Fever: Book Two of the Breathless Trilogy (The Breathless Trilogy, #2) (Breathless Trilogy (PB), #2)

by Maya Banks

In the second novel in the Breathless trilogy—now celebrating its 10th Anniversary—a woman's undeniable allure takes a dominant man completely by surprise...

Jace Crestwell, Ash McIntyre, and Gabe Hamilton have been best friends and successful business partners for years. They’re powerful, they’re imposing, they’re irresistibly sexy, and Jace and Ash share everything—including their women.

When they meet Bethany, Jace begins to feel things he’s never experienced before: jealousy, and a powerful obsession that threatens him, overwhelms him—and excites him beyond control.

Jace isn’t sharing Bethany—with anyone. He’s determined to be the only man in her life, and it’s jeopardizing a lifelong friendship with Ash. Bethany will be his and his alone. Even if it means turning his back on his best friend.

• ISBN10: 0425267067
• ISBN13: 9780425267066
• Publish Date: 2 April 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425267066

Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

I adore Maya Banks. Her Historical romances are some of the best out there. I will pretty much read anything she writes. However, from all the series of her I've read, this one is my least favorite, and I usually love possessive, controlling Alpha males.

Bethany is homeless. Broke. Hardened by the rough streets and yet breakable. She is delicate, fragile, scarred inside. She knows there is no such things as miracles, or fairy-tales in real life, and she knows there is no such thing as 'happily-ever-after' for girls like her. The fight for survival is never ending and constant in her world.

Because of all that, she can't understand why a guy like Jace, who is rich, handsome and can get any woman he wants, probably whenever he wants and where he wants, would want with her. Let alone love her, care for her or want to keep her safe.

But it seems like that's exactly what Jace wants, and that he's going to make sure of it whether she wants him too or not. Sure, he'll go slow at first - or as slow as a dominating guy like him can go - but ultimately she'll be his, completely...

To read the rest of the review go to my blog here!

[EBookObsessed]

Jace Crestwell is still trying to get used to his baby sister, Mia, being engaged to one of his best friends and partner, Gabe Hamilton. At their engagement party, he can’t keep his eyes off of the intriguing woman working for the caterer. When Ash, sees the woman who Jace can’t keep his eyes off of, he steps in to see if she would be interested in sharing a bed with Jace and Ash tonight. Jace and Ash have been sharing women for several years now.

Bethany is as intrigued by Jace as he is with her, and if she has to sleep with both men to spend the night with him, so be it. It wouldn’t be a first for her. But the whole thing feels off to Jace from the beginning. He doesn’t like that his friend Ash is touching her. He wants Bethany all to himself.

When she disappears the next day, Jace is frantic to find her again. He doesn’t understand the driving need to find her, but he won’t stop until he does. Yet he has a greater shock when he tracks her down to women’s shelter near Hell’s Kitchen and finds out that Bethany doesn’t volunteer there, Bethany is homeless. He’s horrified when he realizes that anything could happen to her while she was unprotected and living on the street.

When he finally finds Bethany, there is no way he will let her get away from him, but he fears that if she can’t accept Jace’s controlling nature, she will disappear back onto the streets of New York, and he’ll never find her again. Worse is knowing that his friend has touched the one woman who has Jace in a possessive frenzy and it is putting a strain on their decades long friendship.

THOUGHTS:

I like the way Maya Banks writes her characters. They are very passionate and well developed. Although I generally liked the story and it was a quick read, I was uncomfortable with the opening scene with Jace, Ash and Bethany because Jace was so uncomfortable with what was happening.

In this story, Jace has some great moments but just as many when he was an ass. Every time he was in a bad mood, he jumped all over her for something or other and then spends a good deal of time terrified she will leave and then trying to console her for treating her badly.

I understood that Bethany was relieved after all her life being ignored or abused and fighting to survive, that she would enjoy having someone like Jace taking care of her and making decision for her. I could also understand Bethany’s hesitation to believe that her good fortune in meeting a man like Jace who would take care of her would last and her self-consciousness that she wasn’t good enough for a man of Jace’s wealth and education. What I couldn’t understand is that for someone who has been taking care of herself for most of her life, she didn’t try to get a job once Jace set her up in an apartment. She kept saying it wouldn’t last and he will get bored with her very soon, but she didn’t try to get herself a decent job so that when he asked her to leave, she would have some money to get her own apartment. Instead of hanging around all day for Jace to come home and jump her, it would have helped her self-esteem and her fear that she would be tossed back onto the street, if she had a job and earned her own money, or maybe was taking classes so she wouldn’t feel so inferior to Jace. She had what she believed was temporary good luck, but she didn’t do anything to improve her own situation so she wouldn’t end up right back on the street if he got bored with her. That annoyed me and if I thought too much about it, it left me feeling like Jace was just taking advantage of a homeless woman with no where else to go.

With the exception of my personal annoyance at Bethany, it was a good story and I am looking forward to see what Maya has planned for Ash.

Received an ARC from netgalley.com, courtesy of the publisher. Thank you.

See more at http://ebookobsessed.com

[Cocktails and Books]

I was a little disappointed in this entry into the Breathless series. Jace was a character that I really liked in Rush. He was super supportive of his sister, even after he discovered she was having a relationship with his much older best friend. The way he handled the situation made me like him more and I was really looking forward to his book. Unfortunately, Jace turned into Gabe in this book and it was a bit of a turnoff.

Jace lays eyes on Bethany across the ballroom as she worked Gabe and Mia's engagement party. He immediately feels something for Bethany and wants to keep her for himself, despite always sharing women with this best friend, Ash. But Bethany isn't like any of the women Jace has been with and the sudden possessive streak Jace feels threatens their relationship from the very beginning. Can they both learn to trust in themselves and each other to make this work?

As I said above, Jace turned into someone else in this book. He was broody, possessive, quick to jump to conclusions and someone I jut didn't like at all. He would show an extremely sweet and caring side when it came to Bethany, but his other side tended to take any good feelings I had towards him away.

Bethany was a little of a doormat, because she not only let Jace walk all over her with his bad attitude, she also let Jack (her foster brother) all in the name of giving back to him because of all he did for her. That got a little aggravating at times, especially when she kept claiming she wanted to change, stand on her own and make a new life for herself.

My other issue with the book was the age difference between Bethany and Jace. It was exactly the same as Gabe and Mia. Really? Two 38 year old best friends would both find young 23 year old women to fall in love with? It seemed a bit unrealistic and became a bone of contention for me, because it made me wonder why there couldn't have been an older woman for Jace and if Ash was going to miraculously find himself with a 23 year old as well.