Title: All I Want
Luke Evans is a heartbreaker.
I didn’t want to give mine to him. Not when he kept me out.
He gave me enough, just enough to make me fall in love with him. I say this to convince myself. But I know the truth.
I would’ve fallen in love with him at a distance.
Handing my heart over to Luke was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I was naive when I wished for more, when I hoped he wanted the same things I did.
I try to hate him. I try to forget him.
But it’s not that easy.
Love is a ruthless bitch, and I’m her latest victim.
Tessa Kelly is a man-eater.
When she sets her sights on you, she doesn’t just consume your heart, she goes for your soul.
What we had was perfect, real, and all I would ever want.
But she destroyed it.
She destroyed us.
I try to hate her. I try to forget her.
But it’s not that easy.
Love is for people who have hope, and I have none.
Because when you fall in love with someone exactly the way they are, how do you convince yourself they aren’t enough for you?
One of my favorite tropes is jilted lovers. Just something about all that angst between the couple that were once hot and heavy then ripped apart but still feel that inexplicable connection to each other months (or in the case here, a year) later. It’s utterly delicious. Now make one of those a manwhorish and brooding hot cop and the other a sassy call ’em like she sees ’em heroine? Well that’s just guaranteed book magic for me. What? I’m easy like that.
I knew from the first chapter that Tessa was going to be one of those heroines that I’m going to love. She’s snarky, sarcastic, borderline bitchy, and doesn’t hesitate to cut anyone down to size. It’s not everyday you get a heroine that walks in on her ex (who she still has feelings for) getting a blowjob from a random blonde and manage to put them both in their place.
“Oh my God. Are you serious? You have herpes?”
“What? No I don’t!”
“He’s really sweet about it though,” I say sympathetically at the blonde. “He pays for my Valtrex every month.”
She does have her moments of acting juvenile and stupid and at times a straight out bitch. BUT, underneath all that was a vulnerability that I couldn’t help but connect with.
Tessa met Luke through her older brother Ben, who happens to be Luke’s partner on the force. They hit it off right away and their relationship starts hot and heavy. Their chemistry never fizzles off, but when Tessa realizes that Luke will always hold himself off from her emotional and isn’t interested in ever settling down, she calls it off.
Now Luke. Oh my sweet darling Luke. What can I tell you about him aside from the fact that I couldn’t get enough of his stubborn and pigheaded ways. Luke never got over Tessa, but he knows that he’ll never be able to truly open up to her emotionally. That doesn’t stop him from hating her for walking away from him without any explanation. The fact that even a year later the redheaded vixen continues to plague his fantasies certainly doesn’t help matters any.
Thus begins their (not so) delicate dance of I hate you/I want you. Gawd it was delicious.
I have to admit that at times both Luke and Tessa had me wanting to shake them for their juvenile actions and decisions. But at the same time, it also just worked in this book. Don’t ask me to explain why or how, such is the magic of J. Daniels writing.
Underneath all the jealousy and snarky barbs there was a chemistry that was so hot, it burned through the pages.
“Do I need to tell you what to do with that?” he asks, his voice laced with arrogance as he glances down at my hand that remains stagnant against his cock.
“God I fucking hate you.” I pull his cock free and wrap my hand around it, feeling him thicken in my palm…
“Yeah, I hate you too, babe.”
It was fucking hot is basically what I’m trying to tell you here.
Beyond the hot hate sex and the constant back and forth between Tessa and Luke, there was also a fantastic story. The author did a fantastic job allowing both these characters the growth that they needed but in their own due time. Even if you’ll find Tessa brash at times, you’ll really grow to like her toward the end. And if you don’t lust for Luke from the very beginning, well then there may be something wrong with you 😉
All the characters from the previous book make an appearance as well as an introduction of a few more. One of which I am practically panting to get a story for.
This was a sizzling hot romance that was humorous, sexy, and even emotional. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. The epilogue was great and I couldn’t imagine it ending any different with this couple. But I’m definitely looking forward to getting a peak of them in the future books in this series like we did for Mia and Ben in this one.
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After putting her kids to bed, she escapes into her cheeky world where some of her characters kiss, and some of them do a lot more than kiss.
She is an avid reader and enjoys everything from unconventional romance to fantasy novels.
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