Billionaire Sutton Mayfair has nothing left to lose…My best friend is getting married to the woman I love. They say the nice guy finishes last. So what’s the point of being a goddamn gentleman?Maybe I should take what I want.Even that sexy little thing on the street corner.She needs a hot meal and a place to sleep. Instead I’m taking her home to soothe the savage beast inside me. I was born a … savage beast inside me. I was born a bastard, and for the first time in my life I act like one.
Except the more I use her, the more I need her.
I didn’t know I had someone left to lose.
But for a single heartbeat, I had her.
more
I really did love reading Sutton Mayfair’s happy ending. I first read about him in the Trust Fund duet. I fell head over heels for him and his heat inducing southern charm. If I were able to meet someone just like him, my knees would probably buckle right at his feet.
This book begins by immersing us into Sutton’s utter heartbreak because both the woman and the man he loved were marrying each other. He quickly fell into self-destruction mode. In the midst of this, he meets Ashleigh. She was a prostitute who worked the “corner” near The Den, where all the rich and powerful men congregated.
Sutton and Ashleigh meet at just the right time. Both needed to be saved, just in different ways. The love that formed between them seemed effortless. It was just other struggles or differences that created blockades to their HEA. Theirs was an insta-love scenario that just fit.
I really wanted to see more of how their relationship built. Maybe some moments that showed how and why their emotions built to love. Everything just seemed to happen too fast. I also would have loved for their struggle to be up front instead of seemingly in the background.
All and all, I loved their HEA, especially the events that occur in the epilogue. I definitely had a smile that stretched from ear to ear. I was completely satisfied with Sutton’s love story. He is a character I will always keep tucked away in my heart. And Skye Warren did an amazing job in creating the perfect counterpart that Sutton deserved.
Mating Theory’is another book in the author’s ‘Tanglewood’ world. While Sutton has appeared previously, it can be read as a standalone. However if you have read previous books, there are some characters we know who occasionally pop up. Sutton is a heartbroken billionaire going through a really emotional time. When he sees Ashleigh, he isn’t thinking about anything but finding a way to distract himself and forget. Ashleigh, a teen runaway, lives on the street and her survival has forced her to sell her body. When Sutton and Ashleigh cross paths, she accepts his offer to go home with him. This is story has a dual point of view. Ashleigh’s tentative hope and bravery and Sutton’s anger at the world fit together to create an emotional story that will have you holding your breath.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
A visit back to Tanglewood and it feels so nice. Several other books Skye Warren has written are located in this wonderful place. Now we are back with some faces we have seen before and new ones; Sutton and Ashleigh. The chemistry between these two is through the roof. Both are broken and scarred but together they seem to begin their way back to healing and happiness. It’s not an easy road and it’s a great story to follow as they find their way. Can’t get enough of this place and all the wonderful inhabitants. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.
4.5 stars
Holy moley! Ashleigh and Sutton’s story kept me up into the wee hours of the morning. As soon as I started reading it I know that I wasn’t going to be able to put it down, and I was right. It was emotional with intense character chemistry.
Mating Theory by Skye Warren
I am voluntarily reviewing this ARC.
This book took me by surprise. The rawness of it broke my heart but kept me at the edge of my seat. Sutton is heart broken, when he meets Ashleigh. Ashleigh…she will live in my heart long after I finish this book. The thought of the evil that is out there in the world…not every child is loved and protected. Some children get violated in the worst way possible, teaching them not to trust. But the human spirit can survive. Goodness can live through maltreatment. Two broken hearts coming together…can they become a whole again?
Skye Warren writes raw, real characters, and her stories grab me and stay with me.
This as no different. It wasn’t the easiest read because my emotions got a work out, but it was well worth it.
Five stars
Skye has yet again delivered a fantastic read. We first met Sutton in Trust Fund, but boy did he shine in Mating Theory. I loved Ashleigh, she’s just as broken and damaged as Sutton but when these two broken souls came together, it was HAF! This book contains twists turns, unexpected events and sinfully sexy characters.
This is another must read by this author.
This book could be read as a stand-alone but you would understand and appreciate Sutton Mayfair’s journey if you read the previous books. I was looking forward to reading about Sutton’s journey in the story and Skye Warren did an amazing job! Sutton is a complex but loving character. He could have became bitter from his failed past relationships but love does find a way of find you when least expect it. He finds Ashleigh Barnes at the lowest part of her life and still fresh from some traumatic experiences. They connected as two lost souls and their love of quoting poetry together. They soon discover their passion and sexual desires as well. Healing physically and mentally is a process they soon acknowledge they need from one another. This story is 5 stars all the way!!!
“Every brush of his lips on mine destroys my defenses.”
