What a great book! I loved it!! It has humour, sadness, love & hot, hot sex! I was hooked from the first meeting of Jenny & Ethan by the park. (Who doesn't like a bit of talking back, needing to have the last word & some sign language thrown in!) The sparks flew between them through the whole story. The characters felt real. They were like friends & family.

I would definitely recommend this to friends as a must read. And, I look forward to reading more from Sloane Howell. Mr. Howell, you know how to tell an awesome story! Thanks :)

This started out great... snappy witty and then dissolved into something i just couldn't get behind... it could be me... but to my way of accessing... the female lead started out with fire and could hold her own... The guy was hot sexy and strong- She became less... and whinny and he had knee jerk reactions. So for me... was not my book.

4.5 Stars

Sloane Howell's writing keeps getting better and Bossed has proven his writing skills.

Jenny is going on an interview that she really needs, the money most importantly. She's the sole caregiver to her dying father besides her BFF that helps her, she needs the money for the best care. That is until she meets her match in her new potential boss Ethan. Ethan is immediately attracted to Jenny, but instead of being nice and cordial, he riles Jenny up and the war of words flies around.

I adored Jenny as much as Ethan tried to make her working life miserable, she dished it right back to him, but in a professional capacity. Their attraction is palpable and when the sexy times happened, watch out.

I cannot wait to read more of Sloane Howell's books.

*An ARC was provided via Net Galley for an honest review.

Jenny Jackson is desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures. Job hunting is a stressful endeavor in itself, add to that an arrogant prick who happens to be the boss, and things are bound to go south. Ethan Mason built his company with focus, determination and a commanding attitude. Hiring the beautiful spit fire that managed to give as good as she got was a mistake he couldn’t afford. Yet, to let her walk away from him was not an option. After an unexpected encounter and an interview from hell, he signed his own death warrant, but at least he would enjoy himself to his bitter end. Jenny was taken by her boss. He was GQ handsome, intelligent and knew baseball almost as well as she did. He also was rude, mean and honestly scary at times. But she would not show weakness… Bossed is a humor filled, banter driven romance with enough sass to keep readers going until the last page. While it dishes out enough drama, tension and tears, it was the banter that got to me. I love a good back and forth. Ethan is a beautiful, broken man and Jenny is his perfect match. A fun read for sure.

Jenny is a very strong willed and focused girl she is sarcastic and will give back as good as she gets. She also knows her sports stats which is like a dream for most men...lol.
Ethan is very much a man who has to be in charge and he has to be right and he has to have the last word. He for sure is not going to let Jenny show him up.
When these two unexpectedly "bump" into each other before Jenny is supposed to have an important interview you can just sense the sexual tension rolling off them from the get go.
I really love this story...I love a story that makes you fall in love with the characters and that has you rooting for them to make it.
Soooo let's cut to the good stuff...the SEX!!! I mean the first time...it was...muy caliente!!!!!!!
I absolutely love the relationship that Jenny has with her Father through out this book. I love how he calls her on her BS.
I think the one thing that kind of irritated me about Jenny was how sensitive she was and how she over reacted towards some of the things Ethan did. Ethan stayed persistent and broke down Jenny's walls even though she did not make it easy.
If you want a great read with tons of witty push-pull and HOT sex then this is the book for you!

This is the first book I have read from Sloan Howell and was excited when I received an advance copy from the publisher for an honest review.

Jenny is an accountant who is in a new city and bumps into Ethan while on her way to a job interview. He isn't pleasant and she is irritated with him. Unbeknownst to her he ends up being the owner of a sports agency where she is interviewing.

The job interview is nothing like you would imagine. When Jenny schools him on some baseball stats, he hires her.

Tension between the two is palpable and continues throughout the book.

A relationship begins and Jenny and Ethan are pulled back and forth. At times I wanted to strangle Ethan for the way he treated people, but Jenny was also pigheaded at times.

I loved that Jenny was an intelligent woman who didn't take crap from Ethan while caring for a terminally ill parent. The relationship between Jenny and her father was priceless, as well as with her best friend Kelsey.

I enjoyed the other characters in the book especially Kelsey and Matt. I’m hoping that Ms. Howell will write her next book about them. I look forward to Ms. Howell’s next release.

It was interesting to read from the point of view of both people

This book had everything that makes a book outstanding, laugh out loud conversations, sweet conversations that bring you to tears and the love between a father and daughter that will tug at your heart.
It was very entertaining to say the least. I loved Jenny spunkyness. I Love when a book is written so well, it's hard not to think it's real. So many laugh out loud moments will keep you glued to this book. One of the best books I've read.

