Just a Bit Ruthless
Ratings10
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings10
Average rating4.3
Stockholm syndrome or Love? When you want someone completely wrong for you... Luke Whitford has always dreamed of meeting Mr. Right. A hopeless romantic at heart, he dreams of falling in love with a nice man, getting married, and having a bunch of adorable babies. The problem is, Luke has the propensity for being attracted to men who are anything but nice. Roman Demidov, a homophobic, cynical billionaire who has a grudge against Luke's father, is certainly not Mr. Right. Cold, manipulative, and ruthless, he's not a nice man and he doesn't pretend to be. Luke is fully aware that Roman is all wrong for him. His attraction to the guy is just some sort of Stockholm syndrome; it must be. If life were a fairy tale, Roman would be the main villain, not the hero. But even villains can fall in love. Or can they?
Featured Series
14 primary books15 released booksStraight Guys is a 15-book series with 14 primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Alessandra Hazard. The next book is scheduled for release on 1/1/2025.
Reviews with the most likes.
Reread- whenever Luke is described, I always picture the cover model on Cora Rose's Whit. Still a 5 star book.
When I started this series, I did not think I'd give any of the books 5 stars but this book......!!!! I've never been more happy to be wrong.
Book 6. James's friend Like, who is gay, gets kidnapped after trying to impress his father in Russia. James is so busy mopping about Ryan he doesn't actually notice Like going missing. The kidnapper is a straight Russian mafioso with a grudge against Luke's father, a wealthy scumbag. At first, Like is subjected to beatings and starvation, but Roman realises that he can use Luke to get to his father so moves him to his room. This is not a book I'd put in the angst category, not after reading Sloane's stuff. Roman is surpringly open minded for a homophobic Russian mafioso and encourages Luke to stop thinking about who he should be to please his father. I loved the way Roman and Luke blossom in this book, Roman allows Luke to express his flamboyant side and Luke makes Roman care. However, if dub con is not your thing, or you object to Like looking like a teenager (although he's 23) then this won't be for you.
Alessandra is back in Rutledge territory with Roman Demidov and that's a good thing.
Sure this is yet another story of otherwise heterosexual men falling for gay men and that whole GFY category is utterly ridiculous (though I do have a shelf for that category). I choose to look at it as someone who had not yet met the person who brought out their latent homosexuality meeting them and a switch going off. ;-)
Here we have Luke & Roman who fall for each other after Roman kidnaps Luke because of things the his father has done. We are firmly in Hazard territory here and thus in good hands.
I like how Roman allows Luke to be comfortable in his true self without becoming some touchy-feely sweetheart but rather his own badass, semi Russian-gangster self. As I said: good stuff.
This series is unapologetically what it is and made to be enjoyed as the fantasy that it is. It doesn't hurt that Roman is hot, just the right amount of domineering and very clear that Luke is his.
The spanner in all of this is that Alessandra has told us the next book will be the last in the series so that kind of sucks. I'm still hoping for a Rutledge short story told from his POV. fingers crossed
