Love is selfish…

My name is Blaire.
I’m the bad girl.
The other woman.
The one who never gets the guy in the end.

I’m the gold digger.
The bitch.
The one no one roots for.
The one you love to hate.

I hate myself too…

Everyone has a story. Are you ready for mine?

With champagne and caviar inundating my every sense, I slither through the light wooden floors of the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing in The Met. As I walk, I pretend to admire the expensive jewelry being showcased tonight by a famous designer whose name I can’t remember. A multicolored diamond butterfly sparkles to my left and a cobra made out of black stones glistens to my right. Rows upon rows of precious gems twinkle under the soft lights of the room, flooding the space between the walls with the glow of a thousand stars. Furtive glances. Secrets gossiped. Beauty criticized. Lofty music fills the atmosphere as the über rich mingle and pretend to like each other, yet you can almost taste their conceit and derision for one another in the air.

This is Walker’s world, and I love it.

Standing across the room, where the crowd is thinner and the music fainter, I spot Walker’s blond head in the corner of the room, talking to a group of his colleagues and their wives. He looks polished and worth every penny of his trust fund in his sleek black tuxedo, perfectly starched white shirt and black bowtie. His long golden hair parted to the side shines like the sun. He is truly flawless.

I smile because it’s hard to picture that this is the same guy who likes to snort coke off my tits as he fucks me while hardcore porn plays in the background. He looks untouchable and so cool, but his searching eyes, scanning the crowd for me give him up. He’s wondering where I am. He did tell me not to go too far, after all. Soon after we arrived at the party, I gave him some space to talk to his friends and do his thing while I did mine. I hate clingy people, so I avoid being one.

I grab a third flute of champagne from a passing waiter, and try to decide which of the different displays to check out first when my eyes land on a spectacular piece of jewelry. On a bed of black silk, similar to my hair color, lies an extravagant necklace made of diamonds and rubies—a small heaven within one’s reach as long as you can afford the price.

I bridge the space between the glass protecting the necklace and me until it’s within my reach, fighting the urge to touch the cool surface. As if under a spell, I observe how the rows of diamonds embedded in platinum form leaves and thorns. At its center is a rose made out of red diamonds almost as big as my palm.

I feel someone walk up and stand next to me, but I don’t give him or her a second thought as I continue to admire the way the light hits the gems, making them shine.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

His voice is smooth and commanding, dripping absolute power. I keep my eyes locked on the display. Call it sixth sense, but somehow I know that under no circumstance should I make eye contact with the stranger who speaks like the ruler of the world.

“Yes,” I say simply.

“I wonder how much it is?” the man asks.

“I don’t think it matters … I highly doubt anyone can afford it.”

He chuckles, and the sound is more delicious than his voice. Lusher. “Oh, but I can.”

I smile at his self-assurance. I love cocky assholes. “I still doubt it.”

“You shouldn’t. I only speak the truth,” he retorts coolly. His voice is nonchalant yet his words leave no room for disbelief—a demand and a statement all in one.

Suddenly, the noises of the room become distant. People talking and laughing amongst friends and the orchestra playing all fade away until all I hear is him speaking.

And at this moment, that is all that matters.

“The truth is very subjective, sir.”

“The truth may be subjective but money isn’t. Money can buy anything.”

His answer is like an electroshock, jumpstarting my brain from a champagne-induced haze. My pulse begins to accelerate, excitement making it hard to take a deep breath. Don’t look at him … don’t.

“Oh really,” I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. He’s right, though.

“Of course. I believe everything,” he pauses, “and everyone has a price.”

Curiosity winning the battle against curiosity, I turn to face him, and what a fucking big mistake that is. When our eyes meet, I feel incapacitated of all sense and movement. The sight of him takes my breath away. This man gives the term “lust at first sight” a whole new meaning.

In my short twenty-three years, I’ve been with extremely handsome men, perfect even, but to classify the man standing next to me in any kind of category would be a disservice to him, and not really fair to the others. Longish, light brown hair wildly framing his face, vacant eyes the color of dollar bills, a slightly crooked nose, and a mouth that begs to be buried deep within your thighs. His beauty is as harsh as it is stunningly perfect. Dressed in a simple black tuxedo and unbuttoned white shirt, the man exudes innate virility and grace, reminding me of a black panther stalking his prey. And just like a panther, it’s the pure raw and powerful energy emanating from within him that I find most attractive. Because just by standing next to him, I get the sense that his word is always the last spoken and his wishes the first ones to be fulfilled. He doesn’t ask, he demands. He doesn’t hope, he expects.

