Rating: an undeniable five stars; though if I could rate it more I would.
What I would change?: absolutely nothing. Truly!
What I loved?: everything. I loved the tension, I loved the dialogue, I loved the atmosphere, I loved the events, I loved the romance, I loved the steam, I loved the plot and subplots, and most of all: I adored the characters. The characters alone could've made the book perfect; but everything else added in blew this one right to my ultimate favourite books list. It had so much dynamic, so much depth and so much character development. I loved seeing our main characters go from one place to the other - it was an amazing transformation and so seamlessly written.
Emotions felt?: abundantly! I laughed, I cackled, I rolled my eyes, I scoffed, I down-right drooled, I laughed some more, I gasped... Oh, and I laughed! I love the dynamic created in this novel with every mood necessary to make a fabulous book!
Who would I recommend this for?: if this appeals to you, pick it up - you won't regret it! It's a really addictive page turner.

To say that Alexa and Caine have some history would be an understatement. Their families go way back, but not in a good way. Definitely not in a way that, upon meeting her, made Caine say "oh, it's so good to see you again!" in fact - it was the exact opposite, as Alexa discovered one day during a photoshoot at her job when he abandoned it upon realising who she really is and what part her family played in messing up his childhood...
From that point on, however, our strong-willed heroine pushes herself into Caine's life, demanding his forgiveness and a fresh start. Much to his annoyance, their lives intertwine in the most unexpected way, and there's no getting rid of her... Not even when he tries his hardest to drive her away, assigning her as his assistant and pushing her to her limits.

Novels like this pull me in without any difficulty; and this was no different - and to be entirely honest, this had something that the other books in this kind of genre didn't have; it had more depth, more plot. It created something completely new and unique for me and I think it's one of those books that really sets the bar high.

This was my first Samantha Young novel - I picked this one up because I was extremely interested by the premise (though I must be honest and say that I'm massively giddy at the thought of picking up her other works now; she's such a fantastic author!) Samantha's writing is extremely easy to adjust to, to lose yourself in and to be completely submersed within. I thoroughly delved into the pages and didn't move from the depths until I finished the last page; and even then, the book is still will be and will be for a very long time. To say that I was addicted to this would be a massive understatement. I couldn't stop turning the pages and just wanted to keep going and going - I actually didn't want this to end!

The characters throughout this are absolutely amazing. There were no characters that didn't have a lot of depth to them. Each character encountered had some sort of story outlined, it was made clear where they came from and it was oh-so-easy to love each and every one of them.
Alexa is the perfect female heroine. She's just what I love in a female character: strong willed, determined, career orientated and knows just how to get what she wants - but none of these qualities are overplayed to the point where it gets annoying; they're written in a quantity that's just hits the right spot and makes her one of the most lovable female characters that I've ever read. I like how, instead of her moping about her failed family, she channeled her energy into doing something better for herself and become truly driven to give herself the life that her family couldn't (and probably wouldn't have). It was nice to see a change in a female protagonist. Yes, bad things had happened to her but the author didn't fall into the "moping, crying female" trope - which I was extremely grateful for. And by so doing, this meant that Caine wasn't her saviour - she even states at one point in the book that she doesn't need him to be her hero; she just wants him to be him. It was a really refreshing take on the female character and I can't applaud Samantha enough for writing her in such a unique and refreshing way.
It was also incredibly brilliant to get to watch her bash away sarcastic and demeaning comments from Caine (and deter some of his orders) by means of using sarcasm. Bravo, bravo! Alexa was refreshing, unique, different and a thorough joy to read about - if the book was just a monologue of her life, I would've loved it, just because she was written that amazingly.

Caine, oh Caine! He's sexy, intelligent, swarve and oh-so incredibly obnoxiously arrogant. He's also the character with the best development in the entire novel; because you see his true self shining through towards the end and, through his icy exterior, you see a handsomely heart-warming man that you can't help but fall for, too, and he quickly and understandably rooted himself into my heart as yet another fictional boyfriend. He does, admittedly, fall under the scope as a fellow that can't seem to get enough of hurting people's feelings - but it was so amazingly written that I couldn't help but love him anyway as he slowly begun to get out of that pattern and learned that he doesn't need to shield himself from other people to avoid being hurt - he had Alexa, he had his job, he had everything he needed and it was so amazing to watch him develop so seamlessly and so smoothly. Everything about him was written so incredibly well and I truly think that Samantha outdid herself with the writing of Caine in that she truly pulled him out of the predictable mean-millionaire trope that many of these novels seem to be stuck in the pattern of. By the end of it, I was swooning just as hard as Alexa was at every moment they spent together and I truly do have to give a hats-off to Samantha for writing him as brilliantly as he wrote Alexa. It's excellent to see two characters that are given such deep storylines, amazing plots, characterisation and character growth. It offers so much to the amazingness of the novel and I was truthfully mindblown at how talented this author is.

There was so much angst in this novel - but just the right amount to make it entertaining and such a brilliant "I can't get to the next page fast enough" read. It wasn't a turn off, it wasn't overdone, it wasn't repetitive... It was entirely different and unique with each encounter and I loved, loved, loved it. It truly helped to build up the sexual tension between the two and I just couldn't get enough of it. Also, my friends, the smut was absolutely to die for. Drool worthy, hot, steamy - yes. The perfect mixture of everything fantastic. If you're a die hard smut fan like myself, definitely give this one a shot because you won't regret it.

All in all, this book was absolutely perfect. If I could give it higher than a five star, I simply would! If I was going to rate it out of ten, it'd be a solid ten and even then I'd wish I could rate it higher.
I absolutely recommend you pick this book up - it's an excellent mixture of strong characters, angst and steam!

Go pick it up!

This was pretty much typical Samantha Young and if you've read any of her Dublin Street series, I'm sure you'd enjoy it. For me, it was lacking a little of the family dynamic the Dublin street series managed to create. Of course, the romance was scorching as always and Young may well be one of the best writers of gut-wrenching romance and sizzling sex scenes out there, so I will likely always pick up her books for that alone.

3 stars