Title: "The Player" (Rouge Passion series, book 1)Author: J.D. Chase Format: Electronic book. *--> NOTE: A FREE ELECTRONIC COPY OF THIS BOOK WAS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST REVIEW, VIA NETGALLEY! <--*Published: Smashwords Edition, 2014. Genre: fiction, adult fiction, explicit sex/sexual situations & sexual innuendos, frequent swearing, use of "shaming/criticisms" in sexual situations, erotica, drama.My rating (1-5 scale): 2.75-3 stars.Brief remarks:'The Player' is set in London and is written in British prose, which I often struggle with reading for some reason. Odd-I know! I do NOT base my rating on this personal shortcoming though-that would be ridiculously unfair indeed. Maybe it's just the lifetime "Midwest" in me! ;)This story was centered around a female MC (Isla) working as a manager at a boutique hotel; a job which she was way over qualified to be performing and for which she was underpaid accordingly...but she was left in a situation of having to work SOMEWHERE after a cohabiting relationship completely imploded in her life. We begin with a sudden, unexpected change of ownership of the hotel which naturally had the staff in an uproar. The new owner chose to purchase the hotel anonymously which added an extra layer of anxiety to the mix. Personally, I liked that twist. ;)This reader was not surprised when our MC & this new owner (Xander, "just Xander"), end up attracted to one another and quickly end up "shagging" (Ha! I did it! I used the term correctly! I'm really NOT good at that AT ALL!) soon. The sex! The sex was uber intense and very steamy, which was great, but for this reader it was waaaayyyy toooooooo verbose! I like dirty talk in the bedroom, especially in a steamy novel, as much as anyone yet the paragraph long explanations by Xander as to why he always, yes ALWAYS, pillow talks that way, really took a lot away from the action, imo. I also seem to have a bit of a "trigger" when the dirty talk turns to or includes the Male/Dominant referring to his partner as a "whore" or "slut" OVER AND OVER. To this reader, that is not sexy, no matter how many times the dude claims to mean it to be.--------- Here is a quote from the first sex scene with Isla and Xander; this is right after he had demanded she strip then specifically pose for him: "Oh, you dirty bitch," he whispered from right behind her. "You beautiful, sexy, dirty bitch." < ------- Of course, Isla was shocked by his unexpected name calling but she kept it to herself as he pleasured her quite nicely ;). X was also kind to her in that she was insecure about her "size 16 body" that he said was "beautiful; made for fucking". That was cool. However, as the scenes played out throughout the book - both the sex and otherwise - I found myself cringing and anxious-feeling over those types of words. I'm not conservative at all, but for some reason, the repetitiveness of "your whore cunt" and the like just made me uncomfortable. Hell. I feel like a prude admitting this! Lol. I am certain my discomfort is just that trigger feeling based on my own negative experience(s). Honestly, I am bummed to admit that these feelings really took away from any back story enjoyment for me. I guess I just was NOT the best person to read this book. That stinks, too as it is well written by an obviously talented and experienced author!"The Player" is not J.D.C.'s first novel; she has also written a four book series: "Orion the Hunter", which I am looking forward to reading. I'll probably put Isla and Xander's story aside for a while though, but I am curious to see what ends up happening considering where Book 1 ends! Sorta cliff-hanger there!!! If you're considering reading this book and/or the series, I would ask if you REALLY like steamy, explicit sex scenes? (Yes!); do you enjoy dirty bedroom talk? (Yes); are you okay with the dirty talk becoming a bit rougher or vulgar and including name calling such as "whore" and "slut", for example? (Alas, that's where I disappoint myself and bow out; SIGH). If you're lucky enough to have a good comfort level with those three items, the lengthy explanations by Xander as he uses the naughty names, etcetera will likely not bother you at all and hopefully you'll really enjoy this story! I wish you the best and TRULY hope so! Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Thank you NetGalley for he opportunity to do so.Cheers!Lisa (@NurseLisainOhio). https://netgalley.com/re/1844667?r=tNetGalley, GoodReads, Twitter, Pintetest, IG, tumblr, etc. :D
I just ain't feeling it, babe. Any of it! :((view spoiler)[well, all I have to say it that i thought i've seen a lot and read a lot, so I can say that I have a pretty good idea what goes and what doesn't. Well, this is quite a shitty situation, cause i don't really like to say shitty things about anything written but this is such a bullshit, bollocks...first of all, when I read fiction, the point of it, for me at least, is to present characters that you can escape with, fantasize about and just feel nice reading about, for those couple of hours of relaxation and when your main character is described as NOT attractive, well...shit starts to accumulate! and generaly speaking that ain't good!and there is my first issue out of two - main character! 