TELL ME YOU CRAVE ME
Series: Search and Seduce #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Joya Ryan
Release Date: April 4, 2016
Easton Ambrose has spent half his life protecting Natalie St. Clair from guys like himself. It’s not like he wants to interfere with her dating life, but what’s he supposed to do when she insists on going out with the wrong kind of guy? Kiss her, of course. But now she’s pissed. And what starts as an apology turns to heated words…then just to heat.
Jumping East was the worst idea in the history of ideas. The guy is Natalie’s older brother’s best friend, the definition of off limits. But she’s tired of the safe guys who couldn’t light a fire with a flamethrower. Time for a little dangerous—even if dangerous always blows up in your face. Because even if they survive their bedroom antics, it’s only a matter of time before they’re caught…
I don’t have the energy or time to fight with you right now.”
“Who said anything about fighting?”
She rolled her eyes. “When don’t we fight?”
“Is that what we’ve been doing? I thought it was foreplay.”
I’m a huge fan of Joya Ryan, but for some reason, this is the first book I’ve read in her Search and Seduce series. Having said that, I had absolutely no problem jumping right into the story and this is perfectly written as a standalone.
Easton Ambrose is a quintessential manwhore, but he has reason to be. Commitment just doesn’t appeal to him after the childhood he had. So his attraction to Natalie St. Clair, his best friend’s younger sister, is entirely unwelcome. The St. Clair family is a legacy in their small town, and also the only family he’s ever known after they took him in and basically raised him. The St. Clair’s essentially view him and Natalie as brother and sister, but his feelings for her are anything but. But she’s too good for the likes of him, so he fights his attraction with everything he has…until the one night he can’t.
Natalie St. Clair is a quirky beauty and the owner of a successful cupcake bakery, much to her prissy mother’s disaporoval. Now that her mom has it in her head that Natalie needs to be married, she finds herself on the wrong end of some of the most boring dates of her life. During one such date, her rescuer comes in the form of the bad boy she’s had a crush on since her teens, but this time the lust between them is too consuming to resist.
Thus begins their secret push and pull relationship. They want each other, they deny it, they have sex. They want each other, but they can’t be together, they have sex. On the one hand, I loved the banter and sexual chemistry between them. On the other hand I wanted to throttle both of them and shake some sense into them. This cycle of their continues throughout most of the book. Ultimately I really enjoyed their back and forth. Their sexual chemistry was sizzling, and I really enjoyed both of their characters.
I’m a sucker for the best friend’s little sister falls for the bad boy trope, and this book definitely delivered. That being said, while it was entertaining and sexy, I also felt something missing for me. I can’t quite put my finger on what, but it kept me from giving this a full 4 stars. I wanted a little more resolution between Easton and Lemon St. Clair. I felt the ending was a little rushed and considering the build up of the “forbidden” between that, aside from the acceptance from Natalie’s brother, nothing ever came of that in terms of closure with the rest of the family.
Tell Me You Crave me was a sexy little romp, and en enjoyable one at that. While nothing I’d come back to, it was still a great read to spend a Saturday afternoon with.
THE REST OF THE SERIES
TELL ME YOU NEED ME | TELL ME YOU WANT ME
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