But is Emma really an enemy? If he were to believe everything he has been told his entire life the answer would be yes, she is! But there is just something about her that draws him in and has him questioning everything he has been taught. Yes, this story is based on Beauty and the Beast, but you'd be hard pressed to identify it as such without the word "beast" in the title, since, in the fairy tale, the Beast is actually a beast, and the beast in this novel is just a man, albeit a demanding, obnoxious, rude, impatient, deeply troubled, angry, emotionally scarred and tortured man, who is also a beast to work for, Nero de Santis. Sadly, he hasn't the first clue as to how to deal with his issues, or even admit that he has issues, at least until the day that Phoebe Taylor, a 28-year-old British woman, shows up for an interview as his next victim in a long chain of failed personal assistants, some of the previous ones lasting less than a day in his presence and all of them fleeing his home/office in tears. One of my biggest issues with Nero was that he didn't care about anything but his own needs. He wanted Phoebe and he didn't give two shits about what she wanted. And he definitely didn't care that she has a fiancé who had been in a coma for two years that she was worried about. I almost dnf'ed this book, which I have never done before, when Nero didn't even want to let Phoebe leave to go see her fiancé after she got a call from the hospital he was in. I just found it all very frustrating to read about and I had the biggest urge to slap these characters. Hamza Abbas, the CEO of Alpha Rational, is a force of nature in the business world. As a Muslim billionaire, he navigates the treacherous waters of corporate politics with the skill and cunning of a seasoned warrior. But when he meets Beth, he realizes that there is more to life than just profit and power. If I'm being completely honest I'm not sure this is the book for me. When I read the summary I was intrigued about how the main character, Nero, never left his house. His troubles reminded me somewhat of the Fifty Shades trilogy and Phoebe being the only one who could help him.

This cover is fairly nice. The red is a bit harsh in my opinion, but the composition is nicely done. The typography is lovely and has good placement. I would probably have made the author's name smaller to line up with the title. I'm of the opinion that the title of a book should be the largest and most prominent text on the cover. Because the author's name extends almost the entire width of the cover it draws the eye away from the title.This story is a mix of sweetness, sexyness and sorrow. I really liked reading about the journey those two took and how that changed them. I would definitely recommend it! The first scene that really got me and really made get this and enjoy it was the scene in her bedroom where Nero was trying to get her admit that she wanted. He pushed her, but in a very nice and caring way. It was clear that he cared about her. For first time in her life someone put her needs before their own, and in fact this was the first time that put someone else needs before his own. Usually he took what he wanted no questions asked and it would be all about him, but not in this instance with Phoebe. He was kind and caring during those moments with her, wanting show her pleasure without pressure. She never had that before. He helped her through and guided her in this pleasurable journey where she didn't have hide any longer. She could just let go and did in a big way. Phoebe is prim proper and incredibly hardworking regardless of the hour Nero calls her and Nero is intrigued.

From the moment she discovers Indigo Pointe she is intrigued and knows this is the planation that her Opa remembers. Surely she will be able to find all the answers to her questions. But her hope diminishes slightly when she discovers the handsome stranger who came to her aide has a beastly side to him. I have to say that I wasn't expecting the story to turn out the way it did. At first I wasn't sure I'd like the story, since Nero came off as an A rate jerk but he grew on me really fast and in the end I really felt for him. His past nearly destroyed his future. He lived in terrible conditions as a child and was abused, so that left him with deep scars and with the fear to leave his comfort places. It's been years since he stepped out of his house, so of course he needed help from various assistants to get him things from the stores and so on. And that's where we get to met his new assistant, Phoebe. She needs the money that comes with her being by his side 24/7. He can be insanely demanding but over the time she comes to see his scars and fears. With that she of course wants to help him but that's easily said than done. You could say this is a story about two people that end up helping each other to get over their demons. This was a tough story. First you have Nero, who was abused and isolated as a child and still hasn’t faced his fears. He is not a very likeable person, thinking only of himself and what is best for him. Then there is Phoebe, who will do anything to save her finance...and I do mean anything. Liked it, but found the overall premise a little off puttingI will say that this was a very loosely adaptation of The Beauty and Beast story. In fact I didn't even think of it being that type of story. Now it definitely had some elements to theme, but no a hundred percent. For example in the beginning Nero was very beastly and was very much if a recluse. He stayed isolated from the world and kept hold up in his house and going no where else. He was ruff and gruff and treated Phoebe less than favorably in the beginning. He was ver wounded but his wounds were on the inside not the outside. That was where the similarities between this story and The Beauty and the Beast story ended. I found the story to be well written and I did like the authors style of storytelling. What I couldn't get on board with were the characters. Nero was an unlikable asshole this whole entire book and I never once saw a redeemable quality in him. What's so great about beastly protagonists is that underneath their growl is a good person. Not the case here, at least for me. Beth Turner, a woman with an ethereal presence and divine compassion, hides her true nature behind a veil of shyness. Though she loves everyone around her with the fierce intensity of a deity, she struggles to assert herself in a world that values power and dominance above all else.

