Growing up, the three of us were friends.He was the nerd.I was the playboy.She was the beauty.Deep down, I only ever wanted her.I kept it inside because Rory and I made a pact that our friend, Amber, was off-limits.He lied.I went off to college, and he got the girl.Amber never knew how I felt.They were together for years¿before he broke her heart.Through it all and across the miles, she and I … casually stayed in touch.
When my job sent me to Boston for a three-month contract position, Amber let me stay in her spare room. Still reeling from her breakup, she¿d sworn off men.
One night, I opened her computer to find the shock of my life. She¿d hesitantly contacted a male escort company. Afraid to date and get her heart broken again, she was looking for sex with no strings. Every emotion imaginable ran through me: protectiveness, jealousy¿curiosity.
Amber had chosen Gentleman Number Nine and sent him a message.She opened up to him, confessing, among other things, her physical attraction to her friend¿me. But she considered me off-limits¿and she thought I was a manwhore. (Ironic, considering the circumstances.)
Eventually, she set up a date to meet Gentleman Nine at a hotel.When she showed up several nights later to meet him, she was stunned to see me standing there¿with an offer I hoped she wouldn¿t refuse.
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I LOVE Penelope’s books!
The reason I love her books, this one absolutely included, is the characters. These are like real people. They act like real people and talk like real people. And they blessedly don’t get tangled up in the whole “well, I should tell him the truth, but I won’t” nonsense that lasts the whole book. Yes, there is a little of that in this one, but the truth is revealed in a very timely manner.
I’m a total sucker for couples that have a shared history, and Channing and Amber certainly do. It was VERY interesting with an added element that popped back up about halfway through the book. Won’t spoil it for you 😉
Yep; another SMOKING HOT and AWESOME story from Penelope!
(I received a copy of this book in consideration of an honest review)
Gentleman Nine by Penelope Ward is the latest standalone romance by one of my absolute must-read favorite authors. A sexy and funny friends-to-lover romance that also has the surprising mix of angst and emotional turmoil that made these characters MORE. More real, more dimensional, more relatable, just MORE. Told in dual POV, this book was a devour-in-one-sitting, page-turner, addictive story between Channing and Amber.
Amber has crushed on Channing for as long as she can remember. He was her best friends brother. When her best friend dies in a tragic accident at 16, Channing and Amber found solace in each other and their own friendship blossomed while they were learning to deal with their loss.
Channing has always liked Amber. He has been drawn to her for as long as he can remember. When she ended up dating their other best friend Rory while he was away at college he learned to keep his distance, physically and emotionally. While never actually shutting hr out, he distanced himself from the pain of seeing them together, even though Rory knew Channing liked her and they had a pact to never act on their feelings.
Shortly after Rory and Amber split, Channing finds himself on assignment in Boston and rooming with Amber. Their friendship resurfaces and gets complicated fast. The emotion and angst in this book was phenomenal. Every word, every sentence just flowed so perfectly from the page. An absolute pleasure to read. Note, while their is an inkling of a love-triangle hidden in the pages of this story, it is not a hurtful one, if that makes any sense. I cannot stand love-triangles – I really detest them and will avoid books that have them. This one was so delicately and carefully approached and handled with such care to ALL of the characters it wasn’t an issue for me. Enjoy!
OMG! Channing was so freaking dreamy!! The cover of this book brought his character to life for me. <3
I have fallen in love with so many of Penelope Ward’s characters. They are always so relateable and the guys are beyond scrumptious. Channing was no exception.
I just adore a great friends-to-lovers romance and Channing and Amber had a wonderful story. With both of them harboring secret feelings for the other, they resisted strongly, for years, in order to maintain their friendship. But once they those flood gates were opened - they were in store for some very sexy and top notch twists in the sheets.
With Channing’s protective nature, his affection for Amber was intense. He had me swooning from start to finish in this story. Amber was a strong female with the usual insecurities and Channing was the one to sooth her fears and give her strength. My heart starts to pitter-patter every time I think about him.
This was a wonderful, light-hearted romance and perfect for cuddling on the couch with a good blanket. Most definitely one you want for your kindle or bookshelf.
I have waited a few days to write my review for Gentleman Nine because I really want to do this amazing book justice, I also don’t want to write a review that is full of spoilers, I just want to tell you how this book made me feel because for me this is Penelope Wards best book so far…..
This book has wonderful characters, a storyline that will leave you with your heart in your mouth for a lot of the time and if you are anything like me you will shed a few tears, lifetime friends who want to just make sure their best friend is happy ( don’t we all wish we had friends like that in our corner) well that’s Amber and Channing and they don’t care if their own feelings get crushed along the way.
This book had my emotions all over the place but in a good way and I was Team Channing throughout this book, you will need to read the book to find out what that means, I don’t want to go to much into the story because I believe this is a MUST READ and I think you will enjoy this book so much more going in with no expectations. Once again Penelope Ward went way above any expectations I had of this book so please do yourself a favour by one clicking this brilliant read.
GENTLEMAN NINE by Penelope Ward is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, erotic, romance story line focusing on three friends: Channing Lord, Amber Walton, and Rory Calhoun.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Amber and Channing) with a chapter from Rory GENTLEMAN NINE follows the friends to lovers relationship between twenty five year old part time grade school teacher Amber Walton, and twenty seven year old Channing Lord. Three months earlier Amber’s life imploded when her boyfriend of nine years, Rory Calhoun, walked away saying he needed to explore other options. Three months will pass as Amber struggles to make sense of her life when their mutual friend Channing Lord calls looking for a place to stay while in town for a contracted business arrangement, and Amber’s B&B is available for rent. What ensues is the building romance between Amber and Channing, and the potential fall-out when Rory comes looking for a second chance.
