Rush by Maya Banks (Breathless #1)

Available: February 5, 2013 Amazon/B&N

Type: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Berkley

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Nikki

Gabe, Jace, and Ash: three of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the country. They’re accustomed to getting anything they want. Anything at all. For Gabe, it’s making one particular fantasy come true with a woman who was forbidden fruit. Now she’s ripe for the picking…

When Gabe Hamilton saw Mia Crestwell walk into the ballroom for his hotel’s grand opening, he knew he was going to hell for what he had planned. After all, Mia is his best friend’s little sister. Except she’s not so little anymore. And Gabe has waited a long time to act on his desires.

Gabe has starred in Mia’s fantasies more than once, ever since she was a teenager with a huge crush on her brother’s best friend. So what if Gabe’s fourteen years older? Mia knows he’s way out of her league, but her attraction has only grown stronger with time. She’s an adult now, and there’s no reason not to act on her most secret desires.

As Gabe pulls her into his provocative world, she realizes there’s a lot she doesn’t know about him or how exacting his demands can be. Their relationship is intense and obsessive, but as they cross the line from secret sexual odyssey to something deeper, their affair runs the risk of being exposed—and vulnerable to a betrayal far more intimate than either expected.

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Mia is taken by surprise when the object of many lustful dreams, her brothers best friend, suddenly offers are a job as his personal assistant….with benefits. Benefits that Mia never thought she’d have with Gabe. Not only is he offering her a chance to bulk up her resume but he wants her in every way, shape and form…in his bed, on his desk and wherever else his heart desires.

Though Gabe has carried a torch for Mia for quite some time, now he feels is the time to strike to get what he wants. Her. Offering her a contract outlining his sexual desires in the starkest of contexts and a job in his office.

I wanted to dislike this book on principal. It’s obvious from the start that Banks is trying to recreate the 50 Shades frenzy. Extremely rich guy offers woman who is slightly naive a sexual contract that will set her sheets on fire. Then extremely rich guy falls hard for naive woman who has grown into her own sexual desires and guy panics, not prepared for the rush of genuine emotion naive woman brings out in him.

Sure this book had variations. Mia is working directly with Gabe, in his office as his personal assistant. She is not working on another floor in a sub-company of the hero. There are two more heros waiting in the wings for their stories and so the trilogy will offer different characters instead of following the same couple. Mia even has a female room mate who both loves and hates her new relationship. At the heart, this felt like 50 Shades with different people. Gabe, though not suffering from such debilitating sexual desires, had the same personality. Aloof. Un-approachable. Different. Carnally sexual.

In fact, I started out hating this book. Then somewhere inbetween the office desk sex and the fireplace floor sex, I started to like it. It completely turned me around there at the end. Mia and Gabe set the pages of Rush on fire with their heat. Sure Gabe was a complete and total asshat of the highest order at times. There is one scene that enraged me to the point of actually setting the book down. I really just didn’t like him for the majority of the book. I thought he walked all over Mia and Mia, in allowing it, made me dislike her as well at times. What kind of woman allows a man to treat her so badly, and then blindly goes back to him?

Mia spends most of the book desperately afraid of their elicit affair being exposed to her brother Jace who is Gabe’s business partner along with their other best friend, Ash. The three men are loyal to a fault and their relationship sparked my interest. These men are closer then brothers and how each will deal with finding the other half of their soul should be worthwhile reading.

I think they both Gabe and Mia did some growing in Rush and the enlightenment allowed them to see what mistakes they had made as a couple enough to be able to forge a real relationship in the end. I enjoyed the journey even though it evoked some hatred from me in parts. The ability of Banks to make me feels such a range of emotions while reading is something most authors can’t do. She writes such raw and emotional scenes that are able to wrench emotions from me I normally don’t have. If I start out disliking a book there is usually no going back. I DNF and move on. I fell headfirst into this book and gasped for air throughout the entirety. I enjoyed the nice setups into book 2 and 3 as well and will definitely be picking those up as they release this year.

Rush is a potent and erotic read that will challenge a reader at every turn. Even though I didn’t always like it, Banks deserves a damn medal for being able to turn me around!

I give Rush by Maya Banks 3.75 stars! 

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