Honey packs everything she owns and heads to NYC to jumpstart her art career. Her cheating boyfriend is history, and she finally acknowledges the truth of her mother’s mantra: Careers are forever and happily ever after isn’t in their DNA.All she needs is a job and a place to live. What she doesn’t need is a taciturn, sexy, ballbuster but she’s woman enough to know the difference between need and … and want. Isn’t she?Jake’s childhood was marred by tragedy and his future hijacked to a promise born of guilt. His failure drove him to a career as a SEAL and a security expert. But it’s not enough. Now he’ll give up his freedom in reparation for the life he lost. Honey may be the last sweet stop on the road to a joyless future. If it’s what they both want, where’s the harm in a no-strings affair?
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I absolutely loved this book. One minute I thought I was reading a nice little steamy romance, the next I couldn’t put the book down because I had to see how Honey and Jake found their happily ever after and dealt with their issues from the past.
I really loved Honey, the heroine of this book. She was delightfully different, special without realizing it, and indefatigable no matter what life threw at her.
This is the second book I’ve read by Charlotte O’Shay (I read her first novel, The Marriage Ultimatum) and I am a big fan. It was so fun to see the characters from that book in this one. I’ll have too read the third in this series now 🙂
Honey, yes that’s her real name, has just moved from a small town where she grew up to New York City. She’s an artist and knows in order to make it big, you have to first make it in NYC. But upon her first arrival, she gets an unsavory roommate who tries to jump her bones then kicks her out when she refuses. She’s lost all her belongings and is couch surfing at her friend’s teeny studio apartment. Three chance meetings with Jake changes all that. Now he’s offering her an apartment in his home along with a one-month love affair. She’s wary of men, go figure, but she agrees. What starts out as a fling turns into more. Can Honey commit to leaving Jake’s life when their time is up, or will she risk it all for love?
I’m a big fan of city romances. There’s something magical about New York City and in Their No-Strings Affair, Charlotte O’Shay brings NYC to life. It’s like the big city is a major character in this romance and we get to fall in love with NYC as well as the couple.
The characters are simply marvelous. At first glance, Jake and Honey are opposites. She’s the artist and he’s the ex-SEAL turned security CEO. He’s tall and she’s a little pixie. Yet the more they get to know each other during their affair, the more they realize how alike they really are. Jake sees life through her eyes and is better for it. They’ve both gone through heartache and tragedy yet sharing their feelings helps bring closure.
Their No-Strings Affair has its fair share of hot love scenes but it’s not the point of the story. This is a story about living in the moment and falling in love when it’s not wanted or convenient. With plenty of heart-wrenching moments, Their No-Strings Affair is a must-read. Highly recommend!
Favorite Character/Quote: Honey. Everything about her from her snarky attitude to her artistic view to her naivety to the way she can talk herself out of any situation, I love it all. She’s an everyday reader’s heroine, dealing with one crisis after another with aplomb.
My Rating: 5 stars
The opening scene sets the stage for a heart-twisting romance between a small town girl, newly arrived in New York City, and an Italian security expert with mama problems. After a disastrous meeting, that involved smashed dishes and more, career-focused Honey and over-protective Jake hit all the wrong buttons, but can’t fight their attraction in this fun and sexy light-hearted romance. A great read.ous
She is leaving to do what she wants knowing a happy ending is not for her family. He knows he is broken from everything so a fling. They will start a fling and what could be so easy. Will it be so easy? Could it become more? See if it stays a fling
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Charlotte O’Shay has done it again! This third book in the City of Dreams series is probably my favorite. Honey and Jake’s vibrancy and vulnerabilities complement each other and kept me swiping the pages on my phone. I finished this story in only two days, because I didn’t want to put it down. I also enjoyed the enchanting images of New York City at Christmas! The city itself plays like a character, in which Honey and Jake discover each other amidst a bonding love of NYC.
