Connectivity by Aven Ellis {Review}

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Group: Adult

Publication Date: October 16th 2013

Series: Stand Alone

Format: PDF

Source: ARC provided by author for review

Overachiever Mary-Kate Grant (who is indeed named after an Olsen Twin) has followed every rule to the letter to pursue her dream of working in TV programming. Ripping a page from the “hard work pays off” playbook, she takes an assistant level job at a Chicago sports network to break into the industry. MK has no time or desire for a relationship right now—she is totally focused on her career and being independent, unlike the other women in her family. But MK’s plans are run through the shredder when she finds herself working for William Cumberland, a British media mogul who made his fortune with Connectivity, a social media site. William blows into Chicago just like the winds off Lake Michigan and purchases the group of networks MK works for—and makes her his personal assistant in the process. Suddenly MK finds her career plans in jeopardy. William makes her question everything she has ever thought and has the uncanny ability to see right through her. And for the first time in her life, MK finds herself not only questioning what she wants for her career but for her personal life as well.

My Review:

Connectivity sounded like it was right up my alley because like Mary Kate, I too work in a TV station. This was a sweetly romantic debut novel about a woman striving to make her dream a reality when she's side tracked by Cupid's arrow.

Mary Kate does not want to work for the Chicago sports network. Her dream is to work for the Beautiful Homes network where she can share her vision and Passion for decorating. But as with all career paths you have to work your way up from the bottom. She's basically a paid intern making copies and doing secretarial work when she meets the media mogul William Cumberland. He's the head honcho in charge of Connectivity which is basically a website like Facebook where you can keep up with friends and family and share pictures, videos etc... I was immediately intrigued by William Cumberland. He was just enough staunch businessman and sexy British heartthrob. Mary Kate catches his eye during one of her many clumsy yet endearing moments and the two are drawn together.

Connectivity was a slow simmer romance. Nothing happened quickly between Mary Kate and William. With good reason too, he's one of the most well known and not to mention WEALTHY men in the world and a relationship between them would cause tongues to wag. Not just in the papers but among the other workers. See Mary Kate is promoted to William's assistant once he finds her to be charming and intelligent. I loved watching them build something strong and keep things to themselves. Mary Kate had ambition and drive that made me feel like I did when I first got out of school for my field in the television industry. Her passion and dedication to making her goal a reality come hell or high water is what made me love her character. She didn't have time for a relationship and did her best to resist her feelings for William but he was just too wonderful to turn away from. William was such a great guy not just in business but how he treated Mary Kate was great. He's been through a lot in his life and being abandoned by his wealthy, uncaring parents has given him a phobia about getting close to anyone. I expected him to be so closed off that he wouldn't be able to open up to Mary Kate but he was just so fabulous and always thoughtful. It was more of a treat to watch him fall than it was for her I think.

It's not easy being in a relationship with someone who is so in demand but keeping things to themselves for as long as they could helped. They still had issues to overcome, mainly his past assistant Arabella who tried her best to get her claws in William on more than one occasion. Because Connectivity was written in first person it was hilarious to see Mary Kate's internal reaction to how William handled the inner office issues. These two were a pretty solid couple and managed to handled everything with little drama and while I enjoyed that I also would have liked just a little bit more.

 With Connectivity being a debut novel there were a few things that bothered me a little bit. One of the main things was how easily Mary Kate's career seemed to take off once she started seeing William. It almost seemed like he gave her everything or orchestrated her success. Speaking as someone who knows in this industry it doesn't work that easily unless you're blowing the boss and I guess in this case that's accurate in some sense. William and Mary Kate didn't rush to the bedroom and actually took their time getting to really know each other I just felt he helped a little too much in her accomplishments. The writing was a little stiff at times. with William being British I understood why his speech was stiff but Mary Kate's vocabulary was more of a British dialogue instead of upper Chicago where she's from. I did understand there were times when she was being silly with William trying to mimic him but during her internal talks her voice was still the same. I think if the author would have used more contractions during Mary Kate's dialogue it wouldn't have been so uncharacteristic. The usage of exclamation points was overused in some places when to show Mary Kate's extreme excitement that over emphasized her point a little bit. even with all that though it didn't take away from the overall story.

When it was all said and done though I enjoyed the Romance between Mary Kate and William. It wasn't a book I couldn't put down mainly because there wasn't much conflict between them but the story in general was very romantic and beautiful. Nobody loves an epilogue more than me and Connectivity delivered a fantastic look into the lives of these two. I think this book would be good for those that aren't into the New Adult sub genre and people who love a good rainy day, feel good romance.

Quotes:

"My God," William whispers against my mouth, "Why did I wait so long to do this?" I respond by lifting my hands to his hair. "I don't know. But I don't want you to stop," I whisper back against his mouth. William responds by kissing me harder. I respond in kind and stroke his hair. My pulse soars the second I feel his hair in my hands. It feels like silk, just like I thought it would. PDF ARC 37%

"I'm glad you feel that way. Let's go to the restaurant at the Peninsula Hotel. We can have drinks in the bar afterward. Like we did before. When I wanted to kiss you but I didn't dare." I move back to stare at him. "You... wanted me then?" William cocks an eyebrow. "My darling, I have always wanted you. I just wasn't sure you wanted me in the same way." PDF ARC 81%

About The Author:

I live in the Dallas area with my family. I enjoy clipping out recipes I will never get around to trying, working out, and chatting with friends on social media. I am particularly fond of British actors named Benedict and Henry. I love shopping and fashion and admit to being obsessed with whatever the Duchess of Cambridge is wearing. I am also obsessed with any show or cookbook featuring Gordon Ramsay. And I do not believe in the Lather.Rinse.Repeat theory when it comes to shampooing my hair.

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