Taking a bar job in an exclusive hotel is a stopgap for Andy. He’s an actor and his big break is coming soon—he knows it. His hot new boss Ethan is strict, demanding and totally off-limits but Andy can’t stop thinking about him.
When Andy learns of Ethan’s need to be in control of his partner—in bed and out of it—he’s stunned by the intensity of his reaction. He wants Ethan guiding him, bringing order to his chaotic life. And he sees that Ethan needs him too, though they can’t be open about their feelings.
Ethan deals out deliciously perverse consequences for misbehaving, but when it comes to incentives, he knows just what to offer to have Andy on his knees begging for more.
But some secrets can’t stay that way for long. And when difficult choices arise, for once Andy can’t turn to Ethan for guidance. This time, he’s on his own.
I’ve been Davittized!
I ain't even ashamed either.
Did I like this book?
No.
I LOVED IT!
Why?
The complexity. Both these
characters are complex. Their relationship is complex. The writing is complex. The way Davitt deftly develops their relationship and stirred in the eroticism to keep it interesting was complex. The whole
thing was like a breath of fresh air.
It took me several days to get
through Life Under New
Management due to RL stuff
and every time I picked it back up I was excited to see where Andrew and Ethan
would go. In fact, I liked it more and more each time I picked it up and I
don’t even like brats! At all. Quite the coup to get me to love a book with a
bratty MC.
Andrew is a bratty brat brat that's
bratty, but he’s also floundering, without direction or purpose. My time was
divided equally between wanting to strangle, gag and hug him. It was a wise choice
to tell the story entirely through him otherwise I might have gagged my kindle every time he opened his mouth.
He’s an aspiring actor minus the life or organizational skills to accomplish
his goal of fame and fortune. He goes from bed to bed, club to club never satisfied and not
even truly realizing how unsatisfied he is. Between acting jobs, he applies for
a job as a bartender at a swank hotel and is gobsmacked by Ethan, his future
boss. His attraction is instant but Ethan is like ice and shuts down Andrew
repeatedly. In the dictionary under the word 'control', way at the bottom in
the fine italicized print is a note that reads, *see Ethan.
Hot. So fucking hot. Power and authority and sternness in one package and he didn't need to fantasize about Ethan now that he'd experienced the reality.
Punish me. Show me the consequences. All of them. Right here. Ignore Joel. Send me to my knees. Make me serve you. Make me beg.
Ethan takes pity on Andrew when he finds him
sitting on a bench one night unable to go home after walking in on his roommate
in flagrante delicto. Andrew isn't giving up without a fight and he keeps
coming back again and again because it's clear at least part of Ethan is interested in him. I'm not sure an ordinary ego could've withstood
the pummeling his took. I have to hand it to the guy, he was determined. Begging may have been involved. You know
how I feel about begging. Ethan, apparently, shares my Achilles' heel. Their
relationship progression rang true for me not simply because its trajectory was
filled with miscues, but their origins.
"Knowing why you're not talking will drive me crazy and I want to feel that way. I want to hurt from it, ache with it and know when I get you home, I can make it stop for both of us."
You sadistic, beautiful fucker.
Not only do they have to traverse being
employee/employer but they’re trying to navigate a new relationship AND their
kinks don’t precisely match up. So, they have to accommodate, adapt and adjust;
a daunting prospect for anyone and I enjoyed every stumble and reconciliation
along the way. Andrew's emotional growth is subtle yet tangible, though he will probably always struggle with word vomiting. Then again, he does so enjoy those consequences of Ethan's. Mostly.
Speaking of consequences and reconciliations…
These two are on fire!! F.I.R.E. That Wartenberg/lemon scene… I swear my kindle started to smoke a little or maybe that was me. The
non-bondage bondage was hot as fuck. The discipline was ultra satisfying and
you know how much I like
"Move for me." Ethan slapped Andy's thigh, urging him to respond. "No, come for me. You wanted pain? You've got it. Use it. Fuck my cock. Show me you want it."
Inventive sadists are a delight to
read about, aren't they?
I have nothing else to say except if
you don’t read this, you’re missing out.
Don’t be that person.
A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Find out more on Goodreads.
I promise I won't be that person. :)
ReplyDeleteYou better not otherwise no spankings for you! ;)
Delete