Overall, I felt this was rather hot or miss. Some parts were great, some were predictable or ridiculous.

I have to love this book because I laughed and cry a lot. Jenny is a great strong woman, with a difficult life. Ethan is alpha man with a torrid past. They make each other happy, angry and loved that they are perfect match.

2.5 STARS

Bossed is the first book I’ve read by Mr Howell, and I have to admit my curiosity was opened seeing as I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes down to an out of bounds office romance. Ahem… in this novel my expectations seemed to be marked out though. Since the leading lady is not easy prey and won’t take any bull from her peer, I wanted more from him. Did I get it? Yes and no! Read on!

Jenny Jackson is between a rock and a hard place for reasons to be divulged; however, her contradictory traits weren’t going to help matters. Therefore, it didn’t surprise me that eating humble pie wasn’t an easy feat for her. More than apt in her profession, she has to prove herself which believe you me, she does perfectly. As her story unfolded, my real issue was whether I could trust my gut feelings regarding her behaviour when the going gets tough. Not only did she rub me up the wrong way, but quite frankly, I could have given her a good talking to!

“Sorry, does my love of baseball offend you? I didn’t realize it was a sensitive topic. My apologies, Mr. Mason.”

Ethan Mason came across to me as stony-hearted and obviously bossy. His short fuse scares the pants off all his employees, his patience with them is zero and at first I thought he was for me. Shame isn't one of my strong points when it boils down to an alpha man who doesn’t slack. It wasn’t until I was well into the story that he showed his true colours. Actually, I found it much easier to connect to him than Jenny and that’s saying something.

“We can’t keep doing this. This cycle of running hot and cold. I need warmth. Constant warmth.”

“I can do warm. I’ll be your Caribbean. Nothing but warm.”

What I couldn’t cope with was how Ethan changed his tune when least expected. I thought it was against his nature. For someone who’d had to fight for everything he owned; who was so very sure of himself and had no compunction in wheeling and dealing with the best, his stance in the ways of love made me pity him. I must say if there was one thing I was bowled over by was the repartee between Ethan and his best mate, Matt. The sound advice given might just help his long-life buddy see sense in brackets since Ethan’s shell is a hard one to crack.

“Ethan Mason is no pussy. He takes what he wants, and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it. I wouldn’t say this shit to you if you weren’t my best friend. So listen closely, and make sure you let this sink in.”

One detail which cannot be disputed is the off the charts steaminess. It. Is. Sizzling. Hot! Jenny and Ethan fight it, they succumb to it in scenarios that’ll probably make you wonder if what they are up to is acceptably correct under such circumstances. Their nonstop toing and froing quite honestly drove me round the bend. What I did feel strongly about was the emotional imbalance between them. Often crossing the line of insolence, they both made up for it with their quick off the mark banter. It is quirky, refreshing, and kept my interest. Ethan’s family is adorable, Jenny’s bestie, Kelsey, adds spice where necessary and the side character development is really well-thought-out. Moments of angst kept me on my toes too, so you might ask why I didn’t give this standalone more stars! A few grey areas in Ethan’s and Jenny’s mannerisms didn’t quite hit a home run. That being said, my recommendation is to go into this read with an open mind and enjoy.

What an awesome story. Good romance and plot. Enjoyed all the elements of the story.

I loved every word of this book. Jenny is beyond perfect for Ethan. I loved how she could give right back to him everything he tried to throw at her. That job interview, oh to be a fly on the wall. But there was no epilogue. I wanted more of them. Needed more of them.

I like the snark of Jenny and her family, I like Ethan's wit. Together, they are on fire, when they aren't acting like immature teenagers.
The plot leaves a bit to be desired with the immature nonsense. Communication people! It became a bit much with the silent treatment on a loop for things that would have easily been rectified with a few sentences to each other. It was unnecessary and unbelievable angst in order to cause drama in the plot, but I simply got annoyed and bored with it. I put this one down.

All Jenny Jackson wants is a better job. Her father is terminally ill and his bills are piling up, so when she gets an interview for a position offering twice as much as her current salary, she jumps all over it. Too bad she runs into the biggest jerk of her life as she’s lost and rushing, trying not to be late. They exchange some choice words and Jenny tries to brush off the encounter, but lo and behold, the guy is there to interview her.

