I loved this short story about Linc and Lauren a fast hot love story. Who would have guessed that a bet would turn out the best thing that both wanted.
This story could have been longer for me I love the way it was written.

 

 

 

 

Taking it slow, he unleashes her sexuality and it quickly occurs to him that what started out as a bet for him has become something more. With their weekend nearly over, and her ex showing interest in this new confident version of Lauren, Linc will have to risk it all if he wants to win the game of love.

Learning Curves by Cathryn Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Linc and Lauren fight like cats and dogs. Is it because she doth protest too much? Linc has always been suggestive, but now there is an option for them to be on the same page.

Lauren fights her attraction to her best friends boss the best way she can. Until he catches her doing something she could be fired for. Then he asks her to bet him and try to win. Is any bet where a billionaire involved a bad thing?

Linc and Lauren have sparks flying all around them when they are in the same room. No one else is fooled when they see them together. Such a great story and a super HEA!


***This ARC copy is given by Netgalley and its publisher for an honest review only.

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Linc and Lauren fight like cats and dogs.  Is it because she doth protest too much?  Linc has always been suggestive, but now there is an option for them to be on the same page.

 

Lauren fights her attraction to her best friends boss the best way she can.  Until he catches her doing something she could be fired for.  Then he asks her to bet him and try to win.  Is any bet where a billionaire involved a bad thing?

 

Linc and Lauren have sparks flying all around them when they are in the same room.  No one else is fooled when they see them together.  Such a great story and a super HEA!  I give this book a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

 

 

***This ARC copy is given by Netgalley and its publisher for an honest review only.

2 STARS Seriously where are all the good stripper/hooker books? Everything that I've read have been a miss for me.This actually started out pretty well. While written in third person POV, there was a distinct variety to the narrative when the focus shifts from Leanne to Brandon. I thought it was pretty clever, as if the characters themselves were telling the story:"He was putting words in her mouth. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker—it didn’t matter what he did. What mattered were the consequences to her nascent career if she got a reputation for sleeping around.”"But the ones in the audience never saw him as a person but as some sort of sexual automaton. Sexy but sexless. Tall and strong and lean but when the fantasy was over, not someone they’d ever want to see in the light of day."It has a bit of academic erotica going on with a lot of words you don't necessarily see often in these kinds of books. This actually worked in favor of rendering the right amount of steam in the sex scenes not too explicit mixed with believable dirty in the dialogue. Though at some points it definitely bordered on showing off on the part of the author, not that the size of one's vocabulary impresses me much.I really liked Brandon's character, an unapologetic former exotic dancer well on his way to getting a degree in choreography. I liked his flaws and appreciate his self-awareness especially in the face of Leanne's intimidating intellectual pedigree. I was looking for that dynamic between a stripper and an academic when I picked this up and it did deliver to a point. But their insecurities and emotional baggage didn't really give much credence to their attraction to each other which costed this story in the chemistry department.What I hated most and lost this book its stars was Leanne. Good grief, woman! I don't think I've hated a heroine this much… she's a close tie with KA Linde's Jack (who I still want to be raped by a bear, literally). First she invites Brandon to accompany her to Gillian's rehearsal dinner. Because inviting the stripper to the bride's party is totally reasonable with no worries whatsoever that Gillian will recognize him (seriously, there was no mention of it until sh*t hits the fan). . Honestly, I was very lukewarm towards her until her backstory with Gillian was revealed where she comes across as an intellectual snob who loves taking the moral high ground to compensate for her physical insecurities:While they were in college, Gillian asked her sorority's pledges to write some essays for her and Leanne TOLD AND TURNED HER IN.   Maybe I'm in the minority here, but this didn't sit well with me. I was waiting for some explanation (maybe she confronted Gillian ahead about it) for Leanne's actions but the self-righteousness just suffocated me to not caring. Now I don't condone cheating, but brown-nosing is part of that list too and I'm finding myself feeling sorry for the bad guy. I'm a firm believer of karma biting you in the ass at some point but here, Leanne prefers to do the biting herself. Not stopping at the moral high ground:"Her mother gestured with the tips of her fingers, mouthing broadly "Smile." Leanne wasn't sure just what her mother expected her to do - burst in a warbling rendition of "Tomorrow" or sashay past the judges in heels and a bathing suit?"Snark: Condescending Nerdy Daughter Edition. Doesn't have the same charm, really.This was when she was about to present her dissertation for an academic prize which led to a ridiculous public discussion of her relationship with Brandon. The author glossed over what the actual presentation was about in place of this implausible drama. Because these people, who are implied as PhD holding professors and college deans, are really going to believe the word of a random member of the audience and ask about THAT.The final nail was courtesy of Edith Piaf and a striptease scene. La Vie en Rose? For a striptease?Really?

This book is hot but that's not why I liked it. I liked it because even though it's short, it has a lot of substance. It's a wonderful and emotional story, you get to know the characters really well, and you root for the two of them to get their happy ending.Brandon is not a typical player, that's the first thing you learn about him. He doesn't really like the meaningless sex. He is smart and has high academic ambitions, and I loved his passion for dance. He has this easy charm that makes him very likable to the reader as well as all the characters in the book.Leanne is bookish, even more ambitious, and lives this pretty scripted life, but she knows it lacks real passion. Her mother never approved of her and even though she tries to hide it you can tell it hurts her and that her whole self-image suffers because of it. I love the effect Brandon had on her, pulling her out of her shell.There is an instant connection between the two. I always talk about insta-love but it did not bother me one bit in this, because you can feel it with them and it somehow makes sense. After their first encounter they try to stay away from each other, neither of them wants anything serious and they know that they don't really have common goals, but it just intensifies the pull they feel.I loved the way this was written, I would often get lost in the prose. Yeah, it might have been a bit too detailed and sometimes it would digress from the story and slow it down, but I was genuinely interested in what the backgrounds of these characters were. I really wish it was at least three times longer because I wanted more of Brandon and Leanne. The chemistry between these two is amazing. The sex scenes are great.Actually, I don't think anything I write in this review can do this book justice. I really did like it that much. Just read it.