Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

Hostile Takeover by Lucy Lennox

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bloody brilliant.

I don’t know how Lucy does it. Each time I pick up one of her books I know I’ll get a well-written romance, but this one is exceptional.

There’s nothing I love more than a good enemies to lovers romance and here she delivers one which ticked all my boxes.

We have two men who were attracted to each other when they were young men and – thanks to a horrible prank which was used to manipulate them both – one had their future ruined overnight.

I was raging when I read the Prologue which sets up the story. Ellison’s so called “friends” are anything but and they expose his vulnerability to destroy Grey’s already quite hard life. It was painful to read as it’s very clear that there are real feelings between the two which could have developed had circumstances been different.

There is then a 15-year gap until we catch up with Grey Blackwood, now a billionaire venture capitalist and about to pull the plug on Ellison York’s rich and privileged life as he takes over his family’s business.

But Grey’s not aware of the true nature of Ellison’s path. He’s finally got out of the clutches of his vicious father’s grip and he’s carried regret and pain ever since the events at the Country Club 15 years before.

The sparks between them are obvious from the moment they meet again and Lucy crafts a delicious narrative that has them sniping and snarking with sexual tension heating up the encounters.

I absolutely loved everything about this, from the way they slowly build up trust as Grey sees he may have been holding the wrong idea about Ellison’s involvement in the prank which saw all his opportunities vanish overnight.

He realises that Ellison has been suffering at the hands of his father’s manipulation and, while there were times I wanted to thump him, I totally understood why his trust was so difficult to win.

Marcel (from the freebie prequel to this series) is on hand to offer up some sarcastic – and prophetic – advice and I loved seeing him and Luca just as much as in love.

This is a wonderfully tension driven, emotionally ladened romance with a side order of humour to stop it ever becoming too much and I absolutely adored the way Grey and Ellison reconnected.

#ARC kindly received from the author via SocialButterfly PR in return for an honest and unbiased review

View all my reviews