REVIEW - Sizzle by Lexi Buchanan

Thalia is twenty-one and has just finished her sophomore year of college, and is trying to avoid going home to her stifling parents who have a curfew of nine every night, and have a bad habit of treating her like she's still ten years old.  Her new boyfriend, Liam, invites her to spend the summer with him and his family, so as she's been unable to find a local job to keep her at college, Thalia jumps at the chance.  Liam tells her that she can be his guest at his brother, Jack's, wedding at the end of the summer.

Jack is twenty-five and feels as though he's drowning.  He's engaged to Mia, against his will, because it's always been drilled into him, family comes first.  Jack's studying for a law degree, and wants to go out on his own once he graduates, specializing in criminal law.  His father wants him to accept a junior partnership in the law firm owned jointly by him and Lewis, his fiancées father, to practice family law.

Then he meets his brother's girlfriend, Thalia, and he can't get her out of his head.  He needs her to keep her distance, because every time she smiles in his direction, he wants to carry her to his room and do really naughty things to her.

Then Saturday night arrives and Liam takes Thalia to a new bar that has opened on the outskirts of town, where she discovers Jack's big secret.  By day he's the good looking, slightly older brother with a chip on his shoulder, who gives her hot looks, and by night he's Phoenix, singer/guitar player for bad boy group 'Deception', who makes her sizzle to the core!

He has muscle.
He has tattoos.
He has piercings.
He has a mouth that makes her panties wet every time he opens it.  He is supposed to be getting married.
He is also her boyfriend's brother...

The summer holidays are approaching and Thalia doesn't want to go home to spend it with her own over protective parents, so she agrees to spend the summer with Liam.  Thalia and Liam are in a relationship, but she feels there is no spark between them.  She feels the relationship is more like two friends, as opposed to boyfriend/girlfriend.  Before she leaves, to go home with him for the summer, she decides to speak to him and he agrees that they are more friends than lovers.  She agrees to still spend the summer with him, and keep up the pretence to his parents, that they are together.

Jack has been forced into a loveless relationship with Mia, the daughter of his Dad's business partner.  They are due to get married during the summer holidays.  For some unknown reason Jack's parents don't seem to have any respect for him at all.  Even though he is the one who has done everything expected of him, from going to Law School, to taking a job at his Dad's law firm and even agreeing to the farce of a 'relationship' with Mia.  Nothing ever seems good enough.

As soon as Jack and Thalia meet there is instant attraction and chemistry between them.  Jack tries to be aloof and stay away from her, but the pull is too much for either of them.  As the story unfolds it becomes clear that everything and everyone is not as it seems, none more so than Jack.  On the outside he is the perfect example of a conservative lawyer, but strip away those clothes (and seriously I did want to on many occasions!) and he is the epitome of your typical 'bad boy' with tattoos and body piercings (yip there is more than one!)  I liked how the author portrayed Jack as one thing on the outside, but something altogether different underneath.  He literally hides his true self from his parents, because he knows they would never accept his life choices.  

Throughout the story the frustration Jack felt for the situation he was in was evident.  I wanted to tell him to walk away from everything, turn his back on his parents and go and live his life his way.  Then at the same time I could understand the dilemma of doing just that.  I wanted him to try to reason with his parents, but again it wouldn't have been an option.  His parents are so distant and cold towards him, it is understandable why he is reluctant to stand up to them and call off the wedding.  He was in a horrible catch 22 situation.  As the plot unravels, it becomes clear why there has been so much pressure put on Jack and Mia to marry each other and I couldn't help but feel sympathetic for the position they had both been put in.

Jack's band mates, Donovan and Reece, provided some much needed support and wise words to both Jack and Thalia and they made enough of an impression that I am now looking forward to reading Reece's story.  Roll on 2014.

My Rating

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