Hi, book buddies :-) Ready for a mind-blowing reading experience? Then SLAY is the right book for you!!
MY OPINION
Do you know that kind of story that starts fine and then grows furiously in tension until you feel yourself implode?
Yes, I am SLAYed.
Two hateful characters, hard to like. Yet...
A very narrow plot, focusing on a mysterious proposal that has no benefit for the lady and very suspicious motives on the hero. Yet...
It is addictive.
Edward Fasbender is the type of dominating, arrogant male example of enemy you hate to love. He is ice but can melt rocks. I understand a woman's wobbly knees in his magnetic presence, but I still reject the fact that she let herself be stepped on for the sake of lust. That's what our heroine seems to be.
Totally from her point of view, Celia Werner presents herself in the story as void, evil and suddenly in lust with this man against self-preservation. That might be the case, but her obsession became mine as I kept on reading and I was mesmerized.
Fasbender proposes this outrageous scheme to Celia. Of couse, she denies him, but not for long, as she craves to either conquer or destroy him.
At first, the characters are sharply featured. He is the epitome of cold, closed-off entitled man-god. She is malicious and obsessive, even to the point of giving into instinct despite the humiliation. Yet as the edgy game of cat and mouse evolve between Fasbender and the heroine, Celia, they start to become human and much more interesting.
He might be harbouring some softer side besides his very secretive and enticing dark impulses. On the other hand, she is determined beyond belief as she proves again and again in her pursuit of unearthing his secrets to her advantage. I really admired her resourfulness. Could it be that she also hides a very ugly scar under all the layers in her mind? I was dying to know.
From New York to London, she weaves this desperate web of deceit around him only to sink deeper into the spider's web herself. I loved and hated their exchanges, wrought with exasperating challenge and conceited domination and provocative desire too long unfulfilled.
I wanted the fake to be real, and the real to be realized with all my mighty obsession with this crazy couple. And oh my, the lengths they go to in order to achieve their goals. I was ensnared in the corrupt yet all-consuming dynamics they engage in up until that wicked, wicked cliffhanger that I would not have foreseen in my wildest dreams. How can I cope now? :-D
Favourite Quotes:
He had the air of a secret agent - cool and collected but constantly scheming.
Obsession had a way of undermining wise intentions.
SLAY: RIVALRY (Slay Quartet #1) by Laurelin Paige
Release Date: June 4th
Add SLAY #1 to Goodreads:
WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT :-)
JOIN the SLAY ONE: RIVALRY RECOVERY GROUP
when you’re done reading!!
Warning: it's hard to like these characters, but that's what makes this story so engrossing ;-)
Edward Fasbender is a devil.
He's my father's business rival, a powerful, vicious man who takes what he wants and bows to no one. I only took the meeting because I was curious. I thought he was going to offer me a job.
But that's not what he's after at all. His proposal is much more intriguing, and I see an opportunity. An opportunity to turn the tables and bring down the devil.
I've gotten in trouble playing these games before. I know when the risk is too great, when the stakes are too high. I know how to be cold and strong-willed and destructive. I know how to withstand dominant men with arrogant charm and rugged features.
Yet I can't resist taking on Edward.
And I can't resist the pull he has on me.
Soon I'm not so sure which side of the battle I'm standing on--if I'm the warrior meant to slay,
Or the one who will be slain.
ENJOY AN EXCERPT!
Sitting like this, on the arm of the chair, his back straight, we were practically the same height. It occurred to me that this was the closest we’d ever been to having equal footing, and somehow that made me both heady and encouraged.
I reached out to rub the collar of his shirt between my thumb and forefinger, my breath stuttering under the thick weight of apprehension, my mouth watering from how close I was to touching his skin. This close, I could smell the liquor on his breath and the musky scent of his cologne and the fainter scent underneath of pure man.
“Tell me your requests.” Was it my imagination or did his voice suddenly seem darker? Less steady?
“There’s only one.” I leaned in until my lips were near his ear. “I want to add sex to the deal.”
He made a sound low in his throat, half like a laugh, half like a moan. “What, now?”
He turned his face toward mine, and now our mouths were only inches away from touching. I could feel the warmth of his exhale on my skin, sending a trail of goosebumps down my arms.
“Now, sure.” Fuck, I was wet already. “But I meant in the marriage, too.”
His lips danced around mine. “You don’t know what you’re asking for. You want to be humiliated, degraded, and hurt?”
Yes.
Because that was the goal of The Game.
But, also, YES!
Because, in that moment, there was nothing more I could imagine wanting than to be all those things, to be humiliated and degraded and hurt, by him. I wanted it so much I ached. Ached in places I hadn’t known could feel.
I reached my neck forward, pushing my mouth toward his.
Just when I thought the kiss was inevitable, he leaned back. “You couldn’t handle it.”
ABOUT THE MASTERMIND
With millions of books sold worldwide, Laurelin Paige is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author. She is a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however.
When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Game of Thrones or Letterkenny, or dreaming of Michael Fassbender. She's also a proud member of Mensa International though she doesn't do anything with the organization except use it as material for her bio.
She is represented by Rebecca Friedman.
FIND Laurelin
*
Are you on Instagram? :-)
@babelreader
