Review: Unmistakable Chemistry!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 18, 2013
Due to overlapping characters, this series is best read in order.Judith Ashton (Jude) is a popular photographer with her own studio.  When her brother, Joseph, CEO of Aston Tech (star of Book One) asks her to consider taking on a job with his best friend Caleb, she can hardly do anything but say no.  Jude's history with Caleb is full of heartache and pain.  She can't fathom having to work side-by-side with him while creating a calendar to generate sales for an important charity.Caleb "abs of" Steele has been a staple in the Ashton household ever since he can remember.  After falling for Jude, becoming more than just her friend, and leaving her to pursue his rugby career he knew that he could never be the man she deserved.  Even with his history with Jude he can't help but mess with her and try to get her to drop her seriousness and loosen up.Judith made peach with the way Caleb loved her and left her eight years ago...or so she thought. Jude never figured she'd be working so close to Caleb on a photography project. Being this close to him brings back everything she ever felt, and still feels for him.  And Caleb knows it; he can see the emotion and feelings in Jude when they are together even though she tries desperately to hide them.  She's off limits to him.  Judith wants, needs, and deserves more than just a casual relationship and that's all that Caleb can offer anyone.The chemistry between Judith and Caleb is unmistakable.  Judith and Caleb both deny it almost to the breaking point then they go ahead and see if they can do a no strings relationship....and fail miserably.  Caleb's family history forbids him from wanting to truly care for anyone and Judith is still wounded by her mother's leaving the family when she was a teenager.  Will they figure it all out before Caleb leaves New Zealand and his entire life behind?Talking Dirty With the Player is fantastic second installment in the Talking Dirty series.  We got to meet Jude in Book One as we learned about Joseph, his ADHD, and what their childhood consisted of.  Caleb was mentioned but not at all involved in the book since he was out of the country with his rugby team.From the get go there were fireworks between Jude and Caleb.  Jude played it off by using sarcasm and snark and Caleb just played right into it by teasing.  After we read about their many interactions is very clear that they belong together, even if neither of them admit it right away.  Caleb is a completely different person with Jude than he is when he's in the public eye.  With Jude, Caleb is real, tender, emotional, and supportive....everything that he denies about himself, and that scares him...scares him to the point that he becomes a monster in order to keep Judith away.  The ups and downs in the relationship between Jude and Caleb are faster than a yo-yo professional but that keeps the book exciting.  The author does a wonderful job keeping the reader engaged in a love story wrought with tragic pasts, hot sexual encounters, and less than perfect characters.  I love that Jackie Ashenden's characters are imperfect - far from cookie cutter characters.  They have depth and feeling and the happily ever afters are executed with true emotion that is so strong that the readers are left feeling it, too.I cannot wait for the third installment of this series!Quote:  One of Caleb's former flings ~ "She wore a bright red sequined dress with a hemline that made the whole world her gynecologist" (Ashenden, J., 2013, pg. 160).Review Copy Courtesy of the Publisher at no cost, in exchange for an honest review.