Jake and Honey were awesome! I loved the energy of this story and the characters were so much fun and realistic. Great story
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Fast-paced romance with great characters that have had troubled pasts and fate who kept throwing them together on three different occasions. The buildup, the character’s dedication, their chemistry, the ending I couldn’t ask for anything better.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The book is a good romance read. The story has a good story line. The characters are good, and they have good chemistry. The story is an enjoyable read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
**An ARC of this book was provided for an honest review**
There’s nothing better than a romantic meet-cute that puts a smirk on your face and makes your toes curl. The beauty of this novel is we essentially get three distinct meet-cute moments rolled into one relationship, and each scenario is just as smirk inducing as the next. Honey and Jake’s first meeting concludes rather quickly, but Jake can’t deny a moment of attraction to the little spitfire who wasn’t afraid to stand up and push back against his intimidating stature. As it would turn out, fate had more in store for these two. They’re drawn together rather serendipitously two more times, and it’s delightful how after each of these meetings they assume they’ll never see the other again. You can’t help but love the subsequent moments of shock, mixed with delight, when they reconnect again and again. Eventually they both determine enough is enough, and they decide to give into this attraction simmering between them. However, even though their affair might not have any strings attached, it does have a time limit.
We’ve all come across romances where the lead couple mutually decides to engage a no-strings-attached sexual relationship. No expectations, no heavy emotions, just sex. Aaaaand we all know that those never work out in romance novel land. An additional feature to this trope though that provides a bit of a twist to what we’re used to is the fact that Honey and Jake’s time together has an ending. They’re not just planning on jumping into bed with each other until things get boring between the sheets. Nope, they designate a time period together of one month. At the end of that month they’ll both go their separate ways. Honey will have an all important and time consuming internship beginning when that month is over, and Jake will be moving to Italy. This looming deadline results in both Honey and Jake wanting to take full advantage of all the time they have together.
Now, a very small and cynical part of me wondered if the time limit to their relationship may have resulted in their emotional connection being put into hyper-drive. I even questioned if things may have eventually fizzled out between them had they not had this looming one month deadline hanging over their heads. However, something that squandered these musings was the fact that Jake and Honey truly did seem to have a connection that went beyond the physical. It wasn’t just sex. For either of them. This was particularly evident during a scene when they cooked dinner together, as they realize they’re both opening up to each other in a way they’ve never done with another person before. It seems like such a simple activity, making dinner, and yet it highlighted a level of intimacy to their relationship where they were both happy to simply be in each other’s presence, chatting, cooking away, and with their clothes on no less.
Based on how the story began with our characters coming together so many times in some rather comedic circumstances, I initially assumed this was going to be a rather light-hearted tale. I should have known that this series has a tendency to pack in some emotional punches, and this third novel proves no exception!
See full review on romance4thebeach.wordpress.com
Disclaimer: I received a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Lots to love in this time-limit romance that strikes just the right balance between angst and humor. Both Honey, the smart-mouthed pixie heroine, and Jake, the dark, brooding security tycoon (and ex-Navy Seal to boot) hero come from mightily messed-up families. Jake lost his brother in a childhood drowning accident for which he blames himself, as children often do. Trouble is, his snooty Italian aristocrat mama blames him too, and has extracted a promise that he’ll come to Italy at Christmas and marry the bride she’s chosen, thus fulfilling his promise to maintain his family’s prestige. So huge is the burden of guilt her carries that he agrees, hoping this will cure him of the nightmares that haunt him.
Honey—full name Honeysuckle Hill, thanks to her hippie-dippy mom—is a ceramics artist aiming for a big-city career in NYC. She’s hampered by two factors: her impulsivity, which leads her to lose all her belongings and end up living in her car, and her messed up family. Her mama, also a real piece of work, dumped her with an uninvolved step-dad while she went off to pursue a career as an international journalist. Honey ends up as a mother stand-in for her twin brothers, now teens.
All this backstory explains why Jake and Honey decide a month-long temporary affair is just the ticket. They’re wildly attracted to each other. He has extra room in his large home (which he’s about to sell when he moves back to Italy), and she can help him with his security business while his assistant’s away on family business. He doesn’t believe in love, and she doesn’t believe love can last.
It turns out she’s just the sharp blade needed to pry open his defenses and make him take a good, hard look at his messed-up assumptions about life and love—and vice versa. The sex scenes are delish, and the ending oh-so-satisfying. I appreciate that O’Shay didn’t magically solve all the problems with a wave of her author wand—just enough to break down those stubborn walls between Jake and Honey.