Ann Mayburn is one of my favorite go to authors, because she writes solid, well constructed stories, hot sex scenes, and interesting characters. Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me.
The story is female fantasy fodder for sure, with an uber rich, uber endowed, uber sized alpha hero, who just happens to have a sexy accent, and a poor but deserving female who hasn't caught anyone's eye until spied by our intrepid hero. I knew this going in, it's a fantasy I like reading occasionally, but I think this story went a bit too far over into the fantasy realm. I will say it has one of my favorite bits of alliteration ever. The hero's - er - endowment was described as an "epic erection". LOL - I really like that one. ;)
I wasn't drawn into the story, which seemed to meander down a path with several blind alleys. It felt as if there were too many plot points with too little development, so they kind of fell flat. I didn't dislike either Gia or Ivan, but I didn't particularly like them either. Again I don't think there was enough depth to them. I was particularly irritated by the on and off again love thing. Gia seemed rather clueless about actions that clearly stated Ivan was falling in love with her. Just when I thought that issue was settled it seemed to come up again, and again....
Ultimately, there just wasn't enough oomph in this one for me. Yes, I realize that is not a technical writing term, but when even the sex scenes are a bit ho hum, a lack of oomph seems as good an explanation as any.