1) NOT attractive but powerful, WTF? if he's not attractive what would be the reason for the heroine to scratch her itchy pussy with him, cause she says it herself - he was NOT a beautiful man, but he was powerful, again what does that mean?! I guess, she fall for the position then, cause he's the boss?! Forbidden affair aside, at this point I don't give a shit about that and it's at least of my problems.My problem is I did'n relate to the characters, especially the boss, the MAN, the UGLY man, well f*ck, if i have to escape into my imagination, I will certainly escape with the hot as f*ck guy, for Christ sake. And for the risk of sounding totally superficial, I just don't give a f*ck!!! That should be the point of a fiction romance, erotic romance above all!Issue no.2 - the language, sex languageI have no problem with dirty talk, I say bring it on! It suppose to rile you up, work you up, turn you on, make you sweat and hot and bothered! that is the purpose of a dirty talk.but when I am stuck in my mind with the notion of an ugly guy with power (wooooo)who says things like this during rough, animalistic and wild sex: ‘Oh you greedy slut,’‘Is three fingers not enough for you? Then let’s try four, you needy, filthy bitch.’‘Oh you filthy, dirty, squirting slut!’ he said, sliding his fingers out and sucking them one by one. ‘You filthy, beautiful, amazing slut.’‘Come, you filthy, stubborn bitch,’‘Yeah, come, you gorgeous slut,’‘Don’t worry about that. Listen to that greedy pussy. It’s a hungry cock whore, isn’t it, Red? It wants to be filled and fucked and yet I’ll bet it’ll still be gagging for more.I would say: get the f*ck away from me, you freak!!!but no our heroine still does it while screaming at him: ‘Stop before you split my pussy open.’that's such a turn off!!!the guy is an asshole and a distasteful dickhead! I wouldn't touch him with an electric stick! what I would say to you...but I won't cause I'm above all that shit!and he explains:You can’t argue with the responses of your body, only your narrow field of experience and your narrow mind.’You brain is incapable of thinking up something you feel you should say, you’ll find that whatever comes out of your mouth is raw, honest and unable to offend either of us.and then when he says this i just lost my appetite entirely:‘All right, just this once I’ll compromise . . . but I’m fucking you before the day’s out. Now bring that juicy pussy and sit it on my face . . . I can’t do anything until I’ve eaten in a morning.’but hey, maybe it's me and not you! maybe someone else would like this...but to me it was just cold, without emotions, any emotions at all, just fuck as animals, as neanderthals...hmmmfff, urrgghhh, arrrghhhh...hmmmpf, uuuuhhh, uuuuhhh....and similar unarticulated murmurs.there, I think I'm done. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about The Player (2014)?
3.75 filthy, dirty starsIsla Hamilton had been working for 6 months as assistant to the GM of a 5 star hotel in London. She had previously occupied the position of a stockbroker, but that had ended along with her relationship very abruptly. She was a fire headed, ball breaker, who suffered no fools, but had become increasingly frustrated when her ideas to improve the hotel's bottom line, had been persistently ignored.Out of the blue, news comes that the current GM has retired and that a new owner is apparent. In walks Xander Rhodes, with an air of confidence, arrogance and pure gorgeousness. With his steely stare and double entendres, he woos Isla into a world she's never visited before, and now she's hooked. "Yes, he was arrogant sometimes, frustrating quite often, knicker-wettingly filthy definitely.."I enjoyed the fiery foreplay of this couple, and then the dirty, dirty, dirty talk. Isla was all in with the fast paced, intense hookups, whilst Xander was cagily reticent...and not long until we find out why. Story flowed well, but I did find the many sex scenes a little repetitive at times.Will definitely read on to see how the fallout is handled.
—Janey
Whoa! Dirty talk has never really been a love of mine, but I have to say... Xander Rhodes excels at it. He is one pervy bastard but I'm hooked! It takes much to make me blush but The Player certainly did that, and more! Someone open the fucking window in this train cabin. Oh yeah... I'm on a train right now to London, to coincidentally spend the day with this author among a few others and I'm going to bill her for new underwear, although I will hug her too for putting a goofy dreamy smile on my face.The synopsis covers this book perfectly and it's not a long read so if you are looking for a book that guarantees to get you a lot hot under the collar with a dirty talking, sexual manipulative hotel owning extraordinaire then this book is for you. It's filthy though so if you are somewhat of a wallflower then you may want to leave this little baby on the shelf.The heroine gives as good as she gets and I love her open mindedness. She's not afraid of flaunting her UK size 16 curves and I love her for it and for the author of giving us a more realistic beauty who rides cock like a rodeo princess but rocks a suit in high end hotel management. A woman after my own heart!I did guess the ending outcome a good few chapters before the end, but it will be interesting to see how Isla plays this new hand she has been dealt. She holds all the power and I can't wait to see how she wields it.Pure adulterated filthy fun!4 Crowns
—Kelly 'Perusing Princesses blog'
I read this after a recommendation from a friend and i've been kicking myself for not reading it sooner. I love a dirty talking, secretive, sweet man and, for me personally, Xander met my expectations. The story kept my interest throughout, although i will say there are a LOT of dirty, dirty sex scenes in it(i'm not complaining, just pointing it out incase that's not your thing). I actually liked Isla, loved her stubborn streak the most, and was rooting for her throughout the book. I loved Dean and would have liked to of seen more of him. The ending....I'm reserving judgement on, all i'll say is i can't wait for the next book.
—Vickie
