I am glad that someone convinced you to bring this book out of archives because it was soooo good. The writing was great and so was the dialogue. Everything felt real and and the story moved at the right pace. Agnes and Lola’s characters were well written. Lola lost the one person that loved her and allows her hurt and anger to drive her to do things that are out of character. Agnes, isn’t a fool, and she knows that Lola is not all that she seems but can’t stay away from her. That recipe leads to a fantastic story with a twist at the end that I did not see coming. 5 stars all the way. P.S. if you’re the type of person where reading lies and subterfuge in a book, a fantasy world, makes your skin crawl then go read an Amanda Radley book where you can feel good about life. But if you want a hot story about the flip side of a coin, the side that’s a little dirty and scratchy, then get this book. 😉

You know those books that you keep seeing everywhere and see people talk about? For me this was one of them and I just had read it for myself. I’ve never read anything by Zedde before so it’s all new to me. I had such a hard time getting into this book, at some point I thought I was reading a sequel. I did some researchers and nowhere is it indicated that this is a sequel. So it’s just me, that’s fine too.

So why was it hard for me to get into? I think because of the writing style and I feel like we get dropped in the middle of a story. Agnes runs a high end escort service and her assets, aka employees, adore her and offer themselves to her on the regular. She never takes them up on their offers. Agnes is known as Nessa to a 5 year-old girl who she is raising together with her best friend, and head of security, Whit. How this all came about we only learn very late in the book, this humanises Agnes, makes her softer, and I understand why the author chose to do it this way. I can understand something but still not like it, as is the case here. There is already so much “mystery” that at least some parts could have been revealed sooner. I expected some of it, but it’s better to have the author take you on the journey. Lola is gunning for Agnes and her house, she wants to bring them down and reveal Agnes for the monster Lola believes her to be. Agnes reads Lola so incredibly well, but still steps into her “traps”, it’s slightly confusing. Lola is a bit of a hot mess and I had such a hard time following her thought process. I think this was intended by the author as well, she needs to seem confused and conflicted, the best way to do that is to have the reader experience the same. I appreciate the author not having this book revolve around sex alone, which could have easily been done when one of the mains is a madam. There is much more emotion in this book than I expected from the blurb and from the first at least third of the book.

There is so much push and pull and intentional vagueness in this book I actually put it down to process my thoughts on it. Do I like it and do I want to keep reading we’re my main questions. After some wake hours and asleep hours figuring this out I ended up finishing the book and coming to the conclusion that I actually liked it. Would I prefer things to be written differently? Sure, but it is actually a nice change of pace from your standard lesfic. There are some formulaic things that do happen, big big drama at 80% or even later, and some other things that you will recognise as part of the formula. Aside from the big drama happening too late (and maybe have too many things going on in that) the formula worked for this book. Maybe because it starts out so weirdly and is just covered in vagueness.

So yes I did end up enjoying this, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that yesterday when I started reading the book, but this will not become one of my favourites anytime soon. This is such a hard 3.5 stars, I don’t know wether to give it 3, which seems too low, or 4, which seems to high…

Lola Osbourne is an investigative reporter with a mission. She wants to bring down the owner and madam of an exclusive escort agency. She decides one of the best ways to get inside the agency is to become one of the escorts. Agnes Noble runs the House of Agnes. She doesn't mix business with her own pleasure ever. But there is something about the persistent Lola that she likes.

The book is an thrilling, page-turning read, with lots of twists and turns. The attraction between the MC's is hot and very steamy. Both Agnes and Lola have more depth than I was expecting. Side characters like Gretchen, Jamika and Whit add greatly to the story. I'm new to the author and will definitely look for her future books. The only downside for me was the attraction was more lust driven. I would love a few more conversations over UNO or pizza to feel the connection between Lola and Agnes.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lovely read. It had romance and action and scorching hot scenes and some very interesting characters.
As soon as I read the blurb of this book on Netgalley, I had to request it: I was so very very curious to see this enemy-to-lovers story unfold. And I did like it. I absolutely adored Agnes, and I loved that she was this tower of cold strengh with a fairly vulnerable and endearing side. I also loved her relationship with both With and Gretchen. Lola, on the other hand, not so much. I think one of the main issues I had with this book was the way Lola kind of tricked Agnes to get herself closer to her, and although Agnes is fully aware something fishy is going on with Lola, it still didn't sit right with me.
If you don't mind subterfuge and secrets and you have a taste for erotica and scorching hot scenes, then this is the book for you