3 “All In” Stars

WOMANIZER

Manwhore #4

Katy Evans

I might be a minority here, rating this lower than four stars but please do not let my review sway you from reading this story. You might have an entirely different experience. I also loved aspects of it and enjoyed it mostly.

Olivia is an idealistic young woman. She has big plans for her future and realizing that she won’t move forward until she has some experience she leaves her home in Texas to work at a big investment company as an intern. The company she plans on working for is known for their hostile take overs of struggling enterprises. The CEO is the best friend of her brother. She has never met him and she doesn’t mind if it stays that way. On he first day she has a chance encounter with a guy on the terrace upstairs. He is smoking and she feels bold and asks him for a hit.

Callan is fascinated by the spirited young woman. They meet frequently on the terrace to share a smoke, without knowing details about each other. When they meet at a bar outside of work they can’t contain their growing need for one another. One drunken night changes all when they discover who the other one is.

Again it is the heroine who I struggled with. The first third I really liked her. After that her inner monologues started to grind on my nerves. She comes across immature at times and in her mind says one thing and in the next second that all is nullified.

He takes a drag, the tip glowing bright pink as I head back to the bar. When I reach him, he offers it to me. I can’t take it, it feels too intimate now. I shake my head, and he only studies me as I drop to my seat, a little breathless. He turns his high-backed stool a bit to face me, a silence between us as he smokes his cigarette and seems to take in my features, one by one. I watch him take a hit. “I think about kissing you,” I hear myself say.

In her mind she keeps saying “This can’t happen again.” but she doesn’t follow through. Every single time she is all over him within seconds of thinking that it is a bad idea to sleep with Callan. Her inner thoughts also get plenty of repetition. Close to finishing I was annoyed reading for the umpteenth time that she would be going home soon and so would have no business thinking about a future with her brother’s friend. She also kept throwing in his face that she wouldn’t want a real relationship until she was 28 and in the middle of a successful career. Only to hope for an “I love you” from Callan in the next. The repetition felt like fillers after a certain point.

Callan on the other hand was sweet. I actually expected him to have more of an edge but I didn’t mind that he didn’t. He put his foot down when he felt the need to but other than that he didn’t push too much, waited patiently for her to make up her mind. I would have liked to hear more of his thoughts – we only got them in the last few chapters. I think it would have helped the story along to get into his mind a bit because I couldn’t see why he wanted her.

I want to make it clear I have no shame when it comes to you. No rules I won’t break for you. Something about you gets to me like nothing ever has. I say the word woman, I think of you. Female, I think of you. Sexy, I think of you. Sweet, I think of you.”

While I adored Callan (despite his smoking, which I don’t find all that sexy) I just couldn’t connect with Olivia. Together they did have some explosive chemistry.

Like I said, you might have a completely different experience with this story so please do not let my reservations keep you from reading it. Ultimately I really liked the story line and trope.