DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL PARTNER:
Caring. Hard-working. A devoted family man, loves kids.
Clean cut, funny, smart, quiet, but a good communicator.
~ Asia Jenson
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL PARTNER:
Independent. Tall, blonde, sexy. Outgoing. Intelligent,
neat. Unslutty. Confident. Loves to travel. Committed.
~ Talon Valentine
A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT.
The concept was scary but exciting…
Marry a total stranger.
Live together for six months.
Journal everything. (Feelings. Fights. All of it.)
After six months, we each get $50K in trade for our journals, whether we stay married or not. But the goal is to commit to the experience and see if the relationship experts could put together the perfect matches.
I have never been lucky in love. This was my chance to find my soulmate.
I couldn’t wait to meet the man the experts felt was perfect for me.
My hopes were immediately dashed when I saw him at the altar.
Shit. I married my worst nightmare.
Right?!
GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26053772-talon
At first she doesn’t even know I’m there, and I have the pleasure of seeing her lying back, her eyes closed, one leg bent up and peeking out from the bubbles. And damn those fucking bubbles, they’re covering everything else.
The universe is doing everything it can to prevent me from seeing my wife naked. I would laugh at that fact if it didn’t bug me so damn much. I’m pretty sure karma is slapping me in the face for insulting her so many times, and karma is a bitch who has no fucks to give about my blue balls.
Her eyes suddenly snap open and she jumps when she sees me, water splashing around her.
“Tally, you scared the shit out of me. Why are you creeping around?” She crosses her arms over her chest and a few bubbles float up in the air. I love that my childhood nickname just slipped out of her mouth without her even realizing it. It sounded so intimate on her lips that I want to hear her say it again and again.
“I wasn’t creeping; I just walked in. Should I wear a bell around my neck like the Princess?” I lean against the doorframe and gaze at her in the candlelight, her skin dewy from the moist heat, and I can’t understand why she doesn’t want me in that tub with her.
“What are you doing in here?”
I cross the room and kneel down next to the tub, taking in the way her eyes shift to my naked chest.
“I wanted to see your bath bomb in action.” My eyes travel languidly down the length of her in the tub and catch glimpses of pink water under the bubbles.
“This one is actually a bubble bomb. See the bubbles?” She lifts her hand and blows the bubbles up over my head.
I grab her hand and bring it to my lips. “I see that. Pink water, too. Very pretty.” I close my eyes as I kiss her hand, tasting the sweet water on her. “What flavor are you tonight? It’s yummy.”
She swallows and I can feel her hand trembling ever so slightly in mine. “It’s cotton candy.”
I nod my approval. “I like it. A lot.”
She shifts in the water, lowering the leg that was up and raising the other, giving me a quick glimpse of her thigh as she does so.
“Do you think about me when you’re in here?” I ask her, releasing her hand so I can dip my fingers into the warm water.
“I think about you all the time.”
My heart does a funny lurch I’m pretty sure it ain’t never done before. “Well, that’s just about the best thing I’ve ever heard.”
I let my hand slide farther into the water until it’s gliding over her outer thigh under the bubbles. “The water feels slippery,” I comment. “So does your skin.”
“It’s from the oils.”
Stretching my other arm out along the edge of the tub, I lean toward her face. “I like how it feels. I should be in there with you, all slippery and wet.”
“You’re too big,” she murmurs, locking her eyes on to mine.
Laughing, I kiss her vanilla flavored lips. “I’m gonna ignore that big comment, baby.”
She smiles against my mouth. “You’re so bad.”
“I know… So, I’m going to have to do this the hard way, then. Since I can’t get in there.” I slide my hand farther down her leg, over her knee to her calf, squeezing gently.
“Do what?”
“Give you your first orgasm.”
A small gasp of surprise comes out of her, and a seductive little grin graces her lips. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve had orgasms before.”
“Not from me.” I rub my nose along hers, feeling her breath against my face. “And that’s gonna change right now, Mrs. Valentine.”
I cup the back of her head with one hand and press my mouth to hers, licking her lips while slowly dragging my other hand up the inside of her leg beneath the water to finally brush my fingers gently across her lower lips. I silently curse the water for not letting me feel her wetness.
