Sandy Lo's Reviews > Piece of Work

The steam was definitely the best part of this book, but the storyline felt a little silly to me. *Spoilers Ahead*

Millionaire art curator Court Lyons vowed never to love again after his last assistant left him for his father until he meets Rin Van der Meer, who at the beginning of the book is a meek and timid tall girl. It doesn't take very long for Rin to transform into a confident woman, and who knew, all it took was some red lipstick!

Cut to the pair in Florence not long after meeting and a couple of steamy library sessions later and these two quickly fall in love... although Court won't admit it, but we all know he is in love. He even buys Rin a ring while in Florence without her knowing just because he knows she has to have it and he has to be the one to give it to her. After Florence, the story kind of gets worse in that desperate, needy love that Court developed for Rin seemingly overnight type of way.

The story was promising in the beginning, even giving Rin some realistic depth like her knowledge of the WuTang Clan, but the characters and the story lost all of its charm and quirks not even halfway through. The secondary characters were just sort of there and didn't do much either.

The Red Lipstick Coalition formed very late in the book in order to set up the rest of the series, which I will admit I'm curious to see if the other stories play out better. However, being that I've already met Rin's roommates who will be main characters themselves, none of them made me want to get to know more about them.

I will also admit something that bothers me in romance is the territorial "mine" vibe, which Court says to himself about Rin repeatedly. I like alpha males to an extent, but out of the bedroom, Court would not be my dream man by any means.