3.5
Well, this was adorable.
"Obsessed with My Temptation" was thoroughly enjoyable, sweet and steamy, with a lovable cast of main and side characters (plus, a found family vibe that was *chef's kiss* utter perfection).
Travis and Scott's romance was packed with the most delicious elements: enemies-to-lovers, opposites-attract, bi-awakening, explosive sexual chemistry and an even more explosive, kinky D/s dynamic, lots of banter and, of course, the unavoidable relationship angst and drama.
To be fair, part of the drama was fairly OTT, but I probably felt that way because college-aged romances aren't quite my thing anymore: Scott and Travis can't be together because of the quintessential American social divide between the popular, cool kids and the poor, rebellious ones. I couldn't quite manage to take their relationship angst seriously (because, 1) I grew up in a whole different society with a whole different school/university social dynamic, 2) I feel my age), but I still appreciated it because it IS a classic, quintessential trope.
Although, I admit, I did skim most of it, especially in the second half of the book: I wanted more Scott and Travis exploring their dynamic and less drama.
Individually they're both lovable protagonists, and I adored all of their friends to bits: Eliot, Antony and Andy were fantastic and the very mysterious Henry is very, very intriguing. I also wonder about Mark: we haven't probably seen the last of him and I'm excited to see what will happen.
I really enjoyed this debut by Rina Damen, and I'm very excited to read the next book! In the meantime, I have also devoured Eliot and Jonathan's prequel novella, "Obsessed with my Brother's Best Friend" (you can sign up to the author's newsletter for it!), so I'll be including a mini-review for that one too: it was absolutely, deliciously wonderful! Eliot and Jonathan were lovely and hot and just a smidge kinky. Also, Brother's Best Friend™ is one of the SUPERIOR tropes and I ADORED seeing Jonathan being all protective over Eliot: *chef's kiss* utter perfection.
Thank you GRR for the ARC. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.