Kit

She's feisty, he's rich, you know where this is going

First up: I'm reviewing from the perspective of someone who doesn't know anything about this kind of romance-mashup-genre, and who hasn't read much of it. I also haven't read much of this story, probably for that very reason. It's not my thing, and I just couldn't get into it. But a review was promised, and a review will be given! Right from the start, you get a sense of Ella. She's the kind of girl who uses 'yeah' in her internal narrative, with all the borderline-arrogance of a drop-dead gorgeous 17 year old who knows men will be fawning/perving over her her whole life and is really looking forward to enjoying the attention/kicking seven shades of hell out of them. Unfortunately for Ella, she's in a whole heap of trouble. Baaaaad trouble. The sort of trouble you can't just kick your way out of. Thankfully for feisty, independent, not-your-average-princess-type Ella, there's a rich man just around the corner to give her a hand while snarking attractively at her. You get the gist, right? I'm not going to get into that plot, because it isn't my sort of thing and I don't want that to reflect badly on what is probably, if this is your jam, a brilliant story. The writing is okay. Ella's thoughts are fairly colloquial, as if she's literally sitting in front of you narrating her story, which can be as off-putting as it is a decent way of showing her character. She also doesn't seem entirely convincing as a 17 year old; maybe it's because she's already on her second job when you'd expect her to still be in school. She does seem like a wish-fulfilment protagonist, the sort of girl every woman might wish she was, but again; if that's what the author was going for, it's successful, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. As other reviews have said, it's a touch rushed. Aiden isn't given much of a chance to be fleshed out beyond a Christian Grey expy (okay, I haven't read that, but I get the vibe) before they get to share a kiss. The line between rushed and fact-paced is a tough one to walk; this just happens to come down on the side of the former. Giving the characters time to breathe, time to have a life outside what's directly relevant to the plot, would help slow this down and really show some character-work. Like I said, I didn't get far, but that's not really the author's fault. Other people are clearly enjoying this story, and if this is the kind of thing you like, all the evidence says you'll like this one too. - Kit x