Scan barcode
el3anor's review
dark
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
papercranestitches's review
2.0
This book had me channeling Michael Sembello and singing, She’s a maniac, maaaaaaniac on the floor!” for several hours after I finished reading it. And of course, by “maniac”, I meant nymphomaniac. And by “floor” I meant the floor, the bed, in cars, on stairs, against walls and windows… Well, you get the picture.
When I read the blurb for this book, every raging hormone in my body was like BRING. IT. ON. The novel’s premise – which includes a super rich, super kinky, sex god hiring a wide-eyed, sexually inexperienced woman – doesn’t even pretend to do anything other than capitalize on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon. But, since I have a soft spot for handsome, domineering billionaires (who doesn’t?!), I have to admit that I didn’t really give a rat’s ass that it was a rip-off set in more exotic locales.
In the end, though, I was left with pretty mixed feelings about the book. Here’s a few of the reasons why:
A recent graduate of MIT, Katherine Hart is first presented to readers as an intelligent, competent, assertive woman. Her skills as a forensic accountant are sought after by at least a half dozen international corporations in addition to Knight Enterprises, so you know she’s damn good at her job. So far, so good (I love reading about strong female characters)!
But Gibbs forgot to temper Kate’s assertiveness with a dash of sweetness and a true desire to submit to Dominic. Because of this, her character edges over into petulant and downright bitchy behaviour pretty quickly, and she spends a lot of the book whining about Dominic’s previous partners, his kinks, and his domineering attitude (among other issues, both real and imagined). This shit drives me NUTS! It’s not as if Kate went into her relationship with Dominic completely niave; she watched his ménage-filled sex tape, for Christ’s sake! I was further irritated by the fact that after the first few pages in which Kate exhibits some truly impressive professional acumen Gibbs essentially turns her into a living, breathing sex doll (so much for women’s lib and cracking the glass ceiling).
Dominic Knight – whose very name screams sex – is your typical arrogant, domineering, hedonistic billionaire. He lacks all sense of personal boundaries and thrives on challenges. Seeing Kate as his newest challenge, Dominic plans to take what he wants, when he wants, and damn the consequences. Usually I’d find these traits incredibly sexy – like a velvet steamroller – but there was just something about him that crossed the line from sexy jerk to outright douche bag. I’m having a hard time determining if it was his cracks about what Kate should eat (or, rather, not eat) for breakfast, the way he confiscated her birth control pills like she was an empty-headed child incapable of taking care of her own body, or the pervy satisfaction he got from putting her in nursing bras when she wasn’t even pregnant, that pushed me over the edge.
Despite not liking either of the characters that much, I can’t deny that the sex was HOT, HOT, HOT! Like, they-don’t-make-a-scale-big-enough-to-measure-how-hot-this-sex-was hot. And there was so friggin’ much of it! Every time you turned around, the two of them were going at it like bunnies. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Dominic and Kate had so much freakin’ sex in a 24-hour period that there’s no WAY a normal human being would have survived. This leads me to the totally reasonable conclusion that Kate is actually a sexbot.
Hmmm… so I’ve covered the premise, the characters, and the sex. What else should I rant about?!
Ooooh! All He Wants/Knight’s Mistress had some truly bad dialogue. Case in point:
He rolled over her and settled between her legs in one smooth motion. “You’re lucky I like you,” he said with a grin.
“Do you really?”
He hesitated a fraction of a second. But her eyes were huge with entreaty. He knew what she wanted to hear. “Yes, really,” he whispered. He might have even meant it.
And:
“So has something changed between us?” A question only a woman would ask.
“It must have.” An answer only a man would give.
A therapist might know what had changed and why, but he didn’t. He just knew he didn’t want this to stop.
Ugh. The fromage-factor is just too high to forgive! And if that wasn’t bad enough, on more than one occasion Dominic talked about his dick using the royal “we.” Gag.
One last thing: I’m all for the kink. I looooove the kink. I revel in the damn kink! But I also respect it. I’m not entirely sure that the same can be said for Gibbs. I was pretty disturbed to note that the characters in this book ignored some of the principles of BDSM’s “safe, sane, consensual” edict. The couple established “no” as Kate’s safe word (morons!), and when Dominic ignored it, he blamed Kate for not saying it loud enough to hear during his orgasmic bliss. Pretty sure I would have castrated the jerkwad after that one. But not Kate. No, she turned around and had even MORE sex with him!
