For two stubborn people…
Corporate mogul Shane Donovan sees the ultra-cool, collected Cecilia Riley as an ice queen--even if he can't deny that, on the surface, she's a work of perfection his body can't ignore. Forced to spend two weeks in the same house for his sister's upcoming wedding, Shane senses that deep down Cecilia mirrors his need. And he's determined to draw her into a sexy game that will melt away her reserve...
Losing is not an option…
Career-driven Cecilia Riley has just enough free time in her schedule to head out of town for her brother's wedding. But her agenda is thrown for a loop by the presence of Shane. Though his over-confident attitude leaves a lot to be desired, his insanely hot body has kept Cecilia up nights. Unsure what game Shane is playing, Cecilia takes the bait, bent on resisting him at all costs.
But as Shane and Cecilia discover, temptation follows no rules…
The Review:
After reading Take a Chance on Me last year, I was so excited to read Jennifer Dawson's latest release The Winner Takes it All. Due to the fact that my to-read-pile could be used to stock a medium sized library, it's taken me a while to make time to pick this one up, not least of all because I knew I would need to make time to read it in a single sitting. I wasn't wrong. Oh-em-gee, Jennifer Dawson can spin a tale.
Cecilia is straight laced, determined. She wants to run for office, ensure her father's approval, all with her Olivia Pope-esque superpowers. The idea of falling in love isn't even on her radar.
And then there's Shane. He wasn't born into money like Cecilia, but fought his way up to become a powerful businessman, all in the name of looking after his family. He's intensely protective and willing to do anything to look after the ones he loves.
The two are forced to spend time together in the lead up to Maddie and Mitch's wedding (our H/H from the last book), and sparks fly right off the bat. Cecilia and Shane are so hot together. That combination of the good girl letting go and the hero with a savior complex, plus the sexy clash of two control freaks. Ah, yum.
Nothing comes easy to these two, though. Not only do they have to fight their own personal issues, but this story includes political marriages and blackmail. The romance plot is definitely primary, driven by an intense sexual connection between our hero and heroine, but the blackmail plot feeds into this as well.
My only criticism is that I felt like one of the blackmail subplots wasn't entirely resolved - I don't want to give too much away, but I still want to understand the motivations of Miles (Cecilia's father's lackey) in his particular blackmail scheme. There seems to be some foreshadowing that never fully plays out. Admittedly, it doesn't end up being all that relevant to the resolution, but inquiring minds want to know.
One of my favorite things about the Something New series is the development of the secondary cast. We get a lot of wonderful detail about the relationships of Shane and Cecilia's family and friends in a way that makes them more complete characters, as well as giving us some tempting insight into future possible stories. I can't wait to read James and Gracie's story! I hope that's next...
The Winner Takes it All is a compulsive and sexy romance that I'd especially recommend to readers who love a family based series with a well developed secondary cast and a lot of heat between our primary characters.
The Winner Takes It All by Jennifer Dawson is a contemporary romance, released by Kensington Books on December 2, 2014.
Find this book at: Amazon | The Publisher | Goodreads
More from Jennifer Dawson on Love Reading Romance:
Take a Chance on Me by Jennifer Dawson - Book Review
