Review: A sexy, steamy series that I can't get enough of!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 22, 2013
Oh, how I love this series! It's steamy, sexy, sweet, and has relatively low angst- just my kind of romance! I really enjoyed Crave, the first book in the series, and I have been waiting for Gage's story ever since its release! The premise of these books revolves around three young, wealthy men who make a bet to see which guy can hold out the longest and refrain from falling in love, thus winning himself a million dollars from the other two. In Crave, we watch Archer Bancroft fall for Ivy Emerson, his best friend's younger sister. (Sigh- I do love that theme in books!) We are introduced to his best friend, Gage, who is all about work and can't believe his best friend would be the first to fall.Gage Emerson. Hot, sexy, wealthy, and driven. He is not looking for romance- he is interested in acquiring some real estate from the well-known Molina family in CA. Yet one meeting with Marina Knight and Gage finds himself overly curious about the beautiful woman he manages to piss off. Her family bakery is one of the places that he wants to acquire and she is not happy about it. She is in love with that bakery and as owner, wants to save it.Marina Knight finds herself at war with her feelings for Gage. He intimidates her, but she also finds him sexy and alluring. But as soon as she lets herself swoon over him, he goes and says something that completely ruins the moment and usually pisses her the hell off. Their interactions made me chuckle, yet the sexual tension between them was so palpable you just wanted to keep turning the pages to find out whether they'd give in or kill each other!I was wary of Gage for quite awhile. Were his feelings real or just a product of the fact that he's trying to get her dad to talk him in regards to buying that strip of businesses? I didn't want him to hurt Marina. Her family has made her a bit self-conscious about the fact that she's 23 and unmarried. Marina is smart enough to know that she has to guard her heart around Gage. The more time she spends with him, she finds herself falling for him, despite their initial animosity towards one another. I did feel the shift in their relationship to be a bit abrupt. They had passion and couldn't keep their hands off each other, but there was still that underlying tension knowing what Gage's real purpose was in regards to meeting with her dad and her motivations to get to know Archer to help her bakery.Monica Murphy knows how to write sexy scenes. Oh my. Their chemistry sizzles and watching these two realize their feelings for one another was deliciously hot and so much fun at the same time. And we got quite a bit of Archer and Ivy, which made me really happy. I love seeing past characters play a bigger role than just cameo appearances.Overall, if you're looking for a good, steamy romance- this will definitely get the job done for you!