Mating Theory by Skye Warren took me by complete surprise. It turned out to be a book I didn’t even know I needed!
The heartbreak, pain, and struggles Sutton and Ashleigh dealt with, bled from the pages. Their story was captivating, and the chemistry between them was insanely igniting. It was filled with moments that were ALL THE FEELS, and left my heart swooshing in my chest.
Most importantly, Sutton Mayfair is my newest book boyfriend OBSESSION! I love him. I love him. I love him!
When Sutton sees Ashleigh he decides he needs to help her but falls victim to her charms.
Both characters are beautifully flawed. A great dark romance. Both grow and heal through the book. A great spicy read. The Tanglewood universe is a great world of dark romance. Even though the themes are dark, the story still has points of brightness and healing. A wonderful read!
Skye Warren’s words utterly captivated me from the start in Mating Theory. How can words make me feel desperation, sadness, uncomfortableness, disgust and hope all at the same time?
Sutton is drunk, on a rooftop watching the two people he loves kiss at a party when we first meet him. He’s in love with the soon-to-be groom, Christopher, AND the soon-to-be wife, Harper. Ashleigh, a young girl now working the streets finds him there and a connection is made. He’s so lovesick and she’s just trying to survive, but perhaps even in those dire circumstances love can prevail.
The Cover
I’ll fully admit that I was planning on reading this romance book based on the cover alone. I mean look at it! It’s beautiful. He’s beautiful. And the positioning is just dramatic to me, making me want to discover this guy’s story. It definitely deserves a spot on my hottest romance book covers list. When I read that this was an angsty Pretty Woman story, I was sold.
The Prose
What I loved most about this book, and I don’t think I say this often, was the beginning prose. I felt Warren’s words. I could see the pictures that her words painted – especially Sutton’s primal moves and motives. Ashleigh was working the streets and I REALLY didn’t want to find out or read about how she was probably abused in that position but I couldn’t stop reading. I was completely enthralled in the beginning. That, my friends is a sign of a good book.
Sutton
I also fell for Sutton. I felt for him when he was propositioned by Christopher and Harper. Was it really an offer or a slap to the face?
Yet as the story unfolded, you could see how Sutton came to finally understand how things had worked out for the best between him, Christopher and Harper and I could appreciate this understanding even having not read Survival of the Richest, the precursor book.
Ashleigh seemed to be his saving grace and he hers. Sutton wanted her but I appreciated that we saw that he was aware that she was broken and vulnerable and didn’t want to take advantage of that.
Her short time as a prostitute didn’t even matter when it came to Sutton’s love for her. Others would love despite that but as he said he loves her because of it. Her strength. In the end, I felt that he did the right thing because he loved her and to know that what they have is based on love and not desperation or lack of choice.
My Hangups
Although I loved the beginning so, so very much, this book would have gotten a higher rating if there was more development to their characters and to their relationship. The beginning was beautiful, that first night at his house, but then we’re just told that they spend four days and nights together. I felt that it was such a missed opportunity to not delve into how they could have grown more together. How each could have torn down the other’s walls. But, instead, it was just a case of instalove that moved so very quickly. I felt so cheated from not getting more.
Perhaps there was more to Sutton’s history given in Survival of the Richest but I read this as a standalone. I would have loved more background on both of them or even more of their day to day to build their relationship which wasn’t given at all. I didn’t really care much for Ashleigh and I think it’s because I didn’t KNOW her beyond that she worked the corner. Even more on Ashleigh’s friend Ky would have been great too. Overall, the second part just had me wanting more.
Then there was their age difference – ah, I could have done without that honestly. Does it make it more “believable” that someone of that age would be on the street? I don’t know but I wasn’t a fan of that detail.
Despite these concerns I would recommend reading this book. Sutton is a keeper.
Check out this review and all my romance book reviews and romance book lists on my book blog, She Reads Romance Books: http://www.shereadsromancebooks.com
4.5 stars.
Wow! I have just finished this fantastic book, which has left me more than a little gobsmacked but in a totally good way. I am new reader of this authors and I am sitting here thinking to myself, why? Why did I leave it so long to enjoy this authors words.
This books is everything, complicated, beautiful, broken, you name it. It belongs in this book. Now for me to speak of the storyline would be to spoil it. The blurb gives just the right amount away. This book leaves you with so much hope, happiness and a feeling of its never to late to find your happy, your true self, love and. Most of all to never give up hope.
This story is fraught with such tragedy and heartbreak that it really gets you thinking and shot my emotions to pieces. Ashleigh and Sutton are two pieces from the same broken puzzle. I feel they both help each other, deal, learn and grow from their pasts. And help to make each others future.
