Ask Me Something by Aubrey Bondurant Review

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4.5 Smooches!

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Synopsis

How do you ask the question, when you know the answer may change everything?

Sasha Brooks has been focused on one thing her entire life: her career. Newly promoted as the vice president in a New York advertising company, she has beauty, brains, and one hell of a fierce reputation. But she also has a secret that she keeps carefully guarded.

Brian Carpenter is finding out that managing his newest VP isn’t without its challenges, but when it comes to Sasha, he’d expect nothing less.
His easygoing personality and Southern charm are the yang to her yin and the calm to her storm.

Over the last eight years of their friendship, the flirtations, innuendos, and chemistry have almost led to more, but Sasha has convinced herself they’re better off just friends.
Almost.
Until the moment she thinks he’s with someone else.

Is she too late to admit her feelings?
Gathering the courage to ask the question, Sasha discovers she isn’t the only one keeping secrets.

You think you know someone….

Full Length Standalone book with no cliffhanger. Second book of the “Something Series”
Recommended for mature readers due to situations of language, and sexual content.

Review

“…I can feel people wanting me to fail.”

Sasha Brooks, or Sasha B-Fierce as her coworkers refer to her, is the calm, cool, collected picture of professionalism, or at least she appears to be. Inwardly, however, she is anything but calm, cool or collected. Having been blindsided as a teenager with some previously unknown truths regarding her personal history, everything Sasha believed about herself was suddenly not true. Overwhelmed when confronted in a humiliating way with this information, she succumbed to her first panic attack in what her therapist refers to as the traumatic trigger that started her anxiety attack disorder. Years of therapy, experience dealing with the situations that are her personal triggers, as well as her finely honed ability to recognize the onslaught of her symptoms have all helped Sasha hide her disorder from her family as well as her friends.

“Brian was attracted to a woman who was self-assured and put-together. Not one who had to snap a hair band to keep from freaking out in social situations.”

Brian Carpenter has been in love with Sasha Brooks for eight years. A mutual attraction between the two of them has always burned, but it’s complicated given that Brian is also Sasha’s boss, and they’ve settled into a relationship that is a combination of colleagues and friends. Knowing how important her career is to her, Brian is left with no choice but to accept being relegated to the friend-zone. Brian has taken the opportunity to really get to know Sasha – minus the anxiety attacks or the information that triggered her disorder. His love for her has never waivered, and after eight years of loving her from afar, he’s grown tired of his friends-only status and devises a plan that he hopes will ultimately result in a relationship with Sasha that includes her returning his love.

“I’m not the girl you think you know.”

The two enter into a sexual relationship that is defined by some carefully crafted rules by Brian. The more time they spend together, and with Brian’s rules guiding Sasha where he wants her to go, it’s no surprise that’s she’s finally acknowledged her true feelings for Brian. Unfortunately the timing of this realization collides with her learning that he also kept some crucial professional information from her, breaking one of Sasha’s very few – but critically important – rules in their relationship. The culmination of all of this emotional upheaval all at once is the mother of all panic attacks during a very public situation. In the aftermath of her attack, a humiliated and defeated Sasha has no choice but to finally tell him about her disorder and her past. Emotionally overwhelmed and assuming that he couldn’t possibly love her upon learning these things about her, Sasha lets Brian go.

“…a happily ever after wasn’t in my future.”

Fleeing to her parents home to regroup, Sasha gets some enlightening, well timed and perfectly worded parental advice has her rethinking things and doing some self re-examination. Her parents’ words, coupled with an explanation and clarification of the professional information by Brian’s boss and childhood best friend, all have Sasha scrambling to reach Brian in time. But is it too little, too late?

“Do you really think I don’t know you, Sasha Jayne Brooks?”

As an avid romance and erotica fan, I’m very accustomed to reading novels featuring an imperfect hero. It is rare when it is the heroine that is imperfect, and this book is an example of one that is very well done. I enjoyed this story very much. While Sasha had many issues to overcome, she faced them, bravely, one at time, every single day by going into situations that were known triggers and excelling in them. Reading about her slowly letting her guard down with Brian and fall deeper into this relationship was very rewarding. The author did a fantastic job of taking the reader into Sasha’s head as she worked through her fears.

This book was well written and the relationship between Brian and Sasha was lovely to watch unfold. Brian proved time and time again that he absolutely did know Sasha as he took her reactions into consideration with each step as he nudged their relationship forward. 4.5 smooches for Ask Me Something from me!

~ Danielle Palumbo

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