Synopsis

In the City of London, the scent of money and power lingers in the corridors of the shiny office buildings and clings to the suits of the men who work in them. Chasing that scent is the only thing that matters.

But not to Katy Daly. She has spent her life working in the City, but wealth and power are things granted to other people. Her childhood was shattered by the pursuit of them, and since then she’s coasted along on a course of risk-avoidance and underachieving.

Then Katy starts working for Riley Daniels, the beautiful and charismatic CEO of Byrsa, one of the most successful yet secretive tech companies in the world. Katy can’t help but be fascinated by this clever, fiercely ambitious woman making it in a man’s world. Riley has a way of making her wonder if there could be more to life than letting other people shape your destiny.

But power comes at a cost. As Katy is drawn deeper into Riley’s intoxicating world, she is forced to confront who she is, who she has become, and how far she will go to protect Riley’s secrets – and her own.

Review

Office romance or thriller? I’m still not 100% sure that this book knew what it was trying to be… Its style and subject reminded me of 50 Shades of Grey, but without the sex. Make of that what you will.

It started off as a pretty average story about a woman and her new job, with hints that she was falling for her boss Riley. All very well and good, but it was painfully PG and although the sexual tension was done well, it did start to drag and I really wanted some action. While I liked the Sapphic romance, it seemed a little unbelievable that neither was aware of how the other felt, despite spending almost all of their free time together, which is quite unusual for an assistant and CEO.

Once they got to Vegas, the book still hadn’t got to its romantic climax, but with just a few pages to go suddenly descended into a ridiculous attempt at a thriller! Suddenly, we had car chases, shoot outs and kidnap, which was an extreme change of pace for a book which had been very slow until this point.

I did enjoy the book – especially the characters of Katy and Riley who were feisty and determined – but it didn’t quite live up to expectations.

The writing wasn’t bad, but I found the twists quite strange. Once they were revealed, they were almost glossed over and I wasn’t sure what the author was trying to achieve. The first twist didn’t really add anything to the story, but may account for the lack of sex scenes that I was expecting. The second was a little far-fetched and the character involved seemed far too blasé about what had happened to Riley since they’d been friends as teenagers.

An enjoyable, quick read, but nothing ground-breaking.

Thank you to WBE Creative for an advance copy of the book. Opinions my own.