Nine years earlier, Channing and Rory made a pact not to pursue a relationship with Amber, their friend (Channing’s younger sister Lainey’s best friend) and the woman they both equally loved but Channing went off to university, only to return to discover his best friends had fallen in love leaving our hero the awkward third party in their one-time close-knit friendship. Fast forward to present day Channing discovers that the girl he secretly loves is about to hire an escort to ‘sate’ her sexual needs. Not one to stand back and lose the woman he loves a second time, our hero offers Amber a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship that will turn into something more.
The relationship between Amber and Channing is one of friends to lovers, a second chance of sorts between two people who have loved one another most of their lives but circumstance and betrayal found Amber falling in love with someone else. Their friends with benefits agreement and rules are eventually thrown caution to the wind as love becomes the overarching theme that will be threatened by Rory’s attempts to win back the woman he still loves. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate and seductive but, once again, I take offense to a certain four-letter word that holds no place in a romance story line.
We are introduced to Amber’s best friend Annabelle, and Milo, a young autistic man who loves to smell all newcomer’s hair, as well as Channing’s ex-girlfriend Emily, his ailing mother Christine, Rory’s neighbour Boris, and Boris’s daughter Stephanie.
GENTLEMAN NINE is an emotional and sometimes heart breaking story line that treads dangerously close to love-triangle territory, if not, crossing over for several chapters, which, not being a fan of the three sided romance-ever- amped up my anxiety exponentially. The premise is creative and moving; the characters are determined and passionate; the romance is provocative and intense.
Penelope Ward definitely knows her way around unique story lines, which is why romance readers adore her books, characters, and plots. And, even though I’m not a fan of love triangles, I didn’t hesitate to sign up for an ARC of Gentleman Nine because Ward never follows the stereotypical path of any romance trope; she drives up the angst and takes her characters on an uphill journey – one that doesn’t usually resolve itself until hearts have been broken, difficult choices have been made, and loss seems to be one of the only feelings left between the characters.
Amber Walton and Channing Lord may be long-time friends, but they lost touch over the past several years, partly because Channing distanced himself from Amber when she became Rory’s girlfriend and partly because Channing’s feelings for Amber made it extremely difficult to stay close with the new couple. But now that Amber and Channing have reconnected and things have been set in motion that, in some respects, both of them has always wanted, readers have to trudge through Amber and Channing’s indecision, confusion, and jealousy, which definitely hinders either of them from going all in with their head, heart, and soul because it remains largely unclear if either of them will truly be free of their past relationships, especially when they keep popping up in their lives.
I do have to admit that I had a few issues with Amber and Channing’s story. Everything seemed to move at warp speed without any real explanation for the characters’ choices. It was difficult to truly understand why Rory made the choice that he did, and even when he explains his reasoning, in his own voice, it just seemed rather contrived for a man who has been in love/in a relationship with the same woman for nine years. While it’s clear that there’s a mutual attraction between Amber and Channing, I guess I just needed more insight into why Channing’s always had feelings for Amber and what Amber saw/sees in Channing now that she actually has the opportunity to explore the spark between them.
Overall, I did enjoy the uniqueness of how Penelope Ward brought Amber and Channing’s feelings out into the open, and the steps Channing was willing to take in order to prove to Amber just how much he has always wanted her. Some of the supporting characters and the hero and heroine’s interaction with them definitely shed light on how caring and supportive both Amber and Channing are when it comes to helping other people. I just found it difficult to connect to Amber and Channing as a couple because there was so much outside interference not really dealt with or approached in the best possible way, leaving me questioning just how much love is between them and why they made the choices that they did.
3.5/4 Poison Apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)
This is going to be a difficult review. Spoiler free, oh hell so difficult when i want to shout from the roof tops !!!
Amber & Channing, best friends,both have had heartbreak and devastation in their lives, Amber’s one and only boyfriend was the other guy in their friendship trio, but are recently broken up when Channing comes to stay with Amber for an extended stay due to work.
Oh my heart was chuckling with joy at this couple. Both just totally captivated me, Channing, hot, sexy, charming and someone you would definitely want to be around. Amber a girl with her confidence broken but still shone!!
Well holy moly but the chemistry between these two had me squirming in my seat, and i couldn’t wait to get from page to page. I loved getting bits of both POV’S because seeing both sides to this couple just pulls your heart right in to the depths of romance heaven. My emotions were haywire with this book, because i just couldn’t predict where it was going, what was coming next, or how it was going to end!!! When I’m shouting at the pages, when I want to shake the characters bones till they rattle and when I am so engrossed in a story i don’t even know what time of day it is, now that is something i just don’t get with every book, but this author gives it in spades!! This is definitely my most favorite of Friends to Lovers Books I have read and this is possibly one of this authors Best Books. I so want to tell you what happens, but you will have to read it !!! lol
Best friends growing up Amber, Channing & Rory. Rory ends up with Amber for 9 years. He breaks up with her and she is devastated. Channing lives in the Chicago area now but, will be in Boston area for his job for a few months. He calls Amber and rents a room from her for the duration of his job.
Amber is starting to feel desperate & wants sex with no strings attached. She has sworn off men but with Channing living with her and looks so very HOT. She is stooping to desperate measures by contacting a male escort. Channing happens on seeing it on her computer and the rest is history. That’s my way of saying, no spoilers here.
Gentleman Nine is an angsty story between Channing, Amber and Rory. How does one choose who they love? That is up to Amber to decide and what a hard decision that is.
I loved the story in Gentleman Nine. I give it 4.5 stars. Penelope Ward is one of my authors that I know that she will write a story that I will fall in love with.