Personally I think all these four ratings have been bought and paid for because this book is literally a huge waste of paper, just as much as the first book in this trilogy. If I could rate it a zero I would. The publisher needs to reign in Malpus with a good strong editor. I would have waited for this to go on the clearance rack if B&N didn't put it on sale and give me a huge discount coupon so that I got if for about half-price, still paid too much for it. The reason I assert this is except for very few passages much could be trimmed from this book (and the first one) to make it a tighter and livelier read. ****Spoiler Alert**** if you're still interested in reading this book stop reading this, but if you already read it and disagree with me, hear me out. The first book sets up a premise of Miller Hart offering Olivia (Livy) Taylor one night and the best fuck of her life. She's been avoiding men in part for fear she'd become a slut like her mother who abandoned her with her Grandparents to earn money by giving her body to men. Livy is 'irresistibly' drawn to Miller and after avoiding him for a while takes him up on his offer of one night, but even though he tells her he is no good for her, he keeps pursuing her. Like a Christian Grey wannabe, Malpus writes Miller Hart as rich, emotionally distant, domineering and a chiseled sex god, but he has none of the charm. And her Livy in no way equals Anastasia in spirit. In fact in writing about the first book I characterized Livy as a doormat, and she does very little to change my opinion in this book. At the end of the first book after Livy has revealed that she had run away several years ago to try to understand how her mother found that life alluring, she found her mother's pimp. She is sent home when he figures out who she is and returns to care for her widowed Grandmother (the best character in the book in my opinion). Miller accepts her explanation but when Livy learns that Miller is a high-priced and highly sought after 'escort' who services his clients sexually according to his own rules (not they way he had made love to Livy) she is not at all accepting and confronts him and tosses a big wad of cash on his table in a restaurant where he had been having dinner with one of his clients, and Livy goads him saying she wants to have the real paid Miller Hart experience. Once he fucks her in the manner of all his clients, hands bound so no touching him, no kissing him, just a hard mechanistic fuck that still elicits a mind-blowing orgasm, she runs away from him and that is where the first novel ends. What is truly pathetic about the second novel is that it's a given that she will take him back or there wouldn't be a 2nd volume, and it's equally sure that something will continue to drag them apart, hence the 3rd volume, but what happens in between is so lackluster that towards the end I was so bored with this writers fucking around I just wanted it to end. Not that some of the sex scenes aren't quite hot, but the stuff that is supposed to make the reader care about the characters...doesn't! The second volume has the additional twists of the pimp who sent Livy back showing up again to try to get her to stay away from Miller Hart, and also her best friend Gregory (gay) becomes completely antagonistic to her relationship with Hart so that she dumps her best friend. There are very brief passages that attempt to get the reader to understand why she is fascinated with Miller, the photo of him as a child, poor and neglected in a foster home. His fear of elevators from being locked in a cupboard, how he became a male prostitute, and worked his way up to a trusted high-class escort. Livy tries to make Miller loosen up, tries to MAKE him happy, and she accepts him when he reveals he hasn't had sex with any clients since he met Livy. But none of this really reveals enough to help readers who are not doormats by nature come to see Miller as Livy sees him. It is not until the last ten pages that something happens to propel the third book, when Livy's mother's pimp arrives to warn them that Miller's connections are about to show up and that spells danger for both Miller and Livy and helps them escape. I tried to give this author a second chance with the second volume even though I thought the first book was really lousy. But the second one was lousier than the first so I've taken the position I know the third volume will have a happy ending, but I don't have any interest in the long tedious journey this author will take to get to that foregone conclusion. I would say to Malpus, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me and there will be no chance to fool me thrice. I really dont know what I think of this series. book 1 really didnt do it for me the story was crap and ive held off reading this story for so long but thought I would give it ago. ok so it wasnt as bad as book 1 but still was a great read. the story in all is ok but its dull and lifeless. miller just doesnt do it for me hes flat and lifeless livy is fun but we go round in circles. not one of jodis best
What do You think about Denied (2014)?
¿Se supone que debo esperar hasta Febrero con tremendo final de impacto que tiene este libro? :(
—Vyshnavi
Livy's love to Miller is just so pure and true. She never gave up on him.
—Jody
Predictable. Too much like her This Man series.
—Breanna
¡Muero porque traduzcan el tercer libro! :(
—jq_narciso
