Having recently finished Boyfriend Material, I went into this title feeling prepared. The previous book absolutely had the pacing of the author’s inspiration of late 90’s British RomComs. So knowing this book is a nod of sorts to 50 Shades (but written better, as some reviewers said), I held my breath and started – 50 Shades was a terribly written book.
Joel Leslie is a delightful narrator, and handles the material well. I became tired of shaky voice given to the main character later in the book, it was too melodramatic.
The story starts out well, lots of wry humor, but within a few chapters the pace becomes sluggish and remains so until close to the end of the book. There is so much filler, it’s obviously being stretched to cover three books.
It is important to state that the story line is already a stretch- a 20 year old university student meets a late 20 something billionaire over the phone (!) and naturally a romance is born.
A predetermined sexual relationship is entered, with a no strings attached end date, yet there is not any type of non disclosure or privacy pledge signed. Once they embark on this endeavor, nothing really happens. It’s not Six and a half Weeks intense and sexy, our sad boy is mostly left to his own devices in a luxury apartment. Amidst the whining of being alone and wanting more – from someone who has said they can’t give much, there is a course correction event that finally sets something in motion.
Thinking I would not bother with the second book as I found the majority of this one full, the last hour of the audio book was engaging enough to pull me back in. However, I am concerned this could be a Kiera Andrews situation where the entirety of the second book is also fluff bookended with a few good bits.
Not as satisfying as Boyfriend Material, guarded recommendation.