Review

The rules of the contract are as followed:

• Every encounter is to be ~
  • Casual
  • Uncomplicated
  • Unemotional
• The liaisons are for one purpose only – they are seen as a means to an end
• Everything is contractual

This is the business transaction that Jackson Stone and Sage Turner enter into together as their individual interests thrust them into this unconventional situation.

Jackson Stone is a shrewd businessman – one who doesn’t have time for complications or entanglements besides the ones that occur in the bedroom. Love is not for him – it makes people weak, and he refuses to allow someone to have that much power over him. So, in order to keep in control of all aspects of his life, he seeks out companionship in a place he won’t have to worry about any woman trying to get her claws into him.

Sage Turner moved to New York without a Plan B, and now that she’s about to lose everything, she has no other option but to resort to a less than stellar job that makes her feel dirty and ashamed.

But with someone who is new to the game of uncomplicated hook ups, how can Sage meet the terms of her contract when she can’t control the way Jackson makes her feel? Feelings are usually non negotiable – terms can’t be set for them and a termination clause for them is not something that can be penciled in on a whim, which makes Sage’s new job a huge risk for both her body and her heart.

Contractual is a fantastic story that is extremely well written. It’s steamy, passionate, and a bit angsty. Alice Tribue does a great job of developing Jackson’s character; he starts off as an egotistical asshole who treats feelings as non consequential and then turns him into a man who feels more for the woman who was only supposed to be casual than he’s felt for anyone. Jackson and Sage’s relationship is not an easy one, especially with how it all began, but they both find themselves wanting a lot more than what’s included in the contract they’d both signed, causing a slew of conflicted feelings on where to go from there.

Due to Tribue’s writing, readers can feel the inner turmoil that Sage goes through as she takes on a job that she knows doesn’t fit her personality, but she also knows she has no other option. Her trepidation and her torment over her new job, her feelings for Jackson, and the reason she was left fending for herself in New York ooze off of the pages and allow readers to understand what’s at stake for Sage, which is the kind of connection that readers want to have with the main characters.

Jackson and Sage’s story is a definite one-click!

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 poison apples