scandal – Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

Seduction. Infidelity. Blackmail. Scandal. It can all be bought for the right price and for Sienna Stevens, business is good.

Because she’s in the business of Great Exploitations.

She’s an Eve, a member of a secret society of women contracted by the wives of wealthy, powerful men for one reason and one reason only: to seduce their husbands. To ensure their pre-nuptial agreement will be null and void thanks to a little loophole known as the Infidelity Clause. To ensure that those wives don’t find themselves on the other side of a divorce without a penny to their name.

When it comes to the Eves, Sienna’s one of the best because she follows the number one rule of the Eves to the letter: don’t let it get personal.

When the job file of her wealthiest client yet falls into her lap, Sienna realizes that this case could be the one that’s impossible to detach herself from. The payout would lead to her independence, but will the cost be too high in the end?

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My Review

I absolutely love that cover. It’s stunning and really reminds me of Eve, from Adam and Eve – which I suspect is exactly what it is. The rosy red of the apple has never looked so tempting and taking a bite? Ohh honey, such the wrong thing to do, but staying away, you just can’t. You have to take a bite. It’s too tempting.

That is exactly what Great Exploitations is about. Tempting the married man to have a one-night stand to ensure that the pre-nup they made their wives have, is now null due to the Infidelity clause. Not only do the wives get a share of the money, so does the Eve and the business.

Great Exploitations is the first in a novella series. The main character goes by Sienna in this book. She is a Eve – a member of a secret elite of beautiful woman hired by unhappy wives of cheating, rich men to seduce and sleep with the husbands who have made them sign a prenup. If they divorced them, they would get nothing, but catching them in the act? Well, they will get half of their husbands money due to a little thing in the prenup called The Infidelity Clause.

The agency is owned by ‘G’, who scouts for her Eves and transforms them into the seductive women they are today. G scouted Sienna five years ago, and turned her into the temptress she is today. ‘Sienna’ or whomever she is, is one of the top Eves. She puts a lot of effort into her job; from nitpicking every little detail about the Target, to transforming herself into his perfect woman, to making sure she has his complete and undivided attention on her so she can get the job done.

She’s good at her job and that’s how she wants to keep it. Sienna seems to have no emotions attached to her. She treats sex as sex. No feelings before or after. It’s like shes a robot. Programmed to do the steps to hook line and sink the Target. To make sure they are caught and the wives get the money that they deserve when they are shown the pictures the P.I’s take of her and the target.

The men are tagged by how much money they are worth by the number of zeros in their bank account. Eights and Nines are pretty great but a Ten? That is rare but if one does come around, it’s a complete goldmine. A Ten for Sienna would give her the freedom she is looking for and it would set her up for life having all that money in her account.

It’s a short book, at only 90 pages but there is so much information packed into it. Nicole Williams takes you through a journey about who the Eves are, what they do and how hard they work to make sure their job is done and dusted to perfection. There is a lot of hard work put into being an Eve.

It is a quick read, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. It was brilliantly written, and the concept was such an interesting one to read. You won’t want to put it down and from that ending? The rare Ten? Oh I cannot wait to read the next novel in the series. It really leaves you wanting more and wanting to know all about Sienna’s past and her ever-growing closeness to her freedom…whatever her freedom really is.

Synopsis

What happens when the one that got away comes back?

Rachel and Ben. Ben and Rachel. It was them against the world. Until it all fell apart.

It’s been a decade since they last spoke, but when Rachel bumps into Ben one rainy day, the years melt away.

From the moment they met they’d been a gang of two; partners in crime and the best of friends. But life has moved on. Ben is married. Rachel is definitely not. In fact, the men in her life make her want to take holy orders…

Yet in that split second, Rachel feels the old friendship return. And along with it, the broken heart she’s never been able to mend.

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My Review

436 pages of pure bliss. It gave me laughter, tears, showed me great friendships, a history of two people who met in university but haven’t seen or speak in 10 years and quite a bit of drama.

You Had Me At Hello has been on my reading list for a few weeks. Amazon recommended it to me before it was out and I knew I had to buy it – the synopsis definitely drew me in because I love a ‘love story’ and the line “What happens when the one that got away comes back?” had me intrigued over what and how Rachel/Ben get back into each other’s lives after so long.

Rachel and Ben meet at university. Rachel is in a long distance relationship and Ben has endless girlfriends over the years, but the two never made it past the platonic stage.

10 years later, Rachel is still living in Manchester with her boyfriend, or should we say ex-fiancé and is still best friends with her university housemates. She hasn’t see or spoken to Ben in ten years and when she hears he’s back in Manchester, she makes a plan to accidently bump into him. Thing is, Rachel feels all her old emotions for Ben slipping back the more time they spend together, but it’s completely bad – Ben is now married.

From the beginning I was engrossed as it started with Ben and Rachel at university. Anything that reminds me of university has my vote as I have only just graduated back in July and so it kind of made me feel all these emotions about my three years. Reading what Ben and Rachel got up to in uni, how they became two peas in a pod, how they cared so deeply for one another and would do anything for each other – it was just so cute especially when Rachel was ill and Ben took care of her – on HALLOWEEN! When it’s the night to dress up and get steaming drunk for students.

The chapters jump from Ben and Rachel’s back story, their time in university, to their lives in the present day. Both characters were great to read about – both had a witty, sometimes sick sense of humour, which I absolutely love. Even after ten years, the slipped back into being friends, although sometimes feelings crept up but you could see that Ben still cared for Rachel, making sure she was okay during a massive bust up between his friend Simon – total creep – and Rachel over a scandal that was nationally published.

Rachel was an awesome character, and I really did feel every little emotion she felt throughout the book, which in turn had me laughing, gasping or crying, depending on what was happening. Her relationship with Caroline, Ivor and Mindy was so freaking lush, and it was really nice to see their friendship last years after university. Although things happened with everyone in the group, you could see that they were there for each other at the click of a finger and that friendship is something that you need to keep.

You do FINALLY find out what happened between the two of them, and it had me crying and screaming at my Kindle. I even had to put it down to collect my thoughts about what I had just read. Books really do affect me.

The line that really got to me was this: “University’s like this little world, a bubble of time separate from everything before and everything after.” THIS right here is sad but true.

A few pages before the ending completely ripped my heart into pieces but I understood the reasoning but then the ending – my shattered heart began to heal and constrict at my chest over the pure love I have for this book.

It was such a great read that I couldn’t put it down. Albeit, it is a long book, at 436 pages but if you want to read about the one who got away only to come back, this book is definitely the ‘love’ story for you.