Who knew that the world of luxury realty
was so intensely competitive?
Trina Lee is a rockstar realtor who
outperforms all others in the industry and has developed a reputation of being
cutthroat and ruthless. She’s been featured in a magazine’s list of 30 under 30
and as the cherry on top of her cake of a great year professionally, she’s a
hairsbreadth from winning the coveted Realtor of the Year award. Except that
she’s pipped to the post by a Jane-come-yesterday, Kendall Yates. The two work
in rival companies and there’s no love lost between their bosses. Post the
award presentation, as Trina is attacking Kendall with all she’s got and
Kendall is pulling no punches in trading insult with insult, their bosses come
up with a ‘friendly’ (but not really) competition between their star performers
– to outsell the other in one particular upcoming development.
Trina and Kendall get down to it, never
missing an opportunity to bring out those deadly claws and sharp tongues to
deliver scathing insults. But that much passion spills into unexpected channels
and their whole relationship does a 180 degree.
Trina Lee is one livewire of a character.
Sassy, sarcastic, sharp and competitive, she is also borderline arrogant and
cocky but tempered down with her sweetness and loyalty right from the
beginning. Though she comes across as the more abrasive and antagonistic of the
two initially, her character is so well rounded by her other relationships that
she is never dislikeable. Kendall has a past that she’s trying to outpace. She
cuts a more sympathetic figure at start. Also she’s not the one itching
to fight all the time. However, Riley does a great job of making both women
equally appealing. More to her credit, Riley somehow manages to give a flavour
of I-like-her-therefore-I’ll-pull-her-pigtails-to-get-her-attention to the
whole animosity.
The chemistry between the two leads is
sizzling. And par for the course, as with all Riley’s books, the heat-o-meter
is set at burn. The book has a great balance between romance and sex.
We sorely missed an epilogue in this one.
We’re sure that Trina and Kendall will be happy together for life, but we’d
have definitely liked to know what Kendall does professionally and how she
fares after all the evil-dad-interfering-in-her-life drama. (BTW, this
dad-villain bit added to the rather farfetched premise makes this one more a
romcom than a contemporary romance. But in no way does it detract from the fact
this is a hugely entertaining book with great chemistry and amazingly good
sex).
Definitely recommended.
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