Verdict: This one didn’t hit many of the right notes for me, but I can easily see it appealing to other readers (especially those who dream of Christian Grey and red rooms of pain).
When I read the blurb for this book, every raging hormone in my body was like BRING. IT. ON. The novel’s premise – which includes a super rich, super kinky, sex god hiring a wide-eyed, sexually inexperienced woman – doesn’t even pretend to do anything other than capitalize on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon. But, since I have a soft spot for handsome, domineering billionaires (who doesn’t?!), I have to admit that I didn’t really give a rat’s ass that it was a rip-off set in more exotic locales.
In the end, though, I was left with pretty mixed feelings about the book. Here’s a few of the reasons why:
A recent graduate of MIT, Katherine Hart is first presented to readers as an intelligent, competent, assertive woman. Her skills as a forensic accountant are sought after by at least a half dozen international corporations in addition to Knight Enterprises, so you know she’s damn good at her job. So far, so good (I love reading about strong female characters)!
But Gibbs forgot to temper Kate’s assertiveness with a dash of sweetness and a true desire to submit to Dominic. Because of this, her character edges over into petulant and downright bitchy behaviour pretty quickly, and she spends a lot of the book whining about Dominic’s previous partners, his kinks, and his domineering attitude (among other issues, both real and imagined). This shit drives me NUTS! It’s not as if Kate went into her relationship with Dominic completely niave; she watched his ménage-filled sex tape, for Christ’s sake! I was further irritated by the fact that after the first few pages in which Kate exhibits some truly impressive professional acumen Gibbs essentially turns her into a living, breathing sex doll (so much for women’s lib and cracking the glass ceiling).
Dominic Knight – whose very name screams sex – is your typical arrogant, domineering, hedonistic billionaire. He lacks all sense of personal boundaries and thrives on challenges. Seeing Kate as his newest challenge, Dominic plans to take what he wants, when he wants, and damn the consequences. Usually I’d find these traits incredibly sexy – like a velvet steamroller – but there was just something about him that crossed the line from sexy jerk to outright douche bag. I’m having a hard time determining if it was his cracks about what Kate should eat (or, rather, not eat) for breakfast, the way he confiscated her birth control pills like she was an empty-headed child incapable of taking care of her own body, or the pervy satisfaction he got from putting her in nursing bras when she wasn’t even pregnant, that pushed me over the edge.
Despite not liking either of the characters that much, I can’t deny that the sex was HOT, HOT, HOT! Like, they-don’t-make-a-scale-big-enough-to-measure-how-hot-this-sex-was hot. And there was so friggin’ much of it! Every time you turned around, the two of them were going at it like bunnies. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Dominic and Kate had so much freakin’ sex in a 24-hour period that there’s no WAY a normal human being would have survived. This leads me to the totally reasonable conclusion that Kate is actually a sexbot.
Hmmm… so I’ve covered the premise, the characters, and the sex. What else should I rant about?!
Ooooh! All He Wants/Knight’s Mistress had some truly bad dialogue. Case in point:
He rolled over her and settled between her legs in one smooth motion. “You’re lucky I like you,” he said with a grin.
“Do you really?”
He hesitated a fraction of a second. But her eyes were huge with entreaty. He knew what she wanted to hear. “Yes, really,” he whispered. He might have even meant it.
And:
“So has something changed between us?” A question only a woman would ask.
“It must have.” An answer only a man would give.
A therapist might know what had changed and why, but he didn’t. He just knew he didn’t want this to stop.
Ugh. The fromage-factor is just too high to forgive! And if that wasn’t bad enough, on more than one occasion Dominic talked about his dick using the royal “we.” Gag.
One last thing: I’m all for the kink. I looooove the kink. I revel in the damn kink! But I also respect it. I’m not entirely sure that the same can be said for Gibbs. I was pretty disturbed to note that the characters in this book ignored some of the principles of BDSM’s “safe, sane, consensual” edict. The couple established “no” as Kate’s safe word (morons!), and when Dominic ignored it, he blamed Kate for not saying it loud enough to hear during his orgasmic bliss. Pretty sure I would have castrated the jerkwad after that one. But not Kate. No, she turned around and had even MORE sex with him!
