Title:  Afterburn
Author:  Sylvia Day
Publisher/Year:  Harlequin 8/15/13
Length:  102 Pages
Series: Afterburn & Aftershock

Overview

The realization that Jax still affected me so strongly was a jagged pill to swallow. He’d only been part of my life for five short weeks two years ago. But now he was back. Walking into a deal I’d worked hard to close. And God, he was magnificent. His eyes were a brown so dark they were nearly black. Thickly lashed, they were relentless in their intensity. Had I really thought they were soft and warm? There was nothing soft about Jackson Rutledge. He was a hard and jaded man, cut from a ruthless cloth.

In that moment I understood how badly I wanted to unravel the mystery of Jax. Bad enough that I didn’t mind how much it was going to cost me….

My Thoughts

This is another series that I think Sylvia Day nailed.  There’s just something about the set up to this story, how we meet Gianna the leading lady and learn about her back story, and then figure out about her past with her alpha male Jax.  Suffice it to say, my commute today was MUCH MUCH better than usual.

We are first introduced to Gianna when she’s interviewing for a position at Savor Inc  -on of the best restaurateur companies in NYC or in the US for that matter. What we quickly find is that Gia doesn’t shy away from anything, she knows her own value, and she knows what she wants without any fear of being overt on how to get that.  Because of how she handles herself, she manages to score the job and her life is changed forever.  Part of what makes her know her own worth is the fact that she had a short lived 5 week relationship with her own alpha male that didn’t end well and she’s trying to get over that.

After chapter 1, we are fast forwarded about a year into Gia’s job, and there’s something amazing being worked on by her company.  Lei is her boss who is a Type A personality and the best of the best, although she comes in 2nd to the hot and sexy Ian Pemberly.  They had their own torrid 5 year love affair that turned sour and now Lei is trying to come up with some type of payback.  So this one evening, Gia and Lei are wooing their next stars when who walks into the restaurant, Ian….and Gia gets a shiver of awareness, and who walks in beside Ian….the man that almost leveled her.

The journey that we’re taken on is great on so many levels.  We get to see if relationships are what they seem or if they can become more or less.  you want to know who you can trust (and trust me, i have a feeling that there are 2 people that aren’t quite on the up and up here). We see the fight of 2 strong minded successful women to make their business grow, and keep it out of the clutches of 2 men that really should know when enough is enough.

We get sucked into the great sensuality that Sylvia Day has come to really make us expect – and we get the amazing mix and balance of power, sexual tension/need, and reality.  The steam and passion between Gia and Jax is so palpable that you can feel the shiver that Gia gets when he walks in a room.

the only downside that i see now is that i have to wait until November for the continuation – but i guess i’ll make do.

here are a few questions that i’ll be thinking about

1) Will Jax and Gia figure out what they mean to each other?

2) What’s the status of Lei and Ian?  is it going to evolve into anything again?

3) will Lei and Gia ever get their deal brokered and completed?

enjoy!