His to Lose Review

Title: His to Lose

Author: Lizzie Ashworth

Series: Cannon Cousins #2

Genre: Romance, Erotica

Length: 73,000 words

Format: ebook

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Description: Dan Cannon confronts the worst experience of his life when he discovers money, and lots of it, is missing from company accounts. He’s a little heartbroken over the loss of Bryn in the intimate threesome he and his cousin Alex shared with her, even though he’s happy the couple is ready to start a family. He blames himself for being distracted so much that Cannon Company has suffered. When he hires CPA Riley Montgomery to track down the money, the last thing he expects is to find himself completely distracted by the woman.

Riley can’t afford to venture off into unethical dalliance with a client, even if the client is the devastatingly handsome Dan Cannon. She tries to stay focused on the pact she’s made with her old friend and current lover Lucy Duncan, after failed marriages caused both women to swear off men. But Lucy decides Dan is too good to pass up, especially after he makes good on his threat to spank her.

Things go from bad to worse when Riley uncovers a money trail pointing to Cannon Company’s long-time employee and Lucy realizes that the sparks flying between Dan and Riley scream for friendly intervention. With her role in the investigation ended and her attraction to Dan testing her limits, Riley becomes mystified about his lack of follow-up and decides to take bold action.

F/F, F/F/M, F/M, BDSM, romance, erotic

My Review: Riley Montgomery does not want to fall in love. After a disastrous relationship, the last thing she wants to do is trust another man. However, when she is selected to work for the Cannon Company she cannot help but to notice Dan Cannon. When Riley's friend, and lover, Lucy pursues Dan and reports back to Riley, she decides that Dan might just be worth it the risk.

I enjoyed Riley throughout this story. I liked that she was an independent woman who wanted to take a break from men for a while to recuperate from her failed marriage. I also liked the relationship between Riley and Lucy because you can see that their friendship is very special (even if you take out the fact that they have sex). 

Dan I loved from the first Cannon Cousins Book, Hers to Choose. He is incredibly sexy and an alpha in every way. He does a great job introducing Riley into his world of bondage. I was a little disappointed in him and Lucy when they had a scene together because I think Lucy should have known that Riley was interested in Dan. Dan should have been more patient with Riley and realize that she is just worried about being hurt again. 

Overall, I liked the romance in this story but I did feel like it was a little rushed. I think Riley and Dan should have had a little more time to get to know each other and properly fall in love.

Excerpt: “Lunch, sorry it’s a little late today.” 

“You don’t have to bring me lunch, you know. I can order out myself.” 

“Well, it’s after one again and you haven’t ordered. Have you?” His glance probed, questioning about much more than food. 

“No, I was about to,” she lied. “But thanks, I appreciate your consideration.” She stared intently at the papers in her hand. Never mind it had changed into scribbles and scrawls. She felt certain she had been reading the same word for several minutes. Why wasn’t he leaving? She felt his gaze travel from her bare feet up past her shirt with half of it pulled out of her skirt waistband, up to the sleeves she had shoved up her arms and the top two buttons she had jerked open in an earlier hot flash. Her hair fell in loose strands toward her face from her constant fidgeting with it.

 When he had finished looking her over and brought his eyes back to her face, she gave him her opinion with both barrels. Fire shot from her green eyes. She would not apologize for her disheveled state.

Instead, she stood there waiting. Are you finished? she asked silently. “No problem,” he said with a half assed smile. “Got to keep you fueled up and running.” “Yeah, something like that.” She bit her lip and adjusted her stance. “Is there anything else?” He stepped toward her. For a second, she felt certain he would touch her, kiss her, do something that would make her give it all away. She felt her body pull toward him. Damnation. After everything, she still wanted him. And somehow, he knew it. She turned abruptly and walked halfway down the table and slammed the invoice down. So what if it was the wrong stack. It was better than whatever he was about to do. 

“No,” he said, turning back to the door. “Nothing else.” She listened to the door click shut then turned around and sat on the edge of the table. Her legs were shaking. Her mind flashed in a review of what Lucy had described, his chest bare and rippling with muscle, his hands on her breasts, his mouth on her pussy, his cock plunging inside her. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She unbuttoned another button on her blouse and fanned herself with a random handful of papers. Fucking ridiculous. Anger did not describe the extent of her sudden self-loathing, not to mention her fury with Dan. With Lucy!

She ripped the band out of her hair and combed her hair back with her fingers. The door flew open again. Dan closed it quietly behind him and leaned against it for a second, his eyes narrowed and riveted on her. He stalked across the room and alongside the table toward her. She wanted to run but her feet had become glued to the floor. He came up to her and pulled her up against his body, plundering her mouth with deep kisses. Her knees buckled, leaving her weak in his arms. Her arms locked at her sides, frozen between desire and fury.

Overall Opinion: Overall, I greatly enjoyed this novel. I really liked Dan in Book 1, Hers to Choose, so I was so happy to see him get his own story and his own HEA. I found Riley to be a perfect match for Dan and I loved them together. Their chemistry is undeniable. I rate His to Lose with 4 stakes because I was happy with the outcome and the story overall. There would only be a few things that I would change.

Get to Know the Author:  I love to write! It's probably a sickness. No matter what I'm doing, my brain edits sentences, selects or discards words, equivocates over paragraph formation. 

My favorite part of writing is description. I want my readers to see, smell, hear, and feel what is going on in the story as if they are there. What a great experience when the words are pouring through my head and spilling out onto the page, creating a physical world!

Other pursuits have taken up parts of my life--a technical profession for a career, three children, a burning desire to learn watercolor, cooking, and gardening, to name a few. But always there has been writing. It is with deep pleasure that I now have a chance to devote most of my time to writing.

Suggestions: I suggest Cannon Cousins Book 1, Hers to Choose. You can see my review of Book 1 here

Please leave a comment and tell me what you think of His to Lose.