Turns out that the cocky jerk, Ethan Mason, is the owner of the agency. Jenny’s interview is awful. Ethan fires question after question at her, not giving her a chance to show her knowledge since he’s obviously already formed a negative opinion of her. Convinced that she’ll never get the position anyway, Jenny corrects Ethan’s mistaken baseball stats and gets ready to storm out. Ethan, against his better judgment, hires her.

--SOME SMALL SPOILERS AHEAD--

I actually feel really conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed both characters at the beginning of the book. Jenny was spunky, sassy, and didn’t put up with any crap from Ethan. Ethan seems like your typical cocky young millionaire (you’ll find his type in almost any new adult book these days), but he’s sharp-tongued and quick on his feet.

On the other hand, the characters were not consistent.

As the book goes on, Jenny loses her spunkiness. She’s no longer sassy. Demanding, maybe, but not spunky and sassy. And even though she’s demanding, she (in my opinion) puts up with a whole lot of nonsense from Ethan. She continually gives him chances that he does not deserve and then acts surprised when he does something that hurts her.

Also as the book goes on, Ethan turns into a very weak character. Given the way he’s presented at the beginning of the book, I would never expect him to con Jenny into a date, but that’s exactly what he does. He pretends that they have a client meeting and then expects her to be okay when he basically says, “Just kidding, but I figured you’d say no if I asked you out for real!”

And Jenny, with all her spunkiness and sassiness, is like “Heck no! I don’t have time for this!” and she runs away, but then ends up hooking up with him in a car like a teenager? And why? Because he’s cute? Lots of boys are cute, Jenny. This particular boy has some growing up to do.

I had no sympathy for their relationship. Although the sex was hot, that’s not enough to sustain a relationship -- or even a romance novel plot. To be honest, the plot and the characters left a lot to be desired. I think this type of book would be enjoyed more by someone who has not worked in a corporate environment. As I was reading, I just kept seeing red flags flying.

I mean, there are the blatant things, like Ethan’s constant harassment of Jenny at work. At one point, he literally calls her into an empty conference room and rubs his dick against her. Like, they’re not even dating. Not even having any kind of thing yet. He claims that he acts like a tyrannical ass at work because he’s paranoid about losing his company, but then he goes and rubs his dick on a cute new employee, all because he gets some kind of ~vibe~ that she likes him? That’s a good way to go to jail.

And even setting that aside, there’s this weird offhand comment by one of Jenny’s co-workers that basically amounts to fraud. She buys Jenny lunch one day while Ethan is out of the office, and pretty much says “I’m going to hide this meal in my expense reports! Hahaha! Perks of being an accountant lol!” I mean, as someone whose office has had problems with shady accountants, that really rubbed me the wrong way. Again, for Ethan being so paranoid about something happening to his company, I cannot believe that his accountants can just hide stuff in their expense reports!

And finally, we have Ethan’s whole “I expect the world from my employees and they have to always be here and always do their best work! Nobody can take a sick day!” attitude, but Jenny is allowed to stay home for weeks at a time? Sometimes for no reason other than she and Ethan had a fight? I mean, I thought that Jenny needed money? And I thought that Ethan was supposed to be really heartless about any exceptions to the rules?

So, anyway, you’re probably wondering, if you made it this far into the novel I’ve written about my opinions on Bossed, why did I give it three stars if I had eight paragraphs of complaints about it? Well, here are four reasons:

The writing was good. I might not have been a huge fan of the characters or the plot, but there’s no denying that Sloane Howell knows how to write a book. Even in my advanced copy, there were no noticeable errors.
The banter between Jenny and Ethan at the beginning was great. I loved that she gave it back to him just as much as he gave it to her.
I liked that Jenny was intelligent and didn’t just claim to be a baseball fan to get the job. She actually knew her stuff and wasn’t afraid to correct Ethan if he messed up a statistic.
OF COURSE, the sex scenes were hot. They weren’t terribly repetitive and I didn’t cringe even once.
So, in some ways, this book was good. In other ways, I was disappointed. Bossed might not have been exactly my cup of tea, but I would absolutely be willing to try out another of Sloane Howell’s books.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆

Thanks to Netgalley and Loveswept for the ARC!

3.5 star review

Jenny is running late for an interview to a job she desperately needs due to her father's medical bills piling up. She falls into a hot stranger on her way to the interview and is instantly annoyed by his cocky attitude. Jenny was raised by her father and doesn't take crap from anyone and mouths off to this gorgeous stranger only to find out he is Ethan Mason...boss and owner of the company she walks in to interview for.

