Review: Maybe 3.5 Stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 9, 2012
The book starts out with Tag Stetson, a genius electrical engineer, presenting one of his inventions to Nicholas McKenna, in hopes of selling the gadget to fund his other projects. Tag lives alone, works out of his garage, and says he's just fine that way. It's disappointing that we never learn anything of Tag's childhood, parents, siblings, etc. along the way. There's a brief mention of college, and that Tag got his shot at his pitch to McKenna through a former schoolmate, but Tag really doesn't have any friends, and we're never given any information about why Tag thinks this is okay and that he's happier that way.At this first meeting, Nicholas decides that he wants Tag's invention, he wants Tag to work for his company, MCK, AND that he just plain wants Tag. While wining and dining Tag, we learn that Nicholas married young while still struggling with his sexual identity, and that he has a teenage daughter (though we never actually see her, or hear about her again), and that's the most personal we get about Nicholas. Never learn his favorite foods, musical preferences, hobbies - nothing. Though the same lack of character development is true of Tag also.When Nicholas fails to convince Tag to come work for him, he resorts to truly unscrupulous means to get and keep Tag. And this was where my comfort with the story took a nosedive. Nicholas was willing to steal and lie to get what he wanted, and it didn't trouble him a bit. He laughs at Tag's protests. And to be fair, Tag whined and stomped his foot like a petulant child, rather than being truly angry and afraid of his tormentor. Nicholas's behavior bordered on obsessed psychopath.In the end, Tag grows up a little, and he forces Nicholas to back down. The two find some common ground, and we get a HEA. But I was left feeling a little dirty for it all. Nicholas was TOO domineering, to the point of not caring how Tag felt about nearly everything. There was too little time of the characters being equal and respecting each other to truly feel they loved one another. And given how relatively short the story was - about 1500 Kindle locations - there was plenty of room for character development.All that being said, there was some very good sexual tension between the two characters, and watching them struggle really brought that out. There were a couple scenes that aren't exactly sexual, but ARE fairly non-consensual, and are really pretty hot. There's something to be said for the thrill of the chase.