He’s quiet for a moment; his uncanny eyes hold me captive as though they are baring my soul to him and I hate it. I tighten my hold on the crystal flute. I want to look away, but I can’t. The way he’s staring at me makes me want to squirm.

“I wonder … do you have one?” he asks softly before turning to examine the piece of jewelry once more.

“A what?” I ask, momentarily stunned.

He smiles. “A price.”

“For the right amount … I just might,” I say quietly, my heart beating so fast it feels as though it wants out of my chest. As soon as the words leave my mouth, there’s no shock coursing down my body, no rolling waves of shame pulling me down for having said that to a complete stranger—nothing.

And why should there be? I am who I am.

I’m staring at his profile, waiting for him to acknowledge my answer, when a breeze of cool air floats past us, making me shiver. About to chase the goose bumps on my arm with my hand, I watch as he slowly turns to look at me, catching me staring at him. Time stands still as I watch him raise his large tanned hand and touch my bare shoulder, his fingertips lightly grazing the temporary small bumps covering it. Then he smiles as if he knows that my skin is tingling from his scalding touch, and looks away.

“I thought so.”

We remain standing next to each other for another minute or so, the distance between us almost nonexistent. It would be so easy to reach out and hold his hand. The sound of an incoming call breaks the silence, bringing us back to reality.

He takes his cell phone out of the inner pocket of his tuxedo jacket and ignores the call after noting the name of the caller. He lifts his gaze to meet my own.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. I should go … I’m here with someone,” I reply, not really wanting to leave him just yet.

“Yes, that’s probably a good idea.”

I frown. He didn’t have to be quite so blunt. The stranger extends a hand toward me, holding something in his fingers.

“Here … ”

I open my hand as I feel the edges of what I assume is his business card poke the skin of my palm. “What’s this?” I ask stupidly.

“My business card, of course.”

“Obviously … but why?”

He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s just say that I’m an interested buyer.”

And then he’s gone.

He turns and walks away from me, disappearing into a sea of colorful gowns and black suits. As the sounds of the party infiltrate my ears once more, I lower my gaze to stare at the simple cream-colored card in my hand. Its simplistic and elegant design draws attention to the name printed in bold black letters on the paper.

Lawrence Rothschild.

I smile and let my fingertips trail his name. It depends on what you’re willing to pay, Mr. Rothschild.

This is me taking control of my life. This is me becoming whatever I need to be in order to achieve my goals. And, most importantly, I don’t care because when this is over; all my sins will be paid for…and very well.

Allow me to preface my review by saying that I absolutely fell in love with Mia Asher’s writing style. The woman truly has an incredible gift with words. I was captivated by the story with just the first few sentences and I knew it would be unlike anything I’ve read before…and boy was it.

I am selling my soul.
And the sad part is…
I don’t care.

See here’s the thing, my dislike for a heroine is a guaranteed way to ruin the book for me. I have yet to read a book where that didn’t hold true…until this one. The blurb painted an anti-heroine of sorts and that was the main reason I picked this up. Did it deliver on that promise? Well, pretty much.

I’m a gold digger, but I’m also smart. Love fades…or it’s selfish…or unkind…but a diamond, a diamond will last forever.

The blurb is incredibly vague, and that’s a good thing…and also a bad one. Because had I known this was not a standalone and would have the possibility of a love triangle (of sorts), I would never have picked this one up. The mere thought of a love triangle sends me into a cold sweat, and it’s always hard limit for me. Even an implied love triangle makes me stabby

After finishing it, i can definitely tell you that I’m GLAD I didn’t know about that because I would have missed out on an AMAZING book and a fantastic author! The reader isn’t really introduced to a love triangle here, but I have a feeling that come next book it will definitely be there and be a hell of a whammy. Let me clear up what I mean by love triangle, though. There are NO dual love interests. It is very clear who Blaire truly has feelings for. There is also no intermingling of relationships and no cheating. One happens right after the other. However, for me, when a heroine has more than one sexual interest in a man, meaning there’s 2 men vying for her “attention”, I view it as a LT. Though not in a traditional sense. So if you’re like me and hate LT, I highly recommend you give this one a try because it’s not all it appears to be.

Love is selfish.
Love is unkind.
Love hurts.

Blaire is a gold digger. She’s gorgeous, shallow, and almost soulless but at the same time intelligent and highly intriguing. She is a product of her childhood and has learned the tough lesson early on that love isn’t for everyone nor is it forever. And who needs love anyway when money can give you so much more?

