Monday, June 29, 2015

BLOG TOUR REVIEW - The Do It List, Book 1 by Jillian Stone

The Do It List
Book 1
Jillian Stone 

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Publisher: Jillian Stone

Date of Publication:  June 19, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-9963459-1-0

Number of pages: 334
Word Count: 90,000

Cover Artist: Jillian Stone

Book Tagline: 10 sexual encounters. No strings attached.

Book Description:

Hotshot copywriter Gracie Taylor-Scott has a reputation—for her artfully edgy ads. A rising star at Darcy Wexler Dean, New York, the long hours are perfect cover for Gracie’s fear of intimacy issues.

Great job. Great pay. No life—including her on again off again sex life. Then one night, she is plunged into darkness with a handsome stranger.

Bradley Craig is the new head of DWD’s research division, and this ad man has secrets of his own. Much lauded in his field of consumer behavior, there’s a darker side to the attractive ad man—his erotic, list-maker side.

Gracie and Bradley are assigned to work on the biggest new business pitch Darcy Wexler Dean will be in all year, and the two tangle immediately, battling copy concepts and focus group findings along with their explosive attraction to each other. 

Bradley has a proposition: they make a list. Ten erotic sexual encounters, no strings attached. What’s at stake? Two Super Bowl spots and two fragile hearts. 
Excerpt:

“Close the door, Gracie.”
I checked the hallway through the floor-to-ceiling glass by the exit. No one was about. Coworkers were in their offices, filling out time sheets, getting ready to call it a day.
I shut the door with a soft click.
“I believe there’s a light switch on the wall.” He used a huskier voice, more like the elevator Bradley.
I pressed the controls, and the conference room dimmed enough not to be seen by passersby, as long as we kept things quiet. Nose to the door, I stared at the smooth, matte-black surface.
“I know things got a little heated––” I stopped myself and cringed. Was I talking about last night or the testy words between us several minutes ago? And since when weren’t things heated between us? I sucked in a calming breath and exhaled silently.
It occurred to me, this attraction to Bradley might well be the hottest, most erotic experience of my life. I pivoted away from the door to face him.
“Sorry I can’t be more enthusiastic about creative testing, it’s just that I’ve been screwed by research in the past, and not in a good way.”
Bradley flopped down on the sofa and raked me over with his gaze. He patted the seat next to him. “You and I need to build some trust.”
I approached slowly. “Have you any idea how many focus groups I’ve sat through where smirking research geeks underlined every word or phrase that didn’t test high enough—some of them the best words and phrases I’ve ever written in my life?”
I dropped my bag on the floor for emphasis. “Just once, I’d like to believe research has my back.”
He clasped my wrist and tugged. “Since we’re going to be working closely together…” He pulled me lower.
I settled a knee to each side of his thighs and straddled him. It was about time I climbed on the man. “How close?”
“Intimate close.” He easily worked through the buttons of my pants.
“You’re staring at my belly button.”
“You have a piercing.” His gaze turned darker, hungrier—as if I were a mocha chocolate truffle and he had a craving for Godiva. 
Going into this book, I thought it would be somewhat lighthearted, yet a sexy fun read. But this book has so much more going on that I just couldn't put it down until I got to the end.

Gracie and Bradley meet under somewhat unusual circumstances, but they manage to make the most of their situation in a hot and sexy way. Neither Gracie nor Bradley were looking for any sort of relationship, hence the Do It List, but as we all know, the heart wants what it wants, and what was agreed upon could and does change. But they both have their own issues and baggage to contend with and that could be something that will either bring them together or drive them apart. I will say that I was extremely surprised once Gracie's secret is revealed, that was something I didn't see coming. But it was dealt with properly at the time, although the repercussions are still being felt years later.

The downside to this book, for me, was how quickly everything happened. The story takes place over a 3- to 4-week time frame. With everything that happens in the book, it's hard to remember that this happens over a month's time, give or take a couple of days.
Book provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest review.
About the Author:

Jillian Stone was born a storyteller. A skill that got her into considerable trouble as a youth until she solved the problem by becoming an advertising creative. And the career did seem to suit her as she won many national ad awards including the Clio and the New York Art Director’s Club Gold. What more could she ask for? Create her own worlds? Become goddess of her own universe? Yes! So, she began to write fiction. Her Victorian Romantic Suspense novel AN AFFAIR WITH MR. KENNEDY won the 2010 Golden Heart and sold to Pocket Books. Her sexy, controversial steampunk novel THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK won the 2010 Romance Through The Ages Erotica category and sold to Kensington Brava. Jillian lives in California and is currently writing a new spin-off novel to the Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series as well as book #2 in the DO IT LIST series.

Website: http://jillianstone.com
Twitter: @gJillianStone https://twitter.com/gJillianStone
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JillianStoneBooks
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4946569.Jillian_Stone

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