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Review: Boss by Ashley John

After years of travelling the world using his trust fund, college-dropout Joshua Silverton returns to London to discover two shocking truths: his estranged and wealthy father has been dead for over a year and he left his fortune to a total stranger. Joshua soon meets the man who stole his inheritance and even though he expects to hate Ezra Steele, he can’t ignore the strange attraction he suddenly feels towards him.

Bill Silverton saved Ezra Steele from his troubled past when he signed Silverton Tower over to him on his deathbed. Ezra now has the house, the business, the cars, the money and a different man in his bed every night. It’s a life he wants to cling to, so when Bill’s gorgeous son unexpectedly turns up and demands he hand everything back, his life is turned upside down in more ways than one.

A need to finally prove himself to his dead father forces Joshua to challenge Ezra but will he be able to ignore the attraction in order to be ruthless? Ezra tries to keep his enemies close by getting Joshua into his bed but as history catches up with him, he is forced to face himself. They are both running from their past, so in a battle between head and heart, Joshua and Ezra must choose what is more important – money or each other.




" "Fuck me," Joshua moaned, "do it." It was a demand, a raw and primal demand. A demand unbothered by sexuality or conflict. A demand from a man who was ready to give in to his desires. A demand from a man who knew what he really wanted. "
Ashley John has a talent. Not just his writing talent, but a talent to make me enjoy books I would not normally. He can take a story and make me want to read it, even if I don't want to read it! I'm kinda talking in riddles, huh.

Okay. When I first read the blurb of Boss, I wanted to read it. It sounded different to what Ashley usually writes - and I have to admit, I liked the fact it was set in England. When I started reading I didn't really like Joshua at all. He sounded like a stuck up, self-entitled, rich brat. He was a stuck up, self-entitled, rich brat. Starting a book with an MC I could barely tolerate is not usually a good sign. But here is where the magic of Ashley's writing comes in, because he makes me care about the rich brat, even while my brain is telling me not to. 

Not only did he make me care about the rich brat, he made me care about the antagonist, Ezra, too. Even when Ezra was being a dickhead. Ezra, who came from nowhere and took everything. Ezra with  pain in his past and a burning need to succeed. (Ezra, who in my head looked exactly like Idris Elba, even though the description of him was nothing like him!  I think it was the name, Ezra/Elba, because before I'd even started I'd got that image in my head - and let's face it, it's a pretty good image to have stuck in your noggin!).

The story of these two - slightly reminicscent of a Prince and a Pauper, set in the business world of today's London - was so readable. Rich boy left with nothing, poor boy given everything. The fight they have, one to regain and one to keep, all while experiencing emotions they've neither been party too before. Love. Neither had truly been loved, not for a long time. Both were toughened, hardened to the world at large, more interested in the tangible than the emotional.To love your enemy though? It takes a whole lot of trust - and trust is a difficult commodity for them both to come by.

As I read this book, I could switch off my emotion and clinically point out things that would normally make me roll my eyes - but this lad is talented, and I am so engrossed in the story and the tale of the characters that I don't care. I really don't. Nit-picky me can take a hike because, as far as I'm concerned, reading is about enjoyment and I damn well enjoyed this story. I really did. I'm super pleased to see there is going to be a second book in this series and would recommend people check out this author, he just gets better and better.
A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.
Find out more at Goodreads.

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