Guilty Pleasure by Jessica Prince
Title: Guilty Pleasure
Series: Redemption Series
Author: Jessica Prince
Genre: New Adult
Release Date: January 10, 2021
What do you do when the most intense passion you’ve ever felt is with a person you hate?
The only thing worse than living in a town where everyone hates you is having to work for the man who broke your heart.
Redemption, Tennessee held nothing but painful memories that Lark Ashton had no desire to rehash. After the only man she’s ever loved crushed her soul and spirit, and all her friends turned their backs on her, she swore to herself she’d never go back. But when her aunt calls, asking a favor she can’t possibly refuse, Lark finds herself public enemy number one . . . again
Clay Morrison has spent seven years trying to convince himself he’s no longer in love with Lark Ashton. But when the woman he thinks betrayed him and his family returns, she brings with her a whole slew of feelings he’s worked hard to ignore. Now he can’t get the bane of his existence out of his head.
She’s in desperate need of a job. He can’t resist the chance to have her at his mercy.
And they’re both about to discover what happens when the most intense passion they’ve ever felt is with a person they hate.
At Lumpy’s little yip of excitement, I looked down and covered my mouth with a finger. “Shh!” I whispered. “Do you want us to get caught?”
I could have sworn he understood me, because he turned and looked at the kitchen’s doorway, raising his ears slightly like he was listening closely to make sure no one was coming.
“Good boy,” I crooned quietly when he looked back up at me with those big, round chocolaty eyes. “You keep quiet and I’ll give you all the treats.” Just to show him I was a woman of my word, I pulled another piece of thinly sliced chicken from the deli bag I’d found in one of the fridge’s drawers. That was the fifth slice I’d given sweet
Lumpy since I spotted Clay’s name written on one side of the bag in black permanent marker.
As far as I was concerned, he totally deserved it. “Is that good chicken?” I cooed, smiling wide when Lumpy’s tail began swishing back and forth across the floor like a hyper little bunny. “Yeah. I bet it is. I bet your daddy spent a pretty penny, getting that from the butcher instead of the sandwich meat section like a regular person.” I pulled out another slice and tossed it up so Lumpy could chomp it midair. Next I was going to teach him how to balance a treat on his nose before catching it.
“Serves him right for making me clean out the stupid fridge.”
I’d been with Morrison Construction for three days, and as I suspected, Clay was going out of his way to make my job miserable. There hadn’t been another blowup like the insanely tense scene in Callum’s empty office, however that didn’t mean he was taking it easy on me. Because he absolutely wasn’t.
But I wasn’t going to let him see how much he was getting to me. The more I swallowed down my snide comments or bit my cheek until it bled to keep from calling him every vile curse in the history of the human word, the angrier he seemed to get. For some reason, it felt like he wanted me to fight back. So I wouldn’t give him that luxury. It was childish, pushing his buttons like that, but I was giving myself that little rebellion.
Rating ★★★★
Guilty Pleasure is a second chance, love/hate romance full of emotion with some seriously hot office scenes that will have you saying yes please.
Lark's return to Redemption is met with nothing but hostility and from the get go I found myself angry on her behalf. Instead of running however she stands her ground and I'm immediately drawn to her strength. In fact the entire book I found myself Team Lark and at multiple times wished I could slap the ever loving crap out of some people in this book.
Now enter Clay, he is an alpha no doubt about that. And I love Jessica's alpha H's. They have this sexiness about them that tends to ooze from the pages with their demands and display's of protectiveness. Clay definitely should all those things. Clay also did make me a bit ragey I have to admit. Hot and cold at times I found myself wanting to also smack him upside the head, I found my feelings towards him up and down.
This story will gut you at times as you find out the circumstances surrounding Lark's departure from Redemption to begin with. My heart ached for her every time someone was nasty towards her, while at the same time cheered her on because she was so resilient.
And can we talk about the sexual tension between Clay and Lark. The back and forth jabs that seem to cut like a knife while at the same time that undeniable pull towards one another. I could feel the intensity pouring off the pages, especially in some of the office scenes. Yowzers.
Redemption was easily gobbled up, and I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I don't think I will ever stop reading books from Prince.
Reviewed by Melissa
Born and raised around Houston Texas, Jessica spent most of her life complaining about the heat, humidity, and all around pain in the ass weather. It was only as an adult that she quickly realized the cost of living in Houston made up for not being able to breathe when she stepped outside. That’s why God created central air, after all.
Jessica is the mother of a perfect little boy–she refuses to accept that he inherited her attitude and sarcastic nature no matter what her husband says.
In addition to being a wife and mom, she’s also a wino, a coffee addict, and an avid lover of all types of books–romances still being her all time favs. Her husband likes to claim that reading is her obsession but she just says it’s a passion…there’s a difference. Not that she’d expect a boy to understand.
Jessica has been writing since she was a little girl, but thankfully grew out of drawing her own pictures for her stories before ever publishing her first book. Because an artist she is not.
