Rating: DNF
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

 

Sometimes, a kiss can knock you out faster than a blow to the head, rendering you unable to think straight.

When drunken Michael Clayton stole a sloppy kiss in a Parisian club, he didn’t know that this would mean war. War, as in being taught a lesson by a shameless cowboy. War, as in being given a taste of his own medicine. War, as in being left dumbfounded and yearning for more. Blame it on the alcohol, right? Damn, Mike hated the guy for muddling his assumed straight orientation and raising unwelcome questions.

When noble Troy Hunter stole a revenge kiss from a despicable hot playboy, he didn’t know that it would be all but forgotten months later. Landing a gig on a Rio-bound cruise ship, the rising DJ is dazed when Mike strikes back with a vengeance during their second encounter, fueling his appetite for dominance. Blame it on the blazing sun, right? Damn, Troy hates the guy for pushing all of his buttons and rubbing salt in old wounds.

It shouldn’t have happened, but now all bets are off. Their feelings quickly escalate into something that they aren’t willing to label. It’s easier this way, until it isn’t… because life’s no cruise and some experiences are life-altering. Between Troy’s painful past and Mike’s unsettling present, their future together might be short-lived, unless their insane chemistry compels them to push their limits and each other. So, which is it? This or that?

This is a book that I knew from the first few pages was not going to be for me. First, the dialogue between all the characters was too juvenile for my tastes. I read 40% of the book and, during that time, the story took place in France. However, none of the people they encountered came off as being French. Both Troy and Mike are American. Troy was disowned from his parents in Texas when they found out he was bisexual and then lived with an aunt in NY. Mike comes from a wealthy family and he worked with his father as a criminal lawyer and now wants to pursue art, but Mike didn’t not give off any vibes of being a lawyer.

I didn’t care for either of these guys and I didn’t care for the way they thought about or spoke about women. We first encounter them at the club where Troy works. He is in a friends-with-benefits relationship with a female bartender and Mike keeps grabbing her, forcibly pulls her onto his lap, forces a kiss on her—which is assault and she can only think to call him a “perv.” Then Troy retaliates by grabbing and kissing Mike so he can see what it’s like to be kissed and grabbed when you don’t want it and Mike calls him a perv. Troy and Mike then get into it and it then moved to them becoming enemies. But Mike, who has never been interested in men, is aroused by the kiss and then continues to have more distasteful thoughts about women.

The men then meet again on a cruise where Troy is now the DJ and Mike decides he’s still aroused by Troy, but still decides he can’t be into men and I left them there on the boat. The storyline felt chaotic to me in an unpleasant way and I had no interest in reading further about either Troy or Mike. Sometimes it’s certainly better to pass on the rest of the story.