Ethan has a bit of a past as well but can't fight his insta-attraction to Jenny. Not many people, if any, will call him out on his crap and that draws him even closer to her.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I think some of the drama was a bit childish and stated to annoy me. This book didn't give me that build up or angst I always enjoy while reading. For me, there was just something missing....

Terrific book! Loved the interaction between Eathan and Jenny--fun, snarky, touching and at times hysterical! Also loved the supporting characters--- best friends, looking after, supporting and sometimes kicking a little butt. Would like to hear more about them too.

This is another great book written by Sloane Howell. The writing is witty and humorous. I will recommend this to my bookworm friends.

First off - I lurve the cover but then I felt a bit dirty because he looks like a hotter version of the guy I sit opposite at work (awks!).

I couldn't decide whether this was a four star (for the start) or two stars (for the second half) so I compromised on two stars.

So this started out really cute and sassy. Jenny Jackson is a book-keeper, nearly but not quite CPA, going for a job interview with a sports agency. The interview was set up in a hurry, she didn't have time to research the company, she can't find the office and she's running late. To add insult to injury, she bumps into a hot guy in a suit and drops all of her resumes. Instead of the usual polite apologies the guy is uber rude and the tow of them end up having a snarky bitch off in the middle of the park. This is SUCH a great scene, it drew me in and got me invested in Jenny as a character and she seemed like a quick-witted, resourceful woman, ready to stand up for herself. Of course, the reader already has a damn good suspicion that Mr Nasty in the park is going to be at her interview.

Despite the fact that Jenny is applying for a lowly staff accounting position she is being interviewed by a board room full of people, including the owner of the sports agency, Ethan Mason, and of course Ethan Mason is Mr Nasty. Ethan continues the aggressive, confrontational approach to the interview; asks loads of inappropriate questions and then basically dismisses Jenny as unsuitable. Again this is a great scene and I was L.O.V.I.N.G. it, especially when Jenny owns his ass and corrects him in front of the rest of the team.

The book is told in alternate POVs between Jenny and Ethan so we can see why he acts the way he does in the interview and why he decides to hire her, despite his own misgivings. Gradually we see the antagonistic interactions between Ethan and Jenny soften as they become closer - as expected in a romance.

So, all good right? So I had some issues professionally with certain behaviours in the book which I freely acknowledge would probably go unnoticed by most other people (or not, who knows). The first is when one of Jenny's colleagues buys her lunch one day and decides to "charge it to the firm and hide it in the office expense account". First, and most important, that is theft. Second, what a cheapskate 'friend' who buys you a lunch (to eat in the office) and charges it to the company. Third, in most companies in the UK (I can't speak for US firms) employees can buy more junior employees lunch or coffee and legitimately charge it to staff entertaining or some such expense code. So as an accountant (CPA equivalent) I found this very off-putting, especially since Jenny says this is a 'perk' of being an accountant.

The second issue is more spoilerish, especially since it occurs near the end and is linked to the inevitable 'conflict'.</spoiler> Jenny makes a mistake in a report which Ethan relies upon in a business negotiation. The mistake is there to be seen, he just didn't spot it at the time, although he did get a niggling feeling that something was not 100% right. Ethan completely loses the plot over this mistake and throws his toys out of the pram (as we say in the UK). Now I appreciate that if a boss is a jerk he would do this sort of thing, but a real boss would take responsibility. As the owner of the business, if Ethan too busy to check the report properly then frankly tough shit. One of my more infuriating bosses once said to me that it was his livelihood on the line and he was ultimately responsible for anything that went out in his name. If he didn't check it properly or missed something, the buck stopped with him. </spoiler> So I found Ethan's behaviour childish and unattractive.

But these niggle aside, what disappointed me most about the second half of the book was Jenny. What happened to that feisty woman who stood up to asshole Ethan in her interview? She turned into a whiny drip. Nothing more so than when she berates Ethan (and won't speak to him) because, and I quote, "Yeah, I'd told him to go on the trip ... but how could he let his cellphone die?". Now there's more to the story than that quote lets on, but really?

Sadly, this great first half, so-so or worse second half seems to be a bit of a theme with books recently, I don't know if it is because writers think that strong, sparky women don't fit well with the romance half of the book? Surely not?

Maybe I wouldn't be so disappointed if the first half hadn't been so damn good!