Title: Knave of Hearts
Series: This title is part of the Dream Man AmberPax™ Collection.
Author: Adrianna Dane
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella (76 pages)
Publisher: Amber Allure (August 19th, 2013)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥3.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Nathaniel Diamond, head of a corporate restructuring consultancy firm, is as hard as his last name suggests when it comes to sealing the deal. In his personal life, broken hearts are nothing more than collateral damage, and business is his sole priority. Until, that is, he meets his new client’s right-hand man, Elijah Gentry.
Elijah returned home to Seattle out of love and respect for his guardian, Charles Ballard, head of Ballard Holdings Worldwide, who is dying. Charles hired Nathaniel to help secure his financial legacy, and Elijah is expected to aid him. Although Elijah has a grasp of the business, his true passion lies in Los Angeles with his sound editing career, not with Ballard Holdings. Eventually, he plans to return to L.A., away from the world of high finance and dog-eat-dog corporate politics.
When Elijah and Nathaniel first meet, they are strangers. Well, almost. Nathaniel knows Elijah’s type, and he plans to use the man to get intimate and necessary information Elijah might not share otherwise in order to do his job. But Elijah is not quite the easy target Nathaniel expects, and soon the games begin.
Sex and power quickly tangle in this high-stakes game of corporate politics. Will either man emerge heart-whole from their encounter? Or does destiny have another set of plans for these two very different men?
Product Link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/KnaveHearts.html
Review: A very interesting and quite gripping story, Knave of Heartsis all about opposites. Money vs. Heart, Emotions vs. Calculation, Business vs. People.
Elijah is well versed in the business world, he knows those sharks more than he’d like. His mentor and guardian made sure he’d get not only the best education, but also a close experience in the heart of the business world. But with his imminent death looming on the near future, his guardian’s main concern is to leave his business in perfect condition so is legacy will keep on living.
Enter Nathaniel Diamond, head of the consulting firm Charlie Ballard hired to make his wishes come true. Nathaniel is the very type of shark Elijah has always turned his back to. Nathaniel is cold, calculating, and not one to shy away from doing whatever it takes to close the deal. Where Elijah is all about emotions and people and relationships, Nathaniel is the very opposite.
It was most interesting reading about these two characters. Contrary to other books working the same theme, we do not read the “mixing pleasure with work” here. I do read a building passion with raw emotions and a quite interesting clash of personalities. These men do not go sucking each other’s throats and making a mess on their work, on the contrary, even the emotional Elijah displays a fantastic control over himself right up the very end. And while normally such control is attributed to prudish behavior or games to make the other part fall more in love, this is not the case.
It was quite invigorating a read and I have to admit that it had me all encompassed and at its mercy for most of it. Things changed a bit when those two finally made it on a horizontal state. At that point, I was reading the dialogues and shaking my head, wondering who this new Nathaniel was and what on Earth had he done to the previous one. Yes, quite the change there and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
In any case, even as the end was quite predictable, I liked this novella and found it fresh and enticing. Recommended!