Review: It was a great short read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2014
I thought this was a very good read for this new to-me author. I’m not sure what to call this but I believe it would fall under the New Adult sub-genre. This story was told in third person but we also only got to see the POV side from the heroine, which I didn’t think about it till now which is strange because I don’t think it was a problem for me, so yeah.Anyways, this story is about a girl Aubrey who’s life never goes as planned. She was very well known back in high school with hundreds of friends but ended up having know one after graduation. She also lost her boyfriend who only used her for sex (which we learn she took up to keep her heart from breaking or connecting to people). She works as an assistant for this huge Company, Viola, that develops games. Yes! Games! Video games! Fabulous, I know right! But sadly she’s only the assistant to  her boss, Jenna, but then she gets to travel right? And of course later she gets promoted to Marketing by her boss’s boss, Mike, so she’s on her way!As we read further into her story, we find out that she wants more to her life. She wants to climb up the ladder and one day become a boss of her own company. We also find out that her company has fierce competition with a new and much more modern company. Maximus. This new company has been taking their clients and well, her company is going to go under if they don’t find better ideas to up their games!During this whole chaos Aubrey meets a very hot and very geeky gentleman. She thinks he’s stalking her for she had seen him during one of her business trips (and he had bought her a drink) and of all the places he had to show up in her small town. Plus, who could forget a man such as he! He wears super hero shirts under his suit coat! And there’s always hoards of woman swarming around him.But yes, she ends up wanting him and he too, wants her, she knows of it, yet he always rejects her fun late night offers. Of course, one night he lets loose and gives into the heat and Bam! That’s where all the fire starts.She learns he’s the CEO of Maximus. Not just that but The Maximus! Henry ‘freakin’ Maximus! Also, he was that geeky kid back in high school whom her friends used to tease, so she felt really bad to learn that he’s now a billionaire and super Hot! And Aubrey being Aubrey, she starts to push him away despite her growing feelings for him. But, Henry being Henry, he won’t have it! He has waited long enough to have her (since elementary!) and he’s not going to let her push him away. Not matter how much she dances with other men or ignores him.But there was one thing. He challenged her to be celibate for three months and during that time, get to know people. If she passes 3 million dollars and well, unfortunately, their relationship got in the way and love happened. Plus, being a billionaire and having paparazzi about made for a very difficult relationship between two competing companies.Well, you can read what happens on your own but here are some of my thoughts……This story was in the POV of Aubrey. I didn’t so much mind not getting the chance to get into Henry’s head or have his POV but I did want to know why he thought the way he did about how Aubrey was. Like he said something about how she didn’t change from her high school days and how she wanted to flaunt her sexiness because she knew how good she was but won’t take any chances with the dudes who wanted her. Basically, she’s playing hard to get with all the dudes by flaunting herself and rejecting those who take the bait. He might have been angry at her at this the time he said it but it felt like his anger was also gut deep into the past. I just wanted to see more of why he thought that of her.On the other hand, Aubrey was a great and flawed heroine. She had so much on her plate and had so much trust issues that I felt like it was ….. unbelievable to me yet it was of a sort. You see, we’re about the same age and well, I haven’t even done as many things that she has already done in her life so that was one thing I didn’t connect with her. But then she still lived with her parents and embarrassing as it is I am too. And then there was the fact that she was popular in high school which I wasn’t but she lost all and most of those friend when she graduated which I can highly understand and connect to, so yeah, I believed it to a point. There were also some points that I wished were done differently by Aubrey. Like I personally would have done some of things differently because those things really got me frustrated. Like I wanted her to play harder to get with Henry when he rejected her. But then of course wouldn’t that just help Henry’s case about Aubrey? She has flaws and those were some of the things that made the story move so I can’t say anything about it. But I do love that we saw how much she grew to trust Henry and even started opening up to people that isn’t her family. It was very nice to see that.I also love that she had a very close relationship with her only and younger brother whom they can talk just about everything with. He was definitely going through some very grown up issues that he had to face at only 15 and I loved that Aubrey was able to be there for him during those hardships when their parents weren’t willing to help. She even moved out of their parents’ house and found an apartment when her brother was kicked out of the house. And she took him and his girlfriend in! Now that’s love between siblings. One thing though was that his girlfriend was such a spoiled brat that I just wanted to strangle her. She’s so selfish and didn’t help at all and was just so, so….ugh~ she’s So childish that I couldn’t even believe that she’ll even be smart for her own good! That she would even be sexually active was like, Oh my Gosh! I just so hate her! Rotten spoiled brat. Yes, she is a child at 15 but still, grow the freak up because you’re freakin going to be a freakin mother. Ugh! I really wanted them to break up but I just don’t know if that happened now do I. Nope. But she did return to her parents house so that, was fantastic!Oh and another person I hated was Jenna, Aubrey’s ex-boss. She was such a two face. She lied to get her way up and she even lied to get Aubrey to lose her ‘hard-working’ status because she felt Aubrey was in competition with her position! Like heck Aubrey wasn’t! Ugh, she really got on my nerves.Okay, on wards.In this story there was something huge that I wanted more info on and that was the info on the other sibling that was given up for adoption. Aubrey’s older sibling. I mean I really thought it was that one gay guy friend of hers who was much older and who happens to had stopped by one day just to see her, and I was so hoping to get more of it but was really disappointed when it was only brought up that once and then dropped forever to never be mentioned again. I really wanted to know more about that, or for Aubrey to at least do something about it but sadly that didn’t happen.One thing I really have to point out is that this really needed editing. I loved this story but it was really difficult for me to get through it without always pausing and ‘re-reading’ lines and sentences just to make sense of it. I know this is an ARC I’m reading but I do hope it gets fixed during its final edit.Other than that, I thought this was a super great read and I highly enjoyed it. It was a fast paced and driven piece that had me reading it in one sitting. It kept me engaged and even got me holding my breath and grinding my teeth but all’s good. But do remember, this is a short story. A novella of sorts so, yup.Rating: 3.5 / 5