Swerve titles are some of my favorite of all of the erotic books available. They are fun, they are well written, and most of all they are always really, really hot. When family grievances come to light, can Emma and Theo find a reason to make peace with nearly two centuries of familial unrest and distrust, or is it better to forgive and then completely forget? I REALLY enjoyed this one. This is the second book by this author I have read (The Billionaire's Virgin being the first), and she knows how to weave a tale. It was a surprisingly dark subject matter with the hero's issues, and I wasn't expecting that, but it all worked so well for me. Now they had some hot, sexy times too that were full of passion and intensity to them that made it very engrossing. There was just more than the physicality there that just made those scenes so much deeper and more meaningful. It didn't that they made my pulse race, but I liked the fact that the emotion was in the forefront not the physical. There was just a good balance emotionally and physically. I loved their coming together because it made them closer. While I didn't dislike Phoebe I didn't like that she was so weak and so easily manipulated by the people who should care about her the most, especially when the details of her relationship with Charles were revealed.Emma finds herself in Lousiana on the trail of solving her family's mystery and finding their lost treasure. While she has hit deadend after deadend, she refuses to give up. A chance encounter with a handsome stranger has her searching for a plantation called Indigo Pointe. It is not easy to find. But with a little help from the unseen, she discovers it hidden off the beaten path. I only have one complaint... the book just ends! I wanted just a little bit more of Emma and Theo and Indigo Pointe! An epilogue would have made this book absolutely perfect in my opinion. You know what they say... when something is good... you always want more! We're selfish like that... ;) Hehe. I think that besides the condition identified in the novel Nero might suffer from another condition and I’m glad there was no miraculous solution for his problems.

When he ends up losing 10 assistants in a month, he is surprised when the prim and proper Phoebe applies for it. He is instantly intrigued by her. Now Nero is a different matter completely the first time we meet him he's cold ruthless and uncaring but slowly, very slowly we see him start to change partly through his attraction to Phoebe, he's never really wanted anything he hasn't been instantly able to have before but also because he spends so much time with her and watching her he sees other things, reactions and feelings and it's all new to him. We know he's damaged but we discover just how damaged he truly is. It was so sweet to watch them fall in love. I felt invested in them, felt the connection, and loved the heat when they were together. I hope the author brings more of this into her other books. If a character is damaged and lashes out I want to understand why. Not a guy who’s just and ass for the sake of it. Give me someone I can connect to and who I can see grow. She nailed it for me in this book. This is what I want in a book. Phoebe has issues of her own, you see, and because she can't quit her job for the aforementioned financial issues with her comatose fiance, she eventually realizes that although their issues differ markedly, both she and Nero are broken inside, and since Phoebe is the last to admit her own problems, she considers herself to be a fixer, and certainly comes to recognize Nero's problems.Phoebe Uptight. Misunderstood. Engaged and all three descriptions were of her own making. This is how she describes herself and yet there is so much more to her. I loved how controlled she was, the facade she presented to the world was amazing. Her strength of will was insane, some may have seen a doormat, I didn’t. I saw a woman who had a goal and worked it. But the fire that lay underneath, once unleashed, only made her that much stronger and I loved how she embraced it. Nero is known as a brutal and ruthless employer but Phoebe need money to keep her comatosed finance up with the best of care. She will do anything and Nero is the man that will ask it. Nero hasn’t left his house in ten years—he demands the world come to him, and the world is only too happy to bend to the strong-willed billionaire. Ruthless, cold, and selfish, Nero wants for nothing and takes care of no one but himself. His last handful of assistants have left his house in tears, but the prim redhead applying for the job looks up to the task. Nero has spent his life shut within the walls he built, with no care to have more than a window to the outside world. But the fiery passion he senses beneath his reserved assistant’s exterior makes him want to break down the barriers he lives behind, and unleash the beast within. I like phoebe. At first she seemed to be the doormat you sometimes get in these books. Again, the author did a great job of making me understand where she was coming from. Yes, she had been emotionally controlled by her parents, but ultimately she took the action to move to New York to get away from that. She jumped to do Nero’s bidding at first (he was paying her after all) but she wasn’t doing it out of fear, or some inadequate feeling that she wasn’t worthy of standing up for herself. I loved that she jumped to it with a smile on her face just because she knew it made him mad. And it amused her. Score for Phoebe. Now I knew from the blurb she was engaged but I'd kind of assumed her fiancé had been cheating or something, some reason we could dislike him and she could be working to pay his healthcare simply because there's no one else to do it.