Leveling the Field by Megan Erickson

Synopsis:
Reclusive magazine exec Ethan Talley is furious when his business partner hires a photographer—a gorgeous photographer who insists on speaking her mind, damn it—to take pictures for an upcoming article. No matter how badly he wants the woman…under him, over him, against the nearest wall…he has reasons for not wanting to be on camera anymore, and his scars are only one of them.

It takes approximately two seconds for Lissa Kingsman to recognize Ethan as the popular YouTube gamer who fell off the planet years ago. But this Ethan is different than the charming man she used to watch, and the crush she had on him then is nothing compared to the way she’s lusting after the brooding man he is today. If sex is all he can give her, fine. Why not use that bearskin rug in her studio for something other than a prop? But she’s determined to put a chink in his armor, no matter how much he resists.

    

My Review:
3.5 stars — I received a free copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion from NetGalley.

Well this was a complete context switch from my previous book — I completely forgot how racy Entangled Brazen books tend to be, and this one caught me off guard!  It’s definitely not a bad thing, I do read erotica after all (not that this is erotica).  But I think that the immediate one night stand and initial beginning of Lissa and Ethan’s relationship kind of threw me off my game b/c I wasn’t expecting something that was so “sex only”, if that makes sense.  So I wasn’t sure if I was going to get my emotional impact, but I definitely did!!

These characters were actually quite deep for such a short novel.  I really appreciated the different ways that Lissa and Ethan dealt with loss in their lives, and the guilt that they each felt.  I really believed the development of both their relationship with each other, and Ethan’s emotional development.  And the sexy times were definitely hot and delicious!!  (though I was only so-so on the strange playfulness in the photography studio…but that could be just me)

This is actually the 4th (and last) book in this series, but it was the first one I’ve read.  I didn’t have any problems with that, and in fact it just made me curious about the other books (particularly Chloe and Grant’s story).  I have the first book (Austin and Marley) and will definitely be checking it out soon!!

So basically it was a sexy book with an emotional impact.  My only real complaint is that I saw the conflict coming from a mile away, and it was one of those times where the heroine should have known better and you end up saying “NO!!!”  🙂