5 SMOOCHES!
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SYNOPSIS:
Bennett Fox walked into my life on one hell of a crappy Monday morning.
I was late for the first day at my new job—a job I’d now have to compete for even though I’d already worked eight years to earn it, because of an unexpected merger.
While I lugged my belongings up to my new office, a meter maid wrote me a parking summons.
She’d ticketed a long line of cars—except for the Audi parked in front of me, which happened to be the same make and model as mine.
Annoyed, I decided to regift my ticket to the car that had evaded a fine. Chances were, the owner would pay it and be none the wiser.
Except, I accidentally broke the windshield wiper while slipping the ticket onto the car’s window.
Seriously, my day couldn’t get any worse.
Things started to perk up when I ran into a gorgeous man in the elevator. We had one of those brief moments that only happened in movies.
You know the deal…your body lights up, fireworks go off, and the air around you crackles with electricity.
His heated stare left me flush when I stepped off the elevator.
Maybe things here wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Or so I thought.
Until I walked into my new boss’s office and met my competition.
The gorgeous man from the elevator was now my nemesis. His heated stare wasn’t because of any mutual attraction. It was because he’d seen me vandalize his car. And now he couldn’t wait to annihilate his rival.
There’s a fine line between love and hate—and we shouldn’t cross it.
We shouldn’t—but straddling that line could be so much fun.
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REVIEW:
I absolutely love Vi Keeland’s writing. I know going into one of her stories that it’ll be a richly told, well-written love story that is complex and complicated—the kind of love that isn’t easily earned. Her characters are interesting, strong and formidable, and I know that she will put me through the emotional wringer, but it will be worth every gut-clenching moment to get there. Hers aren’t always easy to tell love stories, the great ones never are, but they’re consuming, all-encompassing and the kinds of stories that I get completely wrapped up in, and I absolutely love that about Keeland’s writing.
We Shouldn’t, appropriately named, wasn’t your typical office romance. Bennett and Annalise were rivals, pitted against each other, competing for something they both wanted badly. Antagonistic and adversarial with an edge of attraction, their chemistry sizzled off the page. Every encounter between them seemed to bump up the heat beneath the pot of their simmering lust. When they weren’t throwing barbs and bantering back-and-forth, they were practically scalding each other with the heat burning between them. Their relationship was an intense and forbidden, a raging storm of emotion and passion, and I simply couldn’t get enough.
Bennett Fox is my kind of hero. A bit broken and scarred, this bad boy worked hard to hide his good heart with a sexy, guarded demeanor. But there was so much more to this damaged man than he let show, opting instead to use a carefully constructed façade of arrogant cockiness and sarcasm to shield the good guy underneath. This was a man who needed healing, or more aptly, he needed a reason to allow himself to heal—and he found it in Annalise O’Neil. His usual M.O. was to play it fast and loose with the rules, but all that went out the window once Annalise entered his orbit.
From her OCD tendencies and color-coded files, to her mile long legs and bombshell beauty, he just couldn’t seem to employ those tactics against her. Bennett’s inner musings, cluelessness and utter confusion over his feelings were one of my favorite parts of this character’s development. Annalise was thoughtful, kind and, most importantly, honest, and despite her own trust issues and the broken heart she was nursing, she wound up being his perfect counterpart. I loved how she was able to see through Bennett’s act and call him on it. It was her willingness, despite her own relationship history, to take a leap of faith that ultimately guided them through the rollercoaster of emotions they needed to deal with to get to something real.
This couple had their work cut out for them to get to their happily ever after. They had big obstacles in their path, and they had to sift through some heavy baggage to get there. Keeland takes readers along for the ride in We Shouldn’t with an emotional and hard-fought romance that was as hot as it was humorous. I was positively enthralled by this love story, and I devoured this book with heart-racing anticipation in a day. Five smooches from me for We Shouldn’t by Vi Keeland!
~Danielle Palumbo
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