Executive Sweet by Sage Ardman Series: Westerley #1
Published by Self-Published on May 30, 2013
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: ARC
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Kay Samson is fresh out of business school and has a job as a junior executive—or so she thinks. Instead, the job turns out to be something else: a bizarre game of erotic high-finance business deals. Although it starts off innocently, with just a little teasing, the game draws her in deeper with each new deal, and thrills her more than she could ever imagine. Who would have thought that her brains and her beauty could work together so powerfully?
Kay’s partner in this game is Dan Avery, the handsome CEO of the company. The two of them might seem like a perfect match, but neither wants to get romantically involved. Dan has a history of bad relationships, and refuses to wreck the game by having another bitter breakup. Kay is wary of men, who always lust for her looks and never care about what’s inside. Besides, they’re both having too much fun manipulating unsuspecting businessmen.
But with all the sexually-charged business deals going on, how long can they keep the game going and stay out of trouble?
Liezel’s Thoughts:
“You’ve changed me. You showed me someone I never believed could exist.”
Welcome to the world of Corporate power play!
A new graduate Kay Sampson is immediately ushered into the executive office of Yorick on her first day of her dream job. What would the CEO of a highly successful company possibly want with her? Kay has her assumptions knowing that the CEO is known as the “Charmer”. Kay happens to be attractive and intelligent. Is this meeting some kind of way that the CEO wants to seduce her? She didn’t know what to expect.
As soon as she walks in his door, Dan Avery – millionaire playboy and CEO can not believe his eyes. He has finally found “the one”, the one he dubbed the “killer colleague.” He’s been searching for someone like her for years. Immediately, sparks fly but surprisingly their first conversation steers away from that. At first she can not believe what he’s asking her to do. As everything sinks in she realizes she’s absolutely going to love this challenge. The power of using seduction and her savvy intelligence to take down some of the worst CEO’s in the business.
I loved Kay’s character. Kay is a beautiful and attractive woman known to turn heads anywhere she goes but this isn’t her primary asset. She is also clever and intelligence, smart as a whip and even graduated top of her MBA class. Where would you hear of such a thing? Normally a woman like this would use that charisma to get through life but she didn’t want her beauty to define her. You would expect her to be conceited, arrogant and perhaps egotistical but she wasn’t nowhere close to that. She was friendly , outgoing, open-minded and never let her intelligence of her beauty get to her. She was also loyal to her friends and even went as far as planning a takedown on one CEO that did her friends wrong.
“Don’t you know? I’ve been in love with you for a long time now. The dismissal just made me realize how important it is that I stop hiding it. You’ve put a spell on me.”
Dan too was quite impressive. He was misunderstood and stereotyped. Behind his charm was also an intelligent man. Modest if you would ask me. He worked hard to get to where he was even if he didn’t have to work at all. His family comes from a very rich and influential background where he could have been living the playboy lifestyle like his friends he was instead in board meetings earning his keep.
At first I was hesitant about this one. The first chapter sounded so Fifty-ish to me that I thought I would have to put it down. But I’m glad I didn’t give because this story read like nothing I’ve read before. I thought it was absolutely invigorating and refreshing. Whoever thought that corporate dealings could be this interesting? The seduction and mind games that they set against the dirtiest business men in the corporate world were well thought out and played. With their perfect teamwork, they could have swindled anyone they wanted to but remained honorable and take down those that definitely deserved it.
The chemistry and angst between Kay and Dan were well-played out too. You would think that they would have immediately jumped into bed with each other given the highly seductive and sexually charged mind games that were at play but they took it in stride. They remained professional as long as they possibly could and just let everything flow naturally. And mind you it was worth the wait!
Now I know that some of us may still judge a book by its cover but you definitely need to get past that and read this one. It may not be for everybody because the story is more intellectual than most and almost 50+ longer compared to other books but for me I never wanted it to end. I wish I could have heard more power plays at hand and even get a glimpse of Dan and Kay’s life after …
The Verdict:
My Casting Picks:
Jason Lewis as Dan Avery.
Model Marissa Meyer as Kay Sampson.
