Insatiable Hunger: A Tempting Friends-to-Lovers Romance

Full review appeared at Reader's Edyn on 07/17/20 Jessie has decisions to make. She’s been on the path she created for herself with nothing but her future in mind. Still dating the perfect guy from high school, they are nearing the time of their marriage. They have been working tirelessly to meet their career goals so that they may begin their life together. But this has all taken place with spending very little time together; mostly in different countries. As anticipated, they grew apart. An encounter with her former best friend turned smoking hot sexy guy, Ryan, has her re-evaluating the path she has been relentlessly carving out for herself. Suddenly she realizes she needs to make some changes and it looks like a fling with Ryan will be the way she moves on. But Ryan has his own future plans he has been working toward and he is literally just a breath away from grasping on to the position he has been seeking. Except that position stands firmly against everything Jessie believes in given the atrocious way the Black Crescent scandal affected her family all those years ago. Once Jessie finally decides on her future moving forward, the lingering question that her relationship with Ryan hangs on is: can she be with him and get past the fierce hatred she holds for Black Crescent? Ryan has loved Jessie for just about as long as he can remember. But she never saw him as anything past her confidant. Hugh was always that golden boy that she saw her future with, so when he has a chance to make a move at their reunion, he cannot waste the opportunity. Never imagining his brazen move triggers Jessie to reassess her life choices, he quickly finds himself in a “casual” relationship with her. But Jessie has been holding back a bit of the truth and Ryan’s continuation in seeking the CEO position with Black Crescent continues to shim a wedge between them. With Jessie firmly denouncing the very company Ryan dreams of taking over and reshaping, it comes down to whether he loves her enough to walk away from his dream job. But with Jessie’s recent betrayal, he isn’t sure he can afford to be the lovesick fool he has always been in the past. Now it’s Ryan who has some serious thinking to do and decisions to make. This is my 3rd book in the series. I have been following it since the beginning and plan to complete it. I was intrigued by a series written by several authors, but each holding a recurring theme that binds them all together; even to the point where other characters from previous books continue to make appearances as the series progresses. For this series, it is most frequently Joshua Lowell. He is the current CEO of Black Crescent – the company that ruined the lives of so many fifteen years ago. But the condemning deeds were carried out by his conniving sire and Joshua has worked tirelessly to repair the company, it’s reputation, and make whatever restitution he can to all of the affected families. Having found his HEA, he is now ready to step down and let someone else take the reins so he can live his own life. And so this theme recurs throughout the books, providing an air of familiarity. Ryan actually made a few appearances in the previous book. As one of the candidates up for the CEO position, Ryan was a part of the interviews that Allison (the FL from the previous installment) conducted. I did not much care for Ryan after his interactions with Allison. I had the feeling that he was trying to woo Allison behind the scenes intending to gain an upper hand in the interviews. At least that was the impression I took away from him initially. He had a rather bad reaction toward one of the candidates in the previous book and I immediately took a dislike to him for that outburst. His anger and animosity seemed misplaced and inappropriate at the time. Consequently, going into this book I was wary with his character. But I can happily report that his character completely morphed into something else entirely within the pages of this book ...