Corporate intrigue, power games, relentless paparazzi, and a tangled Cinderella story woven through it all. Interesting characters and complex p,ot keep things moving toward the eventual HEA.

Really enjoyed this book, the character development was great and I was hooked after a few pages, hence finishing it in a day!

Maria Mesmer has a great writing style and creates likeable and charming characters. Well worth a read.

****POSSIBLE SPOILERS****

3/5⭐️
3/5 🌶


While I loved the premise and forced proximity is a trope I like, Tempted was more than a bit predictable. The characters were well written but over promised and under delivered. Alex was basically said to be a dom but ended up being a very very soft dom. There was little dom-ness to the spicy scenes. The spicy scenes were the highlight of the book. Hailee was well written but annoying. The story had good bones but with the above ended up falling a bit short for me.

Okay, I wasn't expecting to get hooked to this book like I did. I finished it within a day. 🫣

The growing relationship between Alex and Hailee was lovely. Watching him go from cold, harsh billionaire playboy to the sweet, gentleman for Hailee was melt-worthy. HOWEVER, there was SO much whiplash between the two that I found myself groaning at them in some parts. As soon as you think they're good, together, in love - one of them does or says something that pushes them away even the slightest. LIKE KISS ALREADY.

Anyway - has a HEA, but it takes a while to get there. Loved the action and suspense throughout, and even though my heart broke at one part (you'll see), it was put back together by the end.

If you love these tropes, you'll enjoy this:
✨ Billionaire Romance
✨ Brother's Best Friend
✨ Forced Proximity
✨ "Mine"
✨ Grumpy x Sunshine

I'm also VERY excited on the prospect of a Sophia + James book soon!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Maria for the eARC!

I was not planning to, but this book hooked me and I ended up staying up all night reading it. This book has all the goodies, billionaire, brother's best friend, man out for revenge, gave up on love. Suffice to say, I was hooked! This was a great debut novel and I am looking forward to reading more from this author.