Title: Exquisite
Series: Exquisite book 1
Author: Ella Frank
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic
Her heart was guarded…
Tormented by self-imposed guilt, Dr. Lena O’Donnell has spent the last nine years in survival mode. Struggling through days that seem to blend together and battling her way through each horrifying night, she’s determined that this is what she deserves…
Until he tore down the walls…
Mason Langley’s life is going exactly the way he planned it, until her. A confirmed bachelor and the successful owner of the hottest restaurant to hit Chicago, he never expects to be blindsided by an angry woman in a pair of scrubs. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to shake the doctor, and he finds himself liking the way she makes him feel.
Almost over night Lena finds her world turned upside down by Mason and the sexual desire they discover together. Slowly, she lowers her guard and invites him inside but when tragedy strikes she begins to believe that sometimes it’s better to be alone and safe than to love and lose.
As I am reading this story and becoming hypnotized by the author’s words, I can’t help but wonder how this story will match the heft of this trade paperback? It’s 467 pages! (this includes a book 2 sneak peek. YAYYYY!!) I think I have things figured out. I am rolling with the give and take and the snark and humor between Mason and Lena. I am totally digging their fall and the way they are unraveling for me. The cast of supporting characters is stellar – Lena’s BFF Shelly and Mason’s mom Catherine and his sister Rachel… then BAM!!
Typically, I am not a fan of a book that at any point will start a chapter or a section with “6 months later”… (seriously, I put the book down for 2 days and read something else until finally I got over myself…) and in this case I am beyond relieved that I did! I should never have doubted Ella Frank because I am in love with her and her words!!! I know I am a little late on this band wagon, Exquisite came out in 2012, but I guess I’m better late than never. <wink>
I cried big, fat “mom, are you alright?” tears (my kids frequently interrupt my reading time at THE most inopportune moments) and I cheered for the way the story almost reversed roles about half way through on who was fighting for whom and who needed to be the strong one in the relationship. Smoking hot sex scenes, heart-clenching, touching and tender scenes and laugh-out-loud scenes, this book has it all!! And I loved it!!
Also love that this is a series and not a serial and I am starting book 2 Entice, Dr. Shelly Monroe’s story, tonight!
Grade A – grab this book and read it!! You won’t be disappointed!
