Title: Falling In
Author:  Lydia Michaels
Publisher/Year:  Penguin USA 9/17/13
Length: 309 Pages
Series: The Surrender Trilogy #1

Overview

The debut of an emotionally charged and highly erotic contemporary romance trilogy, in which love and trust are the most dangerous games of all…

With a dark past that would have shattered most people, Evelyn “Scout” Keats is doing what no one in her bleak world thinks possible—getting off the streets and leaving her impoverished life behind. She’s a new maid at the luxurious Patras Hotel, and aims to keep her job no matter what. But that doesn’t mean she’s going to sacrifice her dignity, or let anyone into her heart. The risk of losing either is just too great.

When hotel tycoon Lucian Patras discovers Evelyn in a compromising position, he uses everything at his disposal to seduce her—a proposition that both surprises and frightens her.

Ignorant to her true circumstances, Lucian relentlessly pursues Scout as a prize to be won. But he is soon given an unforgettable lesson in love and sacrifice when he learns how far Scout has gone to gain her independence and discovers that there are some things money can never buy.

My Thoughts

Based on the premise of these characters, i got a bit of a sense of Maya Bank’s Fever Trilogy – since we first meet a girl who’s homeless and trying to make it honestly, while encountering her ‘boss’ in a sense.

We meet Scout / Evelyn when she’s rushing to make it to her new job – the high end Patras hotel where she’s a maid.  It’s there that her life changes forever.  It’s on the day that she fills in for another maid Bridget who usually works on the Penthouse level that she meets a man who’s staying/living there that things change.  She accidentally knocks papers off his desk just when he enters the room, and that’s where things go downhill.  He gets mad because he thinks she’s snooping and of course that’s not the case since she can’t read.  From there – the roller coaster ensues.

The man, Lucien Patras, owner of the hotel propositions Scout to do something that would make her life so different, yet take her out of her comfort zone.  He offers her a roof over her head in a room in the hotel, clothing and everything that she could want.  All for the trade off of her ‘company’ which of course means more than just being by his side at biz functions.  In Scout’s mind, there’s a trade-off of course because while she really wants the shelter and the goods that she can sell for money in the future when things end, she’s not ready to give herself to him given that she’s a virgin.

Some how, Lucien manages to convince her to agree, and their relationship grows and builds from there.  Scout does her best to keep her past a secret and Lucien begins to unravel her story.  They begin to grow together, which turns out to be not such a good thing for a few people.

Scout’s best friend is Parker, a boy that she met a few years back on the streets, and while she considers him to be her best friend, Lucien knows that Parker is in love with her.

The other guy – Slade is Lucien’s business partner and best friend.  He doesn’t take a liking to Scout and actually really dislikes her to the point that there’s a falling out, which of course is a foreshadowing.

What makes things more exciting though is that while this story could be a streamlined version of the usual – down on her luck girl meets rich guy, gets schooled in all things passionate and sexual….that’s not what we get here.  There’s a deal that Parker scores with Lucien in the hopes that he can make Scout his…and that complicates things .

I have to say though, that all in all, the writing of this story is nice.  i’ve been stuck in a rut lately where some authors don’t write the heated scenes in a way that makes me want to read more, but these were steamy scenes.   Even the instances where they hadn’t fully consummated their relationship, it was still hot and i really appreciate that.

I can’t wait to see where book 2 goes since the very end of this introduction story takes us to a ‘dark’ place.  It’ll be interesting for sure to see who’s going to fight for what, what tactics they’ll use, and where passions will net out.