Hootie's Review: Exquisite Betrayal by A.M. Hargrove

A male Romance Author… a convention in Vegas… a female book blogger… a goal to lose her virginity… what next? Find out when you mix all the above! Fallon McKinley is headed to Vegas for the Wicked Wenches Romance Con and losing her virginity is only one of her goals. The other is to meet her favorite author of romance novels, R.T. Sinclair. What she doesn’t realize is that the sexy green-eyed god she rams into at the airport is the real R.T. When they keep running into each other, she’s shocked, but excited, because the attraction is irresistible. Ryland Thomas Sinclair doesn’t want anyone to know his true identity. He’s the author that all women love, but everyone thinks he’s a female. He hides his persona behind the public face of his twin sister, keeping his own a secret. But after meeting the lovely Fallon, his intentions to avoid a relationship come to a screeching halt. She’s put an unwanted kink into his perfectly laid out plans. His unusual reaction surprises him because after a heart-shredding breakup a few years ago, he’s managed to avoid women at all costs. Resisting Fallon becomes more difficult than he imagines. Soon things are spiraling out of control, until a major miscommunication has Fallon walking out of his home and his life. Will Ryland Thomas succeed in losing the woman he loves? Or can he win her back?

My Review:

I love when authors think outside of the box and write a story unique and different from everything out there. That's why when I got Exquisite Betrayal I was excited to see how the story of a male romance author and a book blogger would turn out. 

So I don't know about the rest of you but I have a thing against male romance writers. Why? I guess it's the woman in me who thinks men can't possibly know romance better than us right? Not to point fingers but look at any Nicholas Sparks novel and the sappy goopy shit that comes from his pen. Love is nothing like that. Real Life is nothing like that. It's messy and full of stupid people doing stupid things especially when it comes to love. Take for instance Ryland Thomas, the male protagonist of this story. He's an author of very popular romance novels who hides behind his pen name R.T. Sinclair, because of the stigma that comes with being a romance author. He's been hurt in the past and uses that to fuel his endeavours as an author and when he meets Fallon in Vegas once again he proves to err is human. Their meeting is not your traditional romantic union. Fallon ends up falling at his feet and busting her ass and accidentally showing her boobs when her top falls down. That is the kind of greeting Epic fails are made of. Her goal with this trip is to lose her virginity and meet her favorite author. Unbeknownst to her she gets her cherry popped by said author in a hit or miss encounter between the two. Ryland wigs out that Fallon is inexperienced and in true male fashion runs her off and their Vegas affair ends quicker than a Kim Kardashian marriage. 

Fallon's character was a down on her luck woman I could seriously relate to. It seemed like every time she turned around something was going wrong in her life. Instead of the Midas touch where everything turned to gold it seemed to turn to shit. I swear this girl was written specifically for me. You would think after being knocked down again and again she would just stay down but her resilience to keep going made me admire the shit out of her. When she gets offered a job in San Francisco her luck seems to turn around and I couldn't fault her for leaving behind the drama her mother always adds to her experiences and start fresh somewhere else. I liked Fallon's character even though she could be a little over dramatic and naive. She trusted the wrong people in her career that caused problems for her personal life with Ryland but that just showed me how trusting she was. I was amazed that she could be as trusting as she was with everything she's been through.

Ryland Thomas was a great guy with some baggage also. He was brutally hurt by a woman he thought he was in love with. Ryland was so selfless when it came to making Fallon happy. He was such an ignorant man until she whipped him into shape and put him in his place. I couldn't believe after having his ex fiance cheat on him and rub it in his face that he would ever want to be in another relationship. He may have been a popular author with a big fan base but his life has been difficult not only with his ex but losing his parents at a young age. Having his twin sister Tilly as the image for his pen name was genius and their relationship was often hilarious and over the top. Ryland wasn't hard to love but he did have the ability to make me roll my eyes. I thought him to be a bit over dramatic at a certain point in the story after getting his "heart broken". Or so it seemed. He frustrated me a little bit and even though I wanted to strangle him for being so difficult I did love him in the end.

Talk about a crazy relationship full of ups and downs. I don't think I have ever seen two characters go through more together than Fallon and Ryland did. Between their Vegas confusion and his stubborn streak and her knowing his secret and having to deal with an ambush by her boss I couldn't keep straight what happened to whom! Whew! These two had a great relationship when they both weren't being totally dense and actually talking things out. I think if they would have talked through some things a little more they wouldn't have had such a drastic misunderstanding at one point. Then again if they did that their story probably wouldn't have worked out so well. Fallon's group of blogger girlfriends were hilarious in every scene and I loved how fiercely they protected her. Hargrove has a knack for writing flawed, goofball characters that you can't help but love and this eclectic group of people were no exception. She has a way of making even the supporting characters shine throughout the story and I really like that about her books. Exquisite Betrayal was an enjoyable and fun read with likable characters and crazy circumstances. 

Quotes:

Who knew that five minutes of walking at seven-fifteen in the morning could turn five perky women into five dripping, angry, whining bitches? Kindle 7%

"Every time I kiss you, Fallon, I feel like I'm handing you a piece of my heart." the words are whispered, but they're honest and true. Kindle 46%

"I honestly don't have an asnwer for you. I think I may be damaged forever." "Don't say that. Don't ever say that. I'll find a way to fix you. I swear I will." his emerald eyes are filled with such agony: in the dim streetlight they look like they're about to bleed. Then he turns and walks away. Kindle 89%

About The Author:

One day, on her way home from work as a sales manager, A. M. Hargrove, realized her life was on fast forward and if she didn't do something soon, it would quickly be too late to write that work of fiction she had been dreaming of her whole life.  So, she rolled down the passenger window of her fabulous (not) company car and tossed out her leather briefcase.  Luckily, the pedestrian in the direct line of fire was a dodge ball pro and had über quick reflexes enabling him to avoid getting bashed in the head.  Feeling a tad guilty about the near miss, A. M. made a speedy turn down a deserted side street before tossing her crummy, outdated piece-of-you-know-what laptop out the window.  She breathed a liberating sigh of relief, picked up her cell phone, called her boss and quit her job.  Grinning, she made another call to her hubs and told him of her new adventure (after making sure his heart was beating properly again). So began A. M. Hargrove's career as a YA/NA and Adult Romance writer. Her books include the following: Edge of Disaster, Shattered Edge and Kissing Fire (The Edge Series); The Guardians of Vesturon series (Survival, Resurrection, Determinant, reEmergent and Beginnings); Dark Waltz and Tragically Flawed. Other than being in love with writing about being in love, she loves chocolate, ice cream and coffee and is positive they should be added as part of the USDA food groups.

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