To say that Blaire is unlikable wouldn’t be true. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not exactly going to give you the warm and fuzzies but there’s also a redeemable factor to her…it’s just buried very deep. Used to sending men to their knees with her beauty and opening her legs to the right wallet size, she never sees it coming when a man that is the polar opposite of what she looks for manages to capture her attention…

But that is all I can tell you about the plot. You’ll have to read it yourself to learn the rest.

So why not 5 stars?
The ending
This is a short, read it in one sitting, type of read. Personally, I didn’t feel that a cliffhanger was essential to the story at all. It could have easily all been resolved in one longer book. There are some stories you read and you can clearly see why it needed the cliffy and the extended story, but this just wasn’t the case for me here.

While, I understand that the way Blaire constantly describes herself and justifies her decisions that it was all leading to that. And I suppose that’s also part of what didn’t quite work for me? The predictability of it. I saw it coming a mile away, and yet like a train wreck I just couldn’t seem to look away.

At this point however, I have no idea where the story may head. And that equal parts intrigues and enrages me. And I’m hoping for the sake of my sanity that the wait for book 2 isn’t too long.

But my small quibbles aside, this was still a great read. Mia Asher is definitely an incredibly talented author and it’s clear with every word that the woman can write a book that will grab you by the throat and make you feel. Whatever that feeling is, is objective to the reader, but any book that manages to bring out such a range of emotion is definitely one to take note of.

My name is Mia Asher.

I’m a writer, a hopeless romantic, a wanderer, a dreamer, a cynic, and a believer. And, oh yes…I might be a bit crazy – but who isn’t?

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Pain, abuse, brutality. That was my life. I struggled and stressed; cried until I forgot what tears were. But I worked hard. I clawed to the peak.
And then I lost everything.
Most people would have shattered.
I’m not most people.
My dreams are gone, but that’s fine. I could have lived this tiny, broken life. I could have suffered in silence.
Until I met her: Noel.
God, she’s so alive. She makes me ACHE and I just…
I can’t ignore her.
So I won’t.
Noel thinks she can handle me. Survive me.
If she knew the truth—could see into my mind—she’d smarten up and run.
I’m so lucky she doesn’t have a clue.

–Author’s Note– This is a dark romance novel, it contains themes of violence and mature situations that could make readers uncomfortable.

Pain doesn’t scare me. It lures me in.

When I read the blurb for this book, I knew I needed it in my life. I am a sucker for all things dark, and this one sounded right up my pervy little alley. Then I read the first chapter and I. Was. Hooked. The first half of the book I was completely engrossed in the story.

The world wasn’t fair. No, worse than unfair. It was cruel and cold.

Carter grew up the hard way. Constantly drowning under the pressure to be the best from his parents, who love their drugs more than their own son, he knows that pain will be his consequence. Ballet is his escape, it’s what he loves, and he works his ass off for it. Until one night when everything changes, when the mistakes of his parents catch up with him in a devastating hit that changes his life and his plans for a career in ballet forever. It is also the night that Carter finally loses his control on his darker side; a side that has been brewing throughout his entire childhood. A side that he did his damnedest to keep hidden and at bay. It’s dark and violent and when he gives it free reign, there’s no more going back.

Inside of me, curled around and swimming in my warm blood, there was a creature as awful and deadly as cyanide.

When his dream of attending the elite ballet school of his dream is shattered, he gets offered a semblance of hope from one of his instructors. So he accepts the offer to teach at a ballet school in Paris. It may not be what he wants, but what other choice does he have. And that’s where he meets her…

Noel Addison was twisting in my mind, sinking into the cracks of my brain. The only thing in my life I’d obsessed about like this was dancing.

After losing her mother to cancer, Noel only wants one thing; to attend the ballet school that her mother has such fond memories of. A talented ballerina, she has her choice of schools, and even though this one may not be the best, it’s a piece of her mother that she needs in the dark time after her passing.

Automatically catching the eye of the dark and broody instructor, Carter, her skill stands out. After all, the school is slowly dying and is the choice for those dancers that simply couldn’t make it anywhere else. Carter notices her skills right away, and he’s drawn to them and to the beautiful woman…but he knows that he is too dark for her. Too bad she tempts him until all reason fades away.

My ability to control myself was waning. She was a harsh ice storm, grinding way at my granite and polishing into infinity.

Their attraction is undeniable, though Carter attempts to fight it. The author did a great job of building a slow mounting sexual tension until the moment when it all combusts and let me tell you…when it does? It was SCORCHING.

Noel didn’t taste like cherries or sugar. This woman was gun powder and arsenic.