I can find no other words but I am sure I will come back and add more to my feelings at a later date. Once I process this story fully. This book is probably one of the most fantastic and somewhat emotional true love story I’ve read.
This book is a huge recommendation from me. Although I gather that there is a previous book that Sutton appears in. I didn’t find that out until after and I don’t feel that I was effected in any way at all. I read this book as a complete standalone.
Reviewer: Donna
“God, you’re tempting like this. Crying. Except I want to be the one to make you cry.”
Sutton and Ashleigh have a very unique story. There ‘relationship’ starts out unlike any I’ve ever read.
Sutton is a very rich, very respectable man.. but he is also a broken man.
Ashleigh is broken too, but her life is almost the exact opposite of Suttons.
I had a hard time connecting with the characters which I think was my biggest flaw of the story. Me not connecting dropped the whole moral of the story for me.
“Don’t mistake me for a good guy, Ashleigh. I’m a bastard. No one knows that better than you.”
I love broken men! I remember Sutton Sinclair from Tanglewood’s other fascinating stories. I was sorry he didn’t get the girl, Harper, but I really did feel her man was Christopher, not Sutton. Doesn’t mean I didn’t feel for Sutton but he just wasn’t the right fit. Now, here, with Ashleigh, yesssss, she is the one!
Sutton first fell in love with Christopher, then his step-sister Harper, a heiress bent on saving a library condemned to be demolished. He also learned that he was bi-sexual and that he didn’t mind threesomes, until the last offer made him feel dirty.
“I couldn’t describe the sledgehammer I’d taken to the brain when I met Christopher in a dimly lit private club. Too dark to be called lust or even love. Competitive and all-consuming. I couldn’t describe the desire that slammed through me when I met his stepsister.”
Both Sutton and Christopher fought for Harper’s love and Christopher ultimately won. Even so, Christopher asked Sutton to be the best man. You could say this was unusual and cruel punishment, but the truth was they were partners and friends, and shy Sebastian didn’t have many true friends. It was a testament of true friendship that Sutton accepted their relation and truly wished them happy. He was also devastated and wondered if he would ever fall in love and be loved in return.
When he met Ashleigh, loitering on the roof of his building, he learned she was a prostitute, but she was young, so pretty and so rookie at her craft. She was adorably clumsy at doing blow jobs and scared of actual sex. She was so obviously a good girl fallen into dire straits that he first felt protection, then a savage lust and’ later love. It was fast but potent. She was a strange and succulent mix of sarcastic and wise. But so young!
Their story is deliciously dark, a very young prostitute and a battle scarred older man. She was just seventeen and he was in his mid-thirties. In spite of the difference, there was a million miles of life lived in Ashleigh that really closed in the difference between them. I loved how involved Sutton got with Ashleigh and how, as he falls in love with her, an incredible thing happens. Even though he loves her and wants her, he wants her happiness more.
I loved the development of both characters in this story. Sutton feels unlovable, and Ashleigh fills that hole in his soul.
“There’s only the thinnest thread between the beast inside me and the man I pretend to be. My true self, the bastard who loses everyone he loves, has never been this close to the surface.”
Ashleigh has a friend Ty who took her under his wing and taught her the ropes of being a prostitute. He’s two years younger but ages older in experience.
“Ky helped me so much. He’s the one who told me to stay near the Den. Other pimps and criminals don’t poach on Damon Scott’s turf.”
They rely on each other until one day he almost overdoses and Sutton comes to help. A doctor who works underground is called to assist. And the guy who comes is a character from another book. There’s an overlay of characters in this story from other stories in the Tanglewood world, which makes this story so delicious. We also get glimpses of Damon and Peggy, Hugo and Bea, and Blue. Ashleigh found a lot of acceptance from these characters, and there was one beautiful sentiment expressed by Hugo, an ex-escort:
“I don’t think she wants to hear from an old colleague, but I’m always here if she needs me. There are some stains that never go away.”
The story felt short or maybe it was that I enjoyed it so much that it felt short. Even so, I loved being in the Tanglewood city again and reading Sutton’s story. It had love and giving, from a man who used to only take. And a young girl who ran away from a scary situation into another, but found salvation where she least expected. There was an itty bitty vibe of “Pretty Woman” here, since there was a ball and a high couture dress and mingling with high society. So that was extra delicious!
This book is everything I want and need in a book. I think has become one of my favorites from Skye Warren. From page one I couldn’t put this book down and I devoured in one sitting, it was absolutely delicious. It’s dark, sexy, raw and just pure emotional.
I love Sutton and Ashleigh so much, this two broken souls that find their way to each other after having their heart broken by the people they love the most.
This book it’s not a fairy tale and there is demons that lurk in the dark, their journey its not and easy one. Will they be able to heal their scars?
