Sydney has been secretly crushing on Brody, her best friend, for years. Not wanting to ruin their friendship (and because he’s always with another woman), she’s kept her feelings to herself. The annual Fireman’s Auction presents the perfect chance for Sydney to finally reveal her feelings, but when she’s presented with the opportunity, she panics and tells Brody that she needs his help in seducing another man. But Brody’s been harboring secret feelings for Sydney, too, and once they cross that line, he’s not so sure he can turn back.
This is the fourth book of Marquita Valentine’s that I’ve reviewed on the blog. Previously we had Royal Scandal and Royal Affair, both of which I rather enjoyed, and Take the Fall, which I very much did not. I snapped up this book several months ago when it was free on Amazon and hoped that it would be more along the lines of Marquita’s Royals in Exile series and less along the lines of Take the Fall. It was fine, I guess, but not the greatest. The good news is that even if you don’t particularly enjoy this book, it’s very short. I read it in about 90 minutes on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
There might be some slight spoilers ahead, but honestly, this book’s pretty predictable.
Alright, so I was kind of confused because both Sydney and Brody are initially really hesitant to blur the boundaries of their friendship, but then they go from 0-100 real quick. It’s like, one minute they’re all buddy-buddy and the next, they’re naked in bed. I thought the seduction lessons would be more like flirting lessons, but it turns out “seduction lessons” was just code for “we’re going to have a lot of sex without calling it a relationship.”
I also took some issue with Brody and his insistence on interfering in literally every single one of Sydney’s relationships over the years. Poor Sydney has never had the opportunity to fall in love or be treated right because Brody threatens all of her potential suitors with bodily harm! This might not be so bad if Brody wasn’t running around dating women all over town, but he was! I couldn’t help but see him as a huge hypocrite, particularly near the end of the book during the big conflict scene.
I ended up liking the side characters more than the main characters and that ended up bumping up my rating a bit. I’m intrigued by Tristan and Lemon (but not paying $4 for a 200-page Kindle book, sorry not sorry) but I’m even more intrigued by a mother who names her children CHERRY, APPLE, and LEMON. Come on. I also really loved Kyle, but it doesn’t seem that he has a book anywhere! He was so adorable and goofy, a nice contrast to how serious and surly Brody was.
Final rating: ★★★☆☆
#killingthetbr: 8 months on shelf
The Bibliophagist 