Watch Me Fall dances on the edge of darkness, though it never fully fell into it completely.

There are some dark elements; rough sex, erotic asphyxiation, and a domineering hero. But I felt it could have really grown from that into something much more. As a matter of fact I kept waiting for it.

Yes, the sex was scorching hot and at times almost borderline violent in it’s need. Unfortunately, Carter was a character I kept wanting to fully understand yet never truly did.

While I got his dark and violent urges from his past, it didn’t fully translate into his present. Maybe what was missing was a little more development in that part for me to really get invested in him as a hero? He constantly talks about his inner monster, but it just wasn’t something I connected to. I honestly can’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but it just didn’t quite work for me.

I also struggled to full understand Noel’s attraction to the pain and that side of Carter. Maybe she was just a masochist? I dunno. For whatever reason, while I felt the chemistry between them, I never really connected to the “romance” aspect of it.

All that said, this still was a solid 4 star read. I really loved the Nora’s writing style, she truly has a gift for weaving her words together beautifully. The best part? No naive and innocent virgins were to be found anywhere in this book. Unfortunately the ending felt rushed and it just all resolved so quickly and nicely that it didn’t match the rest of the book. I needed more from that. The epilogue was great, but it was like Carter flipped a complete 180 with his personality to me. Maybe it was just me, as I do tend to be extremely picky with my dark reads.

You have no idea what too far is! God, did no one teach you to be scared of monsters?”
“I was taught not to run from the things I want.”

I can’t say I would classify this as a dark romance, it was more gray for me. If you’re looking to dabble in the genre but scared of fully diving in, this may be the perfect book for you to start with. Fans of dark romance may not find it as intense as the blurb implies. Though it was still a highly enjoyable read, and I would definitely recommend it.

ARC very generously provided by author in exchange for an honest review

Powerful. Dominant, Unforgettable. He commands submission at all costs.

Cage fighter, Gabriel Devereaux, a man of barely leashed power, is known as the Bayou Beast.

There is one woman he will do anything , pay any amount to possess.

Karina Armistead, has come a long way from the innocent girl Gabriel used to know. An internationally known singer, she can have anything she wants. But everything tells her that getting involved with the Bayou Beast may leave her wrecked beyond repair.

Little does Karina Armistead know, but Gabriel has decided that she will be his.

He will destroy anything or anyone who stands in his way.

Back then he’d been her Gabriel, an angel who’d fallen just for her. Now he was the Bayou Beast, the ultimate fighter, the savvy entrepreneur, a predator with a barely banked rage burning in his eyes.

Even though I’ve recently grown an aversion to any book that contains the word ‘millionaire’ or ‘billionaire’ in the title, I can’t pass this series up. It’s a guilty pleasure for me. A short, well written, quick paced and sexy read that never fails to deliver. I love that each book has it’s own version of ‘lovers reunited’ trope, the heroines are fantastic, and the heroes are melt your panties off sexy. It just works for me. I’ve been waiting to finally get the story behind the broody and enigmatic Gabriel, or as he’s better known, the Bayou Beast. Gabriel may get his name from his fame as a cage fighter, but really it’s more for his penchant for illegal and underground no-holds-barred fights.

These days, only when facing possible death did he come close to feeling alive.

Women aren’t even on his radar unless it’s for a a night spent between the sheets…at least not until the one woman from his past that he never forgot comes back into his life.

Karina Armistead is an international sensation as a famous singer. In town for a charity auction that is near and dear to her heart. She’s no longer that innocent girl that Gabriel knew and then left, taking her heart with him. But that doesn’t mean Gabriel is prepared to let her go now, even if it means dropping a few million for a date with her for an auction.

The chemistry between Karina and Gabriel comes back to the blazing one that they shared over 10 years ago, only this time, Gabriel isn’t prepared to let her go.

I really liked this one, though book 2 is still my favorite in the series. I found some of the suspense/drama that went down towards the end to be just a little too OTT. Other then that, I enjoyed everything. I love that even though this is on the shorter end, Mallery Malone still gives the reader that burn of anticipation and doesn’t just throw the MCs into bed together right away. The plot is well developed, the chemistry is sizzling, and even though it’s a novella, it’s still a highly satisfying read. Most of the time when I read a novella the length is what keeps me from truly developing a real connection to the characters, but that’s never been the case for me with this series. Ms. Malone never fails to get the reader invested in the MCs and their romance. So if you’re looking for a quick and sexy read, definitely give this one a shot. While a part of a series, each book can easily be read as a standalone.

Don’t miss the rest of the series!