~~I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy for free, in exchange for an honest review. ~~

When Willow is hired as an editor at an impressive magazine, neither she nor her hot, dominating boss know that he was the one who caused the accident that resulted in her loss of hearing five years ago. They quickly give in to the simmering desire, and Hayden must decide if he wants to know the name of the person whose life he changed, and what to do with that information once he learns the truth.

This book's premise wasn't bad. Unfortunately, the writing was.
I am not personally Deaf or hard of hearing, but I doubt this author is either, as there were multiple instances where the writing seemed to forget that Willow was deaf. While there were times when Willow worked to position herself to be able to see people's lips or changed where she walked to be able to see people, there were scenes where this wasn't a factor: when she 'looked over her shoulder' to respond to Hayden, or when 'all turned their faces to the door' after a knock. I didn't understand Willow's determination that nobody know that she was deaf--I could understand perhaps her concerns that people not see her the same or her worries about starting in a new place, but not disclosing her deafness on an application or telling anybody at work seemed extreme. And she'd never learned any sign language either? And reading lips is very difficult, especially when meeting someone new--I don't think there was a single time in the book when she asked someone to repeat something?

The writing was full of contradictions--within one paragraph or page, multiple times, the characters would change their minds, giving the reader whiplash:
"Everything seemed to stand still in time, even though the cars that looked like moving dots didn't."
"I had a hard time believing a meal for two people could have come to an astounding amount of two hundred dollars, but then again, it did make sense."
"'Hayden, this is really important to me. I want this to be the best article MAC Magazine has ever seen.' As much as I loved him touching me: work before pleasure. Hayden swung around and picked me up from the couch, the food on my plate flying everywhere. His lips were on me in an instant. The only thing I was hungry for was him."
The writing was also full of my number one pet peeve: timing issues. The book opens the day before Willow's interview, then her interview, then a day or two later on her FIRST DAY at work, Hayden already has such an interest in her that he tries to put her on lead on a project and takes her and another guy to an prospective building, then he takes her to dinner then to his place THAT NIGHT. He figures out he was the responsible party for her hearing loss (which she admits to him in a super cavalier way, not at all like this was something she was desperate for people to not know) that night, and makes all these arrangements for her to meet with a fancy doctor across the country in NYC, TWO DAYS later.

The timings made no sense, everything in this book was extremely rushed. Every opportunity for our two main characters to actually spend time together (outside of the bedroom) and get to know each other were skipped: shared meals were a sentence or two, a tourist attraction is mentioned but that time is jumped over, and a multi-day car ride is skipped too. This contributed to the poor characterization.
I didn't have much of a chance to get to know either of the main characters, because they're only ever being controlling/controlled, or having sex. Hayden was red flags left, right, and center: he's been out of prison two days and can't keep it in his pants, he sees Willow and HAS TO HAVE HER, arranging their relationship at work so that he has access to her, kissing her without any previous overtures. Multiple times the text says things like "I needed to reassure her that it would be dinner and nothing more. Leaning in toward her as she took her bag, her scent didn't escape me as I voiced my intentions. "I promise I will behave myself." It was a promise I had no intention of keeping." Hayden is 100% obsessed with Willow physically and sexually, I don't think he ever compliments her on anything other than her beauty, and he seems to pity her hearing loss over seeing her strength of spirit for recovering. Hayden is sex-crazed, turns to alcohol when stressed, throws things like laptops and his phone when he's upset, and pays off people to get what he wants.
Willow was so bland I couldn't even feel sympathy for her. She oscillates between being uncomfortable around Hayden to lustful. She's completely negative about wanting to meet the doctor, but also laments her deafness. She ignores multiple red flags about Hayden and jumps into a relationship with him very quickly.
Mia was a best friend but also a jerk? Willow's only friend and family, yet functioned to abandon Willow from girl's night and wouldn't support her when she wanted to go to the doctor consult? She was crabby when Willow was two minutes late to lunch? When the plot needed a best friend, Mia was there to be great, but when there needed to be more sex, Mia was a jerk who pushed Willow away, toward Hayden.
Sawyer was completely superfluous. His scene with Willow was ultimately not a factor in Willow and Hayden's relationship, so what was the point??
Spencer was also pointless, and had zero motivation for being the jerk he was, except perhaps his anger and resentment toward Hayden made sense because Hayden was way too controlling and didn't seem to give Spencer a chance.

The sex scenes were rushed, with language that doesn't do it for me (I prefer the word 'cervix' to stay in the gynecology office). I didn't care that Hayden was a Dom, and this was a very light element in their time together. Also, this quote just shouldn't have ever appeared in a contemporary romance: "I was selfish to satisfy my own need to orgasm multiple times rather than be conscientious of hers. Spending time in prison, absent of a woman's touch, was to blame." If it had said he worked for the both of them to be satisfied, it would have made him more likable to me.

The plot was terribly predictable, which I normally wouldn't mind, but it was also so unrealistic and problematic. In my opinion, there were too many factors at play here: boss/employee romance, inspirational/ disability, suspense/danger element. These pieces were disjointed and didn't function as 'plot twists' but rather as another chunk of the book to slog through.

Due to poor characterization, unlikeable/scary characters without growth or redeeming qualities, a plot full of holes and pointless meandering, and underwhelming writing, I have to rate this book a 1 star.