Beck and Call

Business and Pleasure, Book 1

Business and Pleasure shouldn't mix.

Yet, that's exactly what I'm contemplating after Seattle's most eligible bachelor strolled into the diner where I work and made me an offer I'm having a hard time refusing.

Beckett Anderson has the looks and money to get the attention of any woman, and yet he wants me to be the one at his beck and call. If I accept, I'm to be his assistant in and out of the boardroom. In exchange, I'd finally have a chance to use my college degree and escape the cycle of poverty I've known my entire life.

He wants my mind and my body, but can I keep my heart out of it? Because if I can't, instead of saving me, he might be what finally breaks me.

Contains mature themes.

©2022 Kimberly Carrillo (P)2024 Tantor

Male privilege and borderline abuse. Horrible male narrator.

The story is absurd and unrealistic. The heroine is constantly harassed by her boyfriend/boss, where her protests are ignored. She is young, so we can believe that she is not very assertive and is easily cajoled. However, I can’t see the positive side of a man that insists on resolving conflict by forcing sex on an upset, but pliable woman. He uses his position to force her and she doesn’t have enough strength to protect herself. Her initial instincts are good but gets constantly pushed by him. I understand that the author needs to get as much sex in as possible but this type of storyline provides a bad example to women.
There are some interesting ideas and twists and the writing style is good and engaging. The plot is just too absurd and there are too many events that border on sexual and emotional abuse for me to recommend it.

The male narrator has a horribly shrill voice and is shouting through at least half the dialogue. I had to increase the speed, just to get through his parts quicker. Maybe a better narrator would have elevated the book but he just made the male character more unlikeable, for me.

The female narrator is OK, suited to the part.

I will not be wasting credits on the rest of this series.