Title: City of Sin
Author: Ivy Smoak
Publisher/Year:  CreateSpace Publishing 2/15/16
Length:  422 pages

Overview

The only reason I agreed to go on a blind date were the two Knicks tickets I was promised for my time.

What I didn’t expect was for her to pass on me.
Me, the playboy who never sees the same woman twice.
This has to be a joke.

Now I have no choice but to prove her wrong.
In one week she’ll be begging for me to stay.
Then I’ll say goodbye to her long legs and smart mouth without a second thought.

But when the time comes, will I truly be able to walk away?

My Thoughts

I don’t think that i’ve had the delight of reading anything from this author previously, so it was a nice introduction. What I will say though is that there was enough in this one book that could have branched into a series, and I wonder why that didn’t happen. Anyhow – what we get is a story of a girl who is out of her element in NYC and trying to get back on her feet after life throws a few curve balls her way, and a guy who’s had the world handed to him on a platter, and yet he’s not satisfied.

This story starts with our leading lady Bee in college – she’s just about done with her senior year and is on top of the world. She’s been with her college sweetheart for years now and things are looking up. They have plans to move to New York if he lands an internship and when the good news comes, along comes a proposal. Their future is looking bright.

Of course we all know how this is going to play out and fast forward about a year or so and they are no longer together. The city tends to change people if you want it to, and that’s exactly what happened for Bee’s fiance Patrick. He ultimately falls in love with the underbelly of the city and cheats on Bee, breaking her heart. Where we pick up this story is watching her put her life back together, trying to just survive now that she’s single and alone.

She’s got some great friends who are looking out for her, and we watch how they have the best intentions of getting her mind off Patrick and instead onto a handsome successful guy who can show her a good time.

What happens next – no one expected.

Enter Mason – the son of a very successful father who owns a finance company and is worth billions. Men like this we know are often playboys – they don’t put down roots and they often don’t care about the trail of destruction that they leave behind. When he’s convinced to go out with Bee, he does it for a price, but what he gets out of it he didn’t expect.

The story from here is an interesting roller coaster of sexual tension, power struggle and a fight to understand how it’s possible for a person to change your outlook and approach to life. These two are so opposite yet they compliment each other so well.

There are hiccups along the way – of course it was Mason who took Patrick around and introduced him to parts of the city that changes the dynamic between Bee and him forever so there’s a grudge. There’s a fear that they will never be enough for each other based on a difference in status and that’s also a struggle. Then to add to that, Mason is trying to start his own agency, and Bee is trying to make a name for herself professionally which hasn’t panned out, so there are tensions everywhere. Will it be too much, probably, will they find outlets for some of that, of course….

A campaign goes wrong, people are fired, people are cut off and relationships are left in turmoil. So…..given this is a one book series, you’ll get all the resolutions you need, but perhaps not in the way you expected. Read and find out. Enjoy!