MaelstromRating: 2 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


At thirty-two years of age, Kylor Knightley is a self-made millionaire. He invests in businesses and has done well for himself. His latest venture is a London club that has all the potential, but just doesn’t have the musical act that will keep bringing people back. While at an open mic night one evening, Kylor hears the exact voice that he has been looking for and the face to go with it is exceptional as well. Kylor’s first thought is to get this guy to come work for him even though he knows that he could never date an employee. Kylor is a proper British man who follows the rules and falling for a man ten years younger just doesn’t fit into his life at all.

Eden McFadden grew up in New York but has lived in London for the past four years. He wants to make it as a singer, but to make ends meet he works at an upscale strip club as part of a dance troupe where the final act is quite revealing. The first time Eden sees Kylor he is wildly attracted to the man, but the men are worlds apart in just about everything. They clash each and every time they see each other, but the attraction still burns bright. The men will both have to compromise for any kind of relationship to take flight.

I am going to make this one brief as to not prolong it because the style of this book did not work for me at all. The set up was fine with there being an opposites attract quality with the men ten years apart in age and completely different in personality, as Kylor is stiff and proper and Eden is artistic and free. There is an initial attraction that sets things off, but there wasn’t one area that drew me in.

The men are constantly fighting all the way throughout the book. At first, I think it was supposed to come off as sexual tension, but it just felt like Kylor being rude and dismissive. He criticizes Eden about everything, from his job to his clothes and everything in between, from their very first interaction. This went on all the way through the book and it was difficult to see these two as a romantic pair because all they did was fight with Kylor belittling Eden like he was a child.

The writing also did not work for me. The dialogue is heavily clichéd and for Eden being twenty-two and for the personality we are told he has, it did not fit his character and the dialogue came off sounding tired. There is everything said from “don’t rain on my parade” to “brooked no argument” to “let sleeping dogs lie” to name a few and there were so many clichés it made the narrative feel forced. The dialogue was also juvenile at times with Eden calling Kylor “Mr. Fancy Pants”and Kylor saying they “didn’t go all the way to Rome to play patty-cake.”  There was also a scene with Kylor’s mother that came off as oddly placed and when Kylor notices she is acting strangely, he discovers she has been taking an “herbal remedy,” and she then tells Kylor she is his “yummy mummy.”

The men don’t really get together until 80% of the way into the book and they continue to fight on their first date. The only potentially tender moments were off page and we catch up with them the next morning. There was nothing shown of them enjoying being together or building a relationship as even the epilogue has them still accommodating for each other.

So that was my experience with this book. This was a debut novel from this author and I can’t say that I will be looking for more in the future.

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