The Shortlist

Waldorf Manor #2

by Bella Bryce

Bennett Fowler follows up on his best friend, Brayden James' shortlist, to find his own charge to look after. Completely against his beliefs and expectations, Bennett discovers feelings for his new charge will complicate their arrangement. How does a man with strong convictions plan to handle that? Sequel to The Waldorf Manor Book One by Bella Bryce, an adult age play story.

Genres: Romance

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2013

Reviews

[Katy Beth Mckee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the first book in the series at first it seems harsh but when you see the end result and how the woman are responding to it it gives you a chance to rethink your initial assessment. We are seeing the men become even more human in this book and the budding romance between Bennett and Elizabeth is exciting. And what will little brother bring back from his travels. Will be interesting to see more from this unique group.

[Kelly Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a continuation of The Solicitation. I really wouldn't recommend reading it without first reading book one - the backstory/context makes this a really good book. Without it, I can see it being confusing.

Once again, there is no romance in this one (except hints of it at the end), and once again, I'm amazed that I ended up liking the characters. Bennett comes across (at first) as really up-himself, arrogant, posh, stubborn, controlling, and generally not very likeable at all. But his incredible generosity near the beginning of the book helped me to understand him better, and to begin to like him. And he just grew more likeable as the book went on.

Again, Bella Bryce has woven a fantastic tale that I had to read from start to finish without stopping, because I was so invested in the characters and the story, despite their lives being so very different from my own. I love that they were flawed, but held such strong principles. I loved their integrity, and the way Bennett was so true to the way he was raised. I can't say that I fell in love with Bennett, as I often do with romance novel heroes, (but then, this book wasn't really a romance) but I definitely respected him and admired him greatly and just *had* to know what would happen next.

Sadly, this book doesn't have an ending either, which I found really disappointing. The story continues on into the next book in the series which, at this stage, I have not bought. The fact that I don't know what happens next has kinda ruined this book for me a bit. I will get the 3rd one, as these first 2 were so great, but I'm guessing I'm going to have to buy the entire