty shady and is also pretty insulting towards her. Adam picks up on this during their meeting and wonders WTF but doesn't wade into the Washington family drama. He's interested in seeing Dennis's current place of employment, and is especially interested in seeing more of Ryan.
Their attraction is definitely mutual, and they quickly act upon it, though each realizes that it's probably not a good idea to get involved with each other, considering the tricky situation of Adam possibly hiring Dennis to work for him. They agree to keep it simple and casual. That's all either one of them has time for, as Adam is working hard on launching Breedlove Beef, and Ryan is working equally hard to launch her own business. She has a degree in naturopathy (ND) and is setting up shop with her best friend.
Ryan's got other things going on as well. She has always known that she was adopted, and this has caused a lot of tension in her relationship with her adoptive mother, especially. She wants to find her birth parents. Her adoptive father has kidney disease and his health is declining rapidly. Her father has always been her champion, so his failing health is especially hard for her to deal with. And then there's Dennis: he's shady and he hangs around shady people, and Ryan just generally doesn't have a good feeling about anything he puts his hand in. She learns that he's keeping secrets, and it worries her. Almost against her will she's becoming attached to Adam, and she doesn't want to be caught in the middle of him and Dennis if their business relationship turns sour.
Adam launches Breedlove Beef to much acclaim, but soon thereafter inferior product starts leaking out of his plant. Finding the culprit consumes him, just in Ryan's life begins to fall apart: her father needs a kidney transplant in order to live; she finds out more about Dennis's secrets; Dennis threatens to reveal her secrets if she sticks her nose any further into his business, and their mother backs him 100%. Needless to say, things quickly become a tangle.
This is only the second book by Ms. Day that I've had the pleasure of reading, but it has truly been that: a pleasure to read. It's very easy to get lost in this world of luxury, with this warm cast of characters. Everyone is intelligent, mature, and hard-working, with strong familial relationships. It's really great to have such a strong foundation for a story, because it makes it easy to believe in the characters and their actions.
I enjoyed both Adam and Ryan in this novel (though Adam does some stupid/stubborn shit that seems OOC in service of the plot). I don't quite understand what's so controversial about Ryan's secrets (namely, her adoption and who her real mother is), but that could very well be a cultural note that I've missed. Either way, when secrets are revealed, the fallout is tremendous, and it ripples through all aspects of the plot and affects all of the characters. There's no whiny angsting or immature drama, though: we are dealing with adults who deal with the situation in a very adult manner.
I don't personally hold much store by Ryan's chosen career, but it was presented in a very no-nonsense way - 100% credible, 0% woo-woo bullshit. Even if her family doesn't take her seriously, she believes in what she does and has positive results from her treatments, so hey: more power to her!
Another thing I loved is that the characters have shades of gray, even the obviously horrible ones, like Dennis and Ida, his mother. Nobody is 100% evil; there is good reason why they act the way they do, even if it is toxic. It would've been incredibly easy to make Ryan's BFF and business partner Brooklyn come off as a manic pixie magic girl, but she doesn't. She's a wonderfully supportive friend who's not afraid to give Ryan a reality check every once in awhile, as all best girlfriends do :)
I really enjoyed the sappy ending (that hits me right in the feels, every time!), and I also enjoyed the hints sprinkled liberally throughout about the last two Breedlove brothers, twins Noah and Nick. I think I'm going to like Noah's book, especially - he seems very much my type, LOL.
I was ecstatic when I found some of Ms. Day's paperback backlist at a recent library sale, so I'm looking forward to reading more of her work while we wait for Book #3 in this series.… (plus d'informations)