Her mouth opens to mine and I delve my tongue inside, tasting the heat of her breath and catching the sweet moan she lets out when I push my finger into her warmth. Her thighs part and her hand comes up out of the water to caress my cheek as I let my hand own her, my thumb rubbing her pulsing clit while I slip my fingers in and out of her. My cock throbs like mad in my shorts, begging to get into her. Holy fuck, is she tight.Three years of no sex is very, very good.
Her thighs squeeze my hand and she grasps the side of my neck, her breath panting against my mouth, and I know she’s there already. I really want to drag this out, tease her and make her crazy, but that seems cruel right now when she’s writhing her hot little core all over my hand and devouring my lips. I like little horny Asia. A lot.
I want to pull her out of the tub and take her right here on the floor and put an end to this madness, but I’m hell-bent on sticking to my promise to her, even if my dick hates me.
Her walls clench and drench around my swirling fingers up inside her, while the rest of her body arches up, pressing against me, her muscles tightening and quivering. I kiss her softly as she recovers from the first of many sexual escapades I have planned for her now that the doors have been opened, so to speak.
“Who’s my girl?” I whisper against her ear, moving my hand up to caress her stomach.
“Me,” she answers breathlessly
“That’s right.”
My girl. The last thing I thought I would ever want, and now, all I could ever want.
Review
But where has that gotten either of them?
Asia’s been alone for several years, and Talon’s been living on one night stands and groupies.
Asia and Talon may not understand why the relationship experts put them together in this 6 month marriage experiment, but they’re both committed to making it work regardless of their fears and misconceptions because what they’re beginning to realize is that “sometimes what we think we want is not at all what we actually need.”
Mr. and Mrs. Valentine definitely know how to keep readers on their toes as Talon and Asia struggle to make their relationship work when everything is going at turbo speed and the steps to get there have been turned upside down.
Dating? Getting to know one another? Both of those things actually come after the wedding in this social experiment, leaving two people who believe they’re totally wrong for each other to try to figure out how to live together when one’s afraid of the other one leaving and the other one can’t stop putting his foot in his mouth and creating a wall between them that might just be too high to scale.
Carian Cole definitely thought outside the box for Talon’s story, and I absolutely adored the storyline and the creative way that Cole brought her couple together and then forced them to traverse through a relationship where complete strangers become husband and wife within 10 minutes of meeting each other.
Asia and Talon are deep and complex characters who have to learn to adjust their perspectives and stop worrying about outside appearance because it’s what’s inside that matters and both of them have quite a lot to offer a significant other even if they don’t think they do.
Asia’s childhood struggles and neglect are definitely a brand on her body, but she doesn’t allow them to completely define her; she continues to live even when she doesn’t feel like there’s anything to live for, which is an admirable quality. Cole perfectly illustrates Asia’s fears and trepidations when it comes to committing to Talon and not being scared that he’ll leave her like everyone else has. With all of the ups and downs in her relationship with Talon, Asia’s emotions get put through the wringer and every reaction, feeling, and thought perfectly depict what’s at stake for her in giving Talon her heart and her body.
Talon Valentine may be a #cockstar but he’s done letting that define him. He no longer wants to be used for his body, but he doesn’t exactly know what Asia wants because he’s used to a physical relationship and nothing more, which is something that Asia refuses to have until they get to know one another and develop feelings for each other. As good of a lyricist as Talon is, that skill doesn’t seem to transfer to communicating with his wife, which makes the journey to happily ever after that much harder.
Everything about Talon and Asia’s story worked for me. The hesitancy and missteps at the beginning of their relationship and the stubborn refusal to admit to their feelings and truly invest in what they’ve started is extremely realistic given the circumstances. Their banter and chemistry after their initial judgement worked to open them up to each other and the way they cared for each other without expecting anything in return is something that both of them cherished because they didn’t truly know what that felt like with a partner.
I cried…I swooned…I cringed…I screamed. Every emotion is felt throughout Talon, which is why I didn’t want it to end even though I needed to know that Talon and Asia stood a fighting chance of making the experiment a reality.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
5 Poison Apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)
I have a passion for the bad boys, those covered in tattoos, sexy smirks, ripped jeans, fast cars, motorcycles and of course, the sweet girls that try to tame them and win their hearts. My debut series, Ashes & Embers, follows the lives of rock band members as they find, and sometimes lose, the loves of their lives.
Born and raised a Jersey girl, I now reside in beautiful New Hampshire with my husband and our multitude of furry pets and spend most of my time writing, reading, and vacuuming.
Fairest Of All Book Reviews 