Title: In Bed with the Billionaire
Author: Jackie Ashenden
Publisher/Year: St Martin’s Press 11/1/16
Length: 300 Pages
Series: Nine Circles #5
Overview
In the final Nine Circles novel, there is a fine line between pleasure and pain, between sin and salvation. Jackie Ashenden shows what happens when a dangerously irresistible man and woman collide, in and out of the bedroom.
In Bed with the Billionaire
Known to the underworld only as Jericho, billionaire Theo Fitzgerald is one of the most powerful men in the world. But his plan is to tear down the criminal empire his father created from the inside out—unless someone else does it for him.
He suspects a bold, seductive woman named Temple Cross might be trying to take him out with it—but for the chance to burn in the heat she gives off, he’s not sure if he minds…
A hired hit woman, Temple has been waiting to get close to Jericho her whole life. The man who destroyed her family is worth looking in the eye before she kills him—but when she’s finally alone with Jericho, he’s nothing like the ruthless barbarian she imagined. Her reaction to his touch is explosively sexual—and their emotional connection is too powerful for her to ignore.
Is she his shot at redemption? Or will he have to risk losing her love to save her life?
My Thoughts
WOW – so, i think that we got exactly what we were hoping for as a conclusion and resolution to this fairly complicated story. Not only was it filled with twists and turns, i think that we also got to see the true colors of people.
Before i get into the meat of this story – i have to say it again- i don’t know how Ms Ashenden does it, but what we have is another example of a series that’s made up of stories about couples that happen in a chronological order of sorts, but instead we have a series that’s made up of stories that are completely connected, and you have to really follow the series as it goes to truly understand what everything means to each other part.
So in this final installment, we get to see how it will all play out. You know that throughout this one, we have seen couples come together in the hopes of taking down a kingpin only to learn that there’s someone bigger and badder who’s behind it all, and then when we find out that it’s Theo, Violet’s brother who’s supposedly dead, well that makes things all that more complicated. He has his motivations but the question becomes whether we can trust him or not. and the guess is not.
Then there’s Temple – the woman that we had met as Eva’s driver, hired by Zac to protect her and when we saw her betray Eva a few installments back, you had to wonder what that was all about. We learn that she’s linked to them all in a deeper way – having her ties to Elijah in the hopes of taking down the ring as well as trying to find her sister who was taken by them and sold.
Of course you know that since she’s personally invested, there’s another revenge saga. Add to that the fact that she’s an assassin, and you know that things are going to get spicy – FAST. Temple takes on a job at the request of Zac to locate Jericho (or Theo) and take him down, kill him all so that this can be done with. What no one expected was that there would be feelings there, that we would see the truth behind Temple and the truth behind Jericho and perhaps that there was so much more that was going to come out.
Throughout this story we see the fight of chemistry between Jericho and Temple. She wants to get information from him in regards to where her sister is/was and then kill him, all while playing him and herself. She won’t admit what she’s feeling towards Jericho and she won’t even it admit the reasons behind it, but with the prodding that he does, and his need for control, we start to see things unravel.
Then there’s Jericho. He’s got his motivations, the fact that he knew all about what it was that his father did, and his intent all these years was to take down the ring and make sure that his father paid for everything. Even if it means that his sister will never look at him again. And we know that Violet is a tough one – so you never know.
The journey here isn’t as deep but very angst ridden since they both have so much pain and it’s all tied to the Nine Circles desired outcome. What we don’t know is how it’s going to end, who’s going to remain alive and what that will mean for these friends and family. I think that there’s a level of expectation of the happy ending and i think that it’s highly unreasonable to expect that to be the case now that things are being shaken up, so it’s the masterful writing that gives us closure in a way that makes sense and gives us hope.
Also, true to her form, Ms Ashenden gives us some incredibly steamy scenes. Not the bondage that Zac loves, not the control of the others, but the power and rage that only Jericho can have and the fight that only Temple can bring. It’s hot and sensual and really really intense. To top it off, we get romance, and we get saving grace and that’s what we need at this point.
Now i’m bummed that i don’t have more with this series, but i think that it was exactly what i needed right now to read. I hope you guys give it a try!
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