Verdict: This one didn’t hit many of the right notes for me, but I can easily see it appealing to other readers (especially those who dream of Christian Grey and red rooms of pain).
tesha1523's review
5.0
UnPutDownAble book.
Wow just wow.
Hot steamy sex and a love story brewing fantastic :)
Can not wait to read the next one :)
Wow just wow.
Hot steamy sex and a love story brewing fantastic :)
Can not wait to read the next one :)
smutnut429's review
5.0
This book took me so long to read I'm almost embarrassed. It just didn't grab me from the beginning. The characters were very transparent. However, somewhere in the middle Dominic and Kate began to grow on me. They both have a charming quality to them and watching try and fail at not falling in love with each other was almost sweet. In the end they both chose to run from each other. Though he beat her to the punch by a few hours. I'm interested enough at this point to keep reading and see what happens to them in the next book.
jenn_06's review
3.0
Erm… I didn’t really like this book ibr. This book put me in the biggest reading slump like.. i was struggling to finish it. But I finally finished it yesterday and i mean, it was a good book in terms of quotes and relatable speeches. Nick was just amazing, I absolutely loved him. Kate really pissed me off at times but now looking back, i dont blame her for certain reactions. I don’t think i’d re-read but it was alright.
tiffreadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good romance novel. Definitely not much of a story, and he sex sometimes veers into "meh, is that actually consensual?" And he spends a lot of time doing whatever the fuck he wants regardless of what she says, and then apologizes for it later.
mistressop's review
5.0
The sad thing about this book it's a hit... it's a knock out of the part cute, funny interesting, sexy, whoa moments hit. The problem is you cant buy it. Ebook, u might get your hands on the paperback but ebook.. is harder to buy and very confusing. My copy came ship outta NY .. with a bunch of used books it was a random buy for me. I'm glad i took a chance on the author. So the main reason why this book isnt 1000plus reviews and more is because of issues with name changes. This isnt a real review it's more of a .. sorry u cant buy this
livilooloo's review against another edition
3.0
As posted on: http://bookenamored.blogspot.com/2013/08/all-he-wants-all-or-nothing-1-by-cc.html
All He Wants is an erotic romance that centers on the characters of Kate and Nick. He is an extremely wealthy CEO who does not believe in love. The death of his wife a few years back left him very closed off from the possibility of having a meaningful relationship with a woman. Kate is a tech geek who comes to work for Nick on a temporary basis. She is an inexperienced Midwestern girl and she is playing out of her league with Nick. The spark between these two characters is undeniable and soon they are having an affair. He is frightened by the feelings that Kate has stirred in him, while Kate is afraid that things will soon come to an end. The reader can see that both characters develop strong feelings for each other, but they have great difficulty in admitting it to one another.
I found that the story dragged on in certain places, while at other times I was riveted. You have to trudge through some parts of this book in order to get to the good stuff. If the ending hadn't been a cliffhanger, I may not have decided to read the next book in the series. At times, I feel like the reason that books like this drag on is because the story is being stretched out in order to accommodate more books. The author may have been better off condensing the story into one stand alone novel. If you plan on reading this one, remember that this is part of a trilogy and you will need to wait until the next book is released to find out what happens with these characters.
All He Wants is an erotic romance that centers on the characters of Kate and Nick. He is an extremely wealthy CEO who does not believe in love. The death of his wife a few years back left him very closed off from the possibility of having a meaningful relationship with a woman. Kate is a tech geek who comes to work for Nick on a temporary basis. She is an inexperienced Midwestern girl and she is playing out of her league with Nick. The spark between these two characters is undeniable and soon they are having an affair. He is frightened by the feelings that Kate has stirred in him, while Kate is afraid that things will soon come to an end. The reader can see that both characters develop strong feelings for each other, but they have great difficulty in admitting it to one another.
I found that the story dragged on in certain places, while at other times I was riveted. You have to trudge through some parts of this book in order to get to the good stuff. If the ending hadn't been a cliffhanger, I may not have decided to read the next book in the series. At times, I feel like the reason that books like this drag on is because the story is being stretched out in order to accommodate more books. The author may have been better off condensing the story into one stand alone novel. If you plan on reading this one, remember that this is part of a trilogy and you will need to wait until the next book is released to find out what happens with these characters.