SCANDALIZE ME (Fifth Avenue Trilogy #2) by Caitlin Crews-a review
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 24, 2014
TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.
Hunter Talbot Grant III, sports figure du jour, wealthy beyond measure and disreputable by choice, has cultivated a reputation that masks the shadows of his past. When the opportunity to ensure financial destruction for Jason Treffen arises, he can’t refuse. But first he must shake off the woman sent to tame him!
Zoe Brook, PR agent extraordinaire, never fails to transform a tarnished star. And Hunter’s no different. Except there’s a catch. Beneath their scorching mutual attraction, Zoe has a secret, she’s also been on the wrong side of Jason Treffen, and she has as much of a taste for revenge as Hunter does!
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REVIEW: SCANDALIZE ME is the second instalment in the adult contemporary, erotic 5th Avenue Trilogy with each subsequent storyline written by a different author. SCANDALIZE ME written by Caitlin Crews follows Hunter Talbot Grant III –a quarterback whose fall from grace has placed him in PR agent Zoe Brook’s sights.
Once again, the overall focus of the series is the take down of billionaire lawyer and philanthropist Jason Treffen-a man whose polished public image hides the destructive nature of his truer deviant tendencies. Ten years earlier following the horrific and public suicide of one of Jason’s office assistants, three men including Jason’s son, have lived with the overwhelming guilt that somehow they were to blame. When a letter is sent to Austin Treffen a few months earlier explaining the who and why of Sarah Michaels’s death, the three friends-Austin, Hunter and Alex-must relive every painful moment as they come to grips with what happened and why.
The premise of SCANDALIZE ME finds Zoe Brook offering the one time football hero her public relations service-but Zoe has a secret- a dark and demeaning secret- one that connects her to the death of Sarah Michaels and the man everyone wants to take down. When she offers Hunter a chance to redeem his public persona, Zoe will become lost in the dynamic personality and sexual aura that is Hunter Talbot Grant III.
The attraction between Zoe and Hunter is immediate and not without some complications. Hunter’s reputation as a man whore only increases Zoe’s need to fix the man whose destructive path began when Sarah Michaels took her own life. Zoe intends to manipulate Hunter to help her trap Jason Treffen but finds she is caught in the web of Hunter’s sexual seduction. Zoe’s past slowly eats away at her self image and self esteem, and falling into Hunter’s bed only cements the truth she believes about herself.
One major drawback for me in this particular instalment is the slow build up to what it is Zoe wants from Hunter. Not until two-thirds of the story had elapsed did Hunter discover what it is Zoe needed from him and why. In this, the reader is pulled into a long, drawn out angry seduction of Hunter Grant by Zoe Brook. Zoe continued to battle her own demons, struggling to find a way to convince Hunter that he was her weapon of choice in the battle to destroy Jason Treffen. Zoe comes across as cold, heartless and not easily moved but the mask that she wears hides a tormented and broken soul.
SCANDALIZE ME takes the reader one step closer to the destruction of Jason Treffen-a man who uses, abuses and destroys the most vulnerable of women and men. Caitlin Crews adds her spin on a tale of the ultimate revenge against a man who is psychopathic in his actions and cold in his intent.
Reading Order
1. Avenge Me May 2014
2. Scandalize Me (June 2014)
3. Expose Me (August 2014)
Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.
Review by Sandy
