Review: After the Crash by Emma Alcott
SYNOPSIS:
Rule #1 Straight military men will always be straight, no matter how much you wish otherwise
Rule #2 Being a billionaire won’t change that (probably)
Rule #3 The whole thing between you when you were in high school? It was only fantasy
Rule #4 One-sided fantasy
Rule #5 God, how great would it be if it was a two-sided fantasy?
Rule #6 Okay, getting off track
Rule #7 Hiring your hot high school crush is totally okay
Rule #8 If you don’t let your feelings get in the way, everything will be fine
Marshall Lloyd is about to be very not fine. Not only is his high school crush back in his life, but he’s matured into a gruff, brooding, drop-dead-gorgeous specimen of a man that makes Marshall’s wet dreams seem about as exciting as drying paint. The only problem: Fox Fraser, the individual in question, is straight.
Super straight.
The kind of straight that would make a ruler jealous.
But if what Marshall sees when he looks in Fox’s eyes is to be believed, he’s broken, too. There are scars inside of him that no one notices. No one but Marshall. It’s not wrong to want to help him, is it? To hire him to take care of things around the house so he can get back on his feet? It’s just work. Work that leads to lingering looks. To prolonged touches. To… mmph. It’s better not to think about it. Marshall’s fantasies aren’t real. A guy like Fox would never pin him to a wall and do things to him like that.
Maybe.
Probably.
Right?
REVIEW:
*This Review Contains Spoilers*
Let’s break down this book, the cover isn’t bad but once I read the synopsis, I was instantly sold. It sounded like I was in for a witty, funny, light-hearted book. And I got that…till I hit 40% into the story and then things went down hill fast.
So first the build up, Marshall and Fox are super cute together in the first 40%. Fox and Marshall run into each other again after 10 years with a compassionate meet-cute. Fox is working through his issues, they start to form a friendship. I begin to think this is the perfect, tender romance I have been looking for. And then around 40% things went from 0 to 100 real fast, and not in the good way.
First off, I have to gripe about the sex scenes because they were extremely off putting. It went from first kiss and straight to f*cking, Fox was an aggressive and selfish lover. But also he wasn’t even sure of his sexual orientation, he was just suddenly sure that he was attracted to Marshall. He was basically forcing his d*ck down Marshall’s throat, calling him baby, telling him he was going to to own him, and there was literally no build up. It came out of nowhere and I just sat there reading and contemplating if I should DNF the story.
Yet I continued on and things unfortunately didn’t improve. Secondly, the plot, how much potential bullsh*t can you cram into one story line. A war veteran suffering from PTSD and a tech-billionaire who is trying to work through his childhood trauma is plenty already. But then Marshall and Fox decide to mentor a gay teenager in the community. Then we are going to throw in abuse, a break-in, and what could probably be considered a murder attempt.
And at this point I am thinking what the actual f*ck did I just read. Like relationship building, nah we don’t need that, all we need is copious amounts of sex with a different plot twist after each round of banging. I feel misled as a reader because this book was not anything that I signed up and as a new to me author, I definitely won’t be picking up anymore of her work.
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