Review: All He Needs (All or Nothing #2) by CC Gibbs

9781455528332_p0_v1_s260x420

Title:  All He Needs
Author:  C.C. Gibbs
Publisher/Year:  Grand Central Publishing. 12/17/13
Length:  432 Pages
Series: All or Nothing #2

Overview

Brilliant. Wealthy. Powerful. Dominic Knight is one of the hottest tech developers in the world—and the most demanding lover Kate Hart has ever known. Whether in the boardroom or the bedroom, he is always in charge. But there is one thing he cannot control: Kate’s fiery heart…

As a master in her field, talented Kate surpassed Dominic’s wildest expectations. As a woman of uncommon intelligence and beauty, she unlocked something deep within him. Yet since their professional relationship—and erotically charged affair—came to an end, the fire in him has only grown stronger.

Now, the man who has everything will do whatever it takes to reclaim the woman he lost. From Boston and Paris to Singapore and San Francisco, he will lure Kate back into his elite world of privilege and passion. Together, they will test the limits of desire and the boundaries of discipline. For both, this is uncharted territory—naked, reckless, and uninhibited. But when Dominic’s deadliest enemies target Kate, he must face his darkest fears…and admit to himself that she is all he needs.

My Thoughts

After book 1 left off, the biggest question for me was how long they were going to stay apart and what was Dominic going to do to get Kate back.  The lucky thing here is that while it’s the core to the beginning of the story, there’s so much more.  What i’ve come to love and expect about this genre is that you not only get a passionate love story, but you also get one riddled with anxiety since someone is always being ‘hunted’ so to speak, either kidnapped or there’s a hit on them.  This story is no different.

We join the duo when Kate’s trying to find her legs again after learning too much about Dominic and walking away – while he kind of walked away all the same (literally – flying in the middle of the night i believe).  So Kate’s trying to figure out what her next steps are in her life when an AMAZING offer comes in for a job in Singapore that she just can’t pass up.  We know that ‘Nick’ has helped make this happen, but she doesn’t.  The question is for a smart girl, how long is it going to take for her to realize it.  It’s not until he shows up at her hotel there one night that she begins to put the pieces together.

From there on, there’s a fast romance and re-introduction to the passion that they’ve shared.  That first night together turns not only into a reunion, but into a flight in the middle of the night because of intel that Dominic has learned of that may put Kate’s life in danger.

Where this story takes us from there is the journey that they have in getting back together, avoiding conflict and fear of Gora – the man who’s out to do harm to Kate we think because she found the money that he had tried to steal from Dominic’s company….and then a big twist in the end.

C.C. Gibbs does a great job of keeping us really interested in the heat and passion that this relationship has – i mean they can hardly keep their hands to themselves.  I enjoy that the scenes are well written, make you blush, but aren’t over the top.  There’s also a fair share of emotional connection being built here which is nice since we often don’t see that this early in a trilogy.

I have to say that i was a little bit surprised by one of the forks in the road here, in what the negotiating point was that Gora had, and whether Dominic would take it or not.  The other twist is not so much of a surprise, given that I’ve read quite a few books in this genre and know where stories tend to take us.

Regardless, i’m semi-bummed that i’m not in the UK to get the ARC of book 3, but i’m happily waiting to see how things resolve since i have a feeling that we still have quite a roller coaster to overcome.  I mean really – when do things ever work out in the timing that you want in these stories.   I hope you enjoy it and welcome your thoughts and opinions.  Enjoy!

Review: All He Wants (All or Nothing #1) by C.C. Gibbs

9781455528325_p0_v1_s260x420

Title:  All He Wants
Author:  C.C. Gibbs
Publisher/Year:  Grand Central Publishing. 7/9/13
Length:  374 Pages
Series: All or Nothing #1

Overview

Dominic Knight is a man who is always in control. A self-made billionaire by the age of twenty-three, a genius of innovation, and CEO of a global tech empire, Knight always gets what he wants. And he wants Kate Hart. . .

A rising star of cyber forensics, Kate is well aware of Knight’s reputation as a master manipulator, uncompromising leader, and demanding lover. But she’s determined to stay cool and professional-no matter how hot and bothered her new boss makes her feel.

First he appears in her dreams. Then he comes to her in the night. And so begins a journey of erotic awakening and discovery as rich and powerful as Knight himself. In locales from the sultry red-light district of Amsterdam to the private sexual playgrounds of Hong Kong, Kate will shed every inhibition and surrender every part of herself-body, mind, and soul-to give her lover all he craves, all he needs, and all he demands . . .

My Thoughts

This is a slightly new spin on the usual, but it was quite enjoyable to read nonetheless.  What we got was a dynamic between the to mains, Dominic and Kate that was hot and steamy, and only slightly tainted by the past damages of death.  Dominic is still haunted by the death of his wife, and as a result, he’s not only over-protective and commanding, he’s also a ‘playboy’ for lack of a better word.  he doesn’t do anything more permanent than ‘friends with benefits’ and escapades that involve various stages of BDSM.  Kate on the other hand has the loss of her parents at a young age as her past, however it’s not really harmed her based on what we know, it’s only made her stronger.  she’s incredibly brilliant as a forensic accountant (i.e. legal hacker) and knows her worth.

This story opens when Kate is going in for an interview at Knight Enterprises, expecting to meet with Max, Dominic’s right hand man, yet to find herself in an awkward encounter with Dominic himself, and that first meeting turns her off from him because of his temper.  I hope that we get into this a bit more in the next installment, but we know that she HATES him off the bat because of his anger and Kate alludes to the fact that it’s her past trend to associate with men like that.

Somehow Dominic manages to convince Kate to work 1 project for him that requires her immediate departure on the private jet to Europe and she finds herself in a world that’s so far from her norm.  What we know will happen of course is that ‘Nick’ will use his money and power to try to control Kate, and woo her with all the wealth that he can just throw around.  He does this by installing a new wardrobe in her room, offering her more money than she could ever need, offering her to ‘write her own ticket’ for her fee among other things.  The nice thing though is that Kate isn’t after his money (like every other woman in the world) and that’s an interesting concept for Dominic to deal with.

Where the story goes from there is an overt wooing trip from Amsterdam to Singapore to Hong Kong, where Kate is trying to fight her attraction to him and Dominic tries to ‘behave’.  As expected, they can’t keep their hands off each other but it’s not without rules and boundaries.  The question that really comes up is that while Dominic keeps telling her that she has to ‘obey’ for the length of her contract (i.e. 6 more days), they both wonder what will happen after those 6 days.

The writing here is great as well trying to find the balance of Kate’s vanilla sex life and her fear of anything ‘kinky’ and how it plays with Dominic’s clearly kinky and erotic style.  They are insatiable which means that the chemistry and heat has to maintain in order for each scene to seem new and exciting. (which it does)

The great cliffhanger of this fist installment of course was expected but quite nice.  I can’t wait for the next book to come out so that we can see what happens next between these 2.  We see that Kate’s taking a hold of Dominic’s heart in ways that he’s not used to, and Kate’s walls are coming down too.  but they both have this innate fear of what will come next.  The good thing is that with all the heat and passion that they share, you know that you’ll get something great.