He was supposed to be my first and only one-night stand.He was definitely never supposed to become my boss.I had always been the good girl – the workaholic with every second of her life mapped out to a tee.Then I got trapped in an elevator with Julian Hoult.He was… irresistible. Sophisticated sex in a crisp white shirt. His voice alone dropped me straight to my knees. What was I supposed to do?… my knees. What was I supposed to do?
Well….
I can tell you what I was definitely not supposed to do.
I was not supposed to run into him ever again. I was not supposed to be desperately unemployed, and I was definitely not supposed to accept his dirty little job offer.
But I couldn’t resist.
As CEO of the Hoult Media empire, Julian will stop at nothing to get what he wants. So for his next venture with Manhattan’s most lecherous billionaires, he’s hired me to play the role of bait. And while my official title is that of Executive Assistant, my actual job requires low tops, tight skirts and flaunting everything I’ve got till his clients are easy to bend – till they can barely think for themselves anymore.
It’s sleazy and wrong. Against everything I’ve worked for. But with Julian as my audience, I can’t help but enjoy every second. Thanks to him, I’m embracing the bad, and I swear…
I’ve never in my life felt this damned good.
*** BAD BOSS is a full-length standalone romance ***
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It’s always a big moment when I finish a book and realize that I have just found a new, all-time favorite. I can usually tell when a book has promise to make this coveted list from the start (and I DO NOT add books to this list lightly – oh no, a spot has to be EARNED!). But a book has to have staying power all the way until the very end to really earn the final stamp of approval. Well this office romance definitely earned it’s spot and is one of my all-time favorite romance books!
Bad Boss hooked me from the word go and I just fell more and more in love with Julian and Sara as the story unfolded. I actually fell in love with this book after reading the first two chapters as a teaser from ?? (which is the first in this series) and then stayed up late to start this one – it was that strong of a hook.
What was the hook? Well Julian overhears a conversation Sara is having with her bestie saying that she is out on the prowl for the night because she needs a man who can give it to her and make the headboard shake. Stepping into the elevator with her, they both instantly know that Julian is the man for the job, only their hook up is interrupted and names are never exchanged! GAH! The torment they both felt having had instantaneous connection and passion with someone only to have them disappear without a way to find them again to finish the eh, job!
But, of course they end up seeing each other again where Julian ends up offering the unemployed Sara a job as his assistant to help him close a business deal with a very important company. Unfortunately this company is led by two complete douchebags. Ugh, these guys show their true colors from the start (and it disgusts me how they throw their power around if they don’t get some) but it pushes Julian and Sara together on a daily basis where their chemistry just explodes despite a no-fraternizing clause. Yep. That sucker gets thrown out real quick.
From that initial hookup these two had chemistry and then some! Seriously, they were just so hot together and yet there was also this vulnerability and connection where you knew that this was building to more than just a fling.
As they grow closer, they both open up about their painful pasts which only solidifies their growing love and trust in one another as well. Despite sharing their pasts, the story didn’t veer off into a different direction or get bogged down in their pain. It just gave these characters more depth and an opportunity to be more vulnerable. I thought their backstories where pretty unique and not your “standard fare” so kudos to Rhys for her creativity. Plus, Rhys doesn’t feel the need to wrap up their past stories completely which I think is perfect and more consistent with real life.
Julian is a self-made billionaire in this book. Some romance books about billionaires feel the need to have a power dynamic between the main characters which I can’t really stand. This book was refreshing in that although Julian could put up a wall that hid his emotions and was devoted to making his business succeed, there wasn’t a power imbalance between these two.
Sara didn’t come from big money and yet he treated her with respect – not like a subordinate or someone who needed rescuing. If anything, they found in each other a person who truly made them happy and with whom they could really be themselves. Perfection.
Bad Boss is the perfect office romance to read that will give you all the feels. I can’t recommend it enough!
This is the third book by Stella Rhys that I’ve read and this book has solidified me as one of her newest fans! I love her writing and the stories she creates but she really excels at character and relationship development. I really loved the epilogue for this one too. Just read it already!
Check out this review and all my romance book reviews and romance book lists on my book blog, She Reads Romance Books: https://www.shereadsromancebooks.com/
A sinfully seductive journey to go on with Sara and Julian. I loved the banter, the sassiness, and passion. This story was simply perfect. I absolutely loved, and adored it.
My favourite thing in this whole book was the characters the chemistry between Julian and Sara, I could like feel it from the book and that has never happened to me before so it was a nice surprise. The characters were so funny and the teasing that happened between them and when she went to work for him how they both tried to stick with his rule of not dating or sleeping with the employees of the companies he owns. I thought that rule was quite funny and I think we all knew that it would be broken between them. At first, they both believed it was the sex that drew them to each other but they slowly began to get to know each other and eventually fall in love. I loved how they teased each other sexually as well as normally. I also loved the tension between them both you could feel it off the page. When they did finally break that rule, it was funny seeing the confusion that they both felt and how they would deal with them breaking the rule. The fact they both felt the same was quite funny too!
The relationship building was fantastic I felt like it fit the pace of the story and didn’t take long or too slow, and the way it built was brilliant. Also, the way that they both Sara and Julian revealed stuff about their pasts the way it happened it really fitted them as characters. I really want to say something about that but I don’t want to spoil it, but once you discover Sara’s past, in particular, you understand a lot more of her and why she acts in certain ways.
I felt every bit of happiness, pain and sadness in this book, it was heart warmingly beautiful! I would love to go into way more detail about everything that happened in the book but it’s spoiler free! I really did enjoy it
Sara quits the “dream job” she has had for years after learning she will never get to move up the corporate ladder and is not given credit for her work. Sara is on the phone with her BFF talking about how she needs hot, steamy, no strings attached sex when she runs into Julian in the elevator.
Julian is all business, all the time. Issues in his past have made him the work driven, intense man he is. He’s rich, handsome, and is a workaholic who owns his own baseball team.
When Julian and Sara meet, the sexual chemistry and banter between the two is unbelievably hot! Unfortunately, their fun is cut short until they meet again a few weeks later when Julian makes Sara an offer she can’t refuse. Julian is now on his way to win the biggest deal of his life, thanks to Sara.
I adore Sara. She knew exactly what she wanted and had no fear, she just went for it. I enjoyed seeing Julian be so intense yet soft with Sara. As the story progressed, Julian and Sara both share their pasts and how it made them the way they are. You can feel the moment they both truly fall in love and it is spectacular!!
Bad Boss was sexy, heartfelt journey that left me wanting more!