Truth and Temptation by Riley Edgewood | Review

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review in any way.

Description from Goodreads:

She's a liar. He knows the truth.

Reagan Walker gets around. Ask anyone - hell, ask her. She'll own it with a smile. But beneath that smile is a girl whose parents didn't want her. Whose grandparents raised her without affection. Whose struggle with a burning anger threatens to consume her, though she'd rather punch someone in the face than talk about it. With a new job looming, she's determined to work her way into a better life. When she meets the sexiest guy she's ever seen, she decides to kick it off with a bang. And she makes her move.

But he's got moves of his own, and before the night is out, he strips her of way more than she wants to reveal - without removing a single piece of clothing. That comes, too, of course. He's gotten under her skin like nobody before him, and what's the harm in one night with a sexy stranger? Exposed or not, she never has to see him again.

Except she does.

On Monday morning, they come face-to-face. He's the sone of her new CEO - and her boss for the summer - and he threatens to bring her entire world crashing down, making her face every lie she's ever told.

I wanted to like Truth and Temptation, I really did. The synopsis grabbed me immediately and I thought it would be love at first read. It was not. Sure, I liked it to begin with, Teagan's fiery and gives as good as she gets, both qualities I like in characters. Problems didn't really arise until Alec got a lot more involved in the plot. And it became anything but believable.

You're probably wondering what I mean by that, well, Alec became cheese to the extreme. EXTREME ladies and gentlemen. Not just a few cringe worthy one liners, oh no. I'm talking full blown cringe that resulted in pages being skimmed and skipped. I'm not just talking cringey in the bedroom, but believe me there was plenty of that going on, I'm also talking just generally as a person.

"I get what I want you know. Might as well say yes now."

I'm sorry but arrogance overload! Yes, arrogance and cockiness can be attractive in a character, but only when it's done right! In this case it was certainly not done right!

"'Careful,' he says, against my mouth. 'I only wanted a hint of sugar before dinner, but you keep this up, we won't be eating tonight... Not food anyway. I can think of something else I'd like to eat.'"

Creepy, or is it just me? There's no way in hell that line would make me swoon, go weak in the knees as my heart flutters uncontrollably. In fact I'd probably try to stifle a laugh as I make a mental note to tell my sister later.

The two stars is not purely down to Alec alone. In my humble opinion Teagan lost a bit of her fiery pazazz. She started letting things slip that were (definitely) uncool and needed a whole lot more reproach. Don't go ahead and do something when you've been specifically asked not to, that's not how it works I'm afraid. At one point Teagan was all 'you mess with me then you're going to pay', but then she became 'I'm working on myself so I'm going to become more like a doormat than I have ever been in my entire life'. She still got angry occasionally and exploded, which was always entertaining, but the book became far too focussed on getting through the day without ripping Alec's clothes off for my liking.

Truth and Temptation turned out to not be for me, while that saddens me as I expected and hoped for more, I'm just glad I've finally finished, because it took me a while!

Have you read Truth and Temptation? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

'Truth and Temptation' by Riley Edgewood
2 Stars