At Your Service (Masters and Mercenaries Topped, #4)

by Lexi Blake

[Eve1972]

I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would but not as much as I hoped I would. You can pretty much chalk that up to me being over the whole uber manwhore thing lately. I knew going in that that was exactly what Javi was, but I had hoped we would not get a front row seat for his actions. But we do. And his manwhore past is in our face constantly throughout the book (the last throwaway comment at the end of the book about the condoms and lube in the broom closet was nasty and totally unnecessary at that point). And not only do we the reader get a front row seat, so does the heroine (Jules). And honestly, that type of scenario is one of my least favorite in my romance books. Mostly because I lose respect for the heroine because no woman with an ounce of self-respect would want to get into a relationship with a guy who she has seen with a revolving door of women. At least she wasn't sitting around pining for him while he was screwing everything that walked right in front of her. So that was a positive. That was the bad stuff. Now on to the good stuff...

The writing as always was top notch. It was well paced. The plot was engaging and kept me turning the pages. The Rafe mystery was a little underdeveloped, but he intrigued me, and I hope we will be seeing him in his own book one day. The sex scenes were reasonably hot (if a little on the light side). It is always a treat to see characters from other books. Especially my man Ian (I wanted more of him). Jules, I adored. She was sweet and feisty. I loved that Miz Blake introduced us to a female vet amputee. Something you rarely ever see in romance books. Javi, what can I say. I liked him for the most part. Except when he threw his little hissy fit because of Jule's preconceived notions about him. I mean if you act like a manwhore that has sex with coworkers in broom closets, then don't cop an attitude when you are treated like the manwhore you have always been.



As a couple, they missed the mark for me. The transition from him going from wanting to give one woman his collar than when that didn't work out going on a sexathon for two straight weeks, and then all of a sudden wanting a relationship and professing his love for the heroine was WAY too fast for me. And I just didn't buy it. The other issue I had was as I mentioned above the constant mentioning of his manwhore past. WAY too many comparisons between the heroine and his past hookups. Way too much inner thoughts on Javi's side about his history with women and even the heroine kept bringing up his "other women" in conversations. For "ME" that hindered my ability to connect with this couple. It's hard to get onboard with a relationship if I am being beaten over the head by one-half of that couples past sexcapdes all the time. Lastly, it was all wrapped up in an OK ending. Personally, I would have liked more, but this author isn't big on epilogues, so it is what it is.



Wrapping this up, I'll admit I'm a bit sad because I have had an issue with the last few books I have read by this author. I don't hate them. I can only think of one book that was a total miss for me. I always enjoy them overall. But with the ridiculous OTT manwhore heroes of late and the reader constantly being beaten over the head with the hero's past. Where I use to be SO over the moon excited when a new Lexi Blake book was released, I now enter into them with a lot of trepidation and caution. And that really kind of sucks. Nevertheless, the good has outweighed the bad thus far, so I am still hanging in and keeping my fingers crossed the next book is a hit.