You have to read and find out. I 100% recommend this book.
This is a great read. Deserves over 5 stars.
This is the story of Sutton & Ashleigh. There are so many doubts and fears and memories of childhood in this story for both of them. She is so much younger than he is, but feelings have no age. There are so many facets of this story, you just have to read it yourself to understand it all. The storyline is superb. I didn’t want it to end. I wanted more. Kudos Skye Warren for one of the best reads I’ve read.
Sutton is a really interesting character. His heart is broken because the two (yes, two) people he is in love with are getting married to each other. It isn’t often that you have a hero who is bisexual. I did not read Skye Warren’s earlier book that set up the threesome/love triangle that leads to the broken heart.
Ashleigh is a teenage runaway who escaped from an abusive home. She’s living in an abandoned building and selling her body when she meets Sutton. Even though he’s in no shape to start a relationship, Sutton is drawn to Ashleigh. He wants to protect her.
This story has sort of a Pretty Woman vibe to it.
The reason that I knocked it down from a 4 or 5 star read is that the ending sort of jumps around.
I read this book in one day. I couldn’t put it down. I wish for a sequel to this sequel lol
•℘•*´`*• 5 STAR REVIEW •*´`*•℘•
I’ve been a huge fan of Skye Warren for years and I’m sure the reason is that no one else writes such distinctive prose-like dark romance, stories filled with flawed and tragic characters, like Ms. Warren does. After reading Mating Theory, a standalone in the Trust Fund series, I’m pretty sure this may be my favorite book of hers, so far. It’s emotional and oh so beautifully written, my heart ached for both Sutton and Ashleigh, the main characters; life hasn’t been easy for either one of them, they’re both scarred and a little broken.
“Loving one person is bad enough. Loving two is pure hell. Loving three would be enough to break me. I can’t let myself fall again.”
As in previous stories, this one is based in Tanglewood, the dark and dangerous city ruled by powerful men that gather at The Den, a notorious private club, and I loved that previous characters were mentioned. Sutton is a billionaire and one would think having money would soften life’s blows. Sadly, one would be mistaken. This damaged hero is unknowingly desperate to find someone to love, and I’m so happy they found each other, despite the age difference. I loved this couple!
“There’s a cold hollow where my heart should be. It’s a relief, that empty space. Much better than the pain that I’d feel if it were full.”
Sutton Mayfair knows he’s in for a world of pain having to witness the two people he fell in love with marry each other. He finds Ashleigh literally on a street corner, the night before the wedding, and decides she’ll be his plus one. And while the young waif looked like she was a meal away from perishing of hunger, its Sutton’s life she saves.
“Don’t let pride keep you hungry.”
Ashleigh Barnes has been living with Ky, a street hustler, since leaving home after a tragic incident. He gave her tips on how to survive by turning tricks, and they look out after each other. Ashleigh’s first experience was traumatic and she doesn’t think she can summon up the courage to service another john. Despite Ky’s warning she’d rather starve, it would be welcomed, than go through that again.
“I want to fall in love. That’s what’s wrong with me, my fatal flaw. The insistent desire to enmesh myself with another human being.”
When Sutton picks her up he convinces her to accompany him, giving her some much needed advice along with enough money to survive for a while. And when he unknowingly shows up when she needs a hero the most, Sutton steps in and comes to her aid. But there’s something he doesn’t know about Ashleigh, and the truth almost devastates him.
“There isn’t mercy in this world. There are only wolves like me, and we love to tear lambs apart.”
The sacrifice Sutton makes is just heartbreaking, this story had me on the edge of my seat, and I was desperate to reach their HEA ending. And what a beautiful one it is!
“Ashleigh is an orchid in a snowstorm. She’ll never survive.”
It was a short and sweet read. I’m contemplating as to how many stars I should give it. I like it, but at the same time, I feel like something is missing. If the story was longer, it probably will fill that missing hole. u2063
u2063
Mating Theory is a standalone, but Sutton was part of the Trust Fund Duet. I haven’t read any books that was around Sutton and Ashleigh’s world. I dived in blindly, and was not expecting many things. I was expecting Sutton to be a douche, but he’s actually not. He’s quite a total sweetheart. Ashleigh was a prostitute, and I always tend to get frustrated with characters like this. Lol But Ashleigh was just a young girl who was trying to survive. Sutton and Ashleigh both have broken pasts. I just love these kind of books. Lol Makes the love between them even better. They’re each other’s light. I’ll have to say they met each other at the right time. If you love short and sweet story, then pick this one up.u2063
OMG this book was just wow!!! I absolutely loved this read that caught me right at the beginning with the broken characters and the story line. Truly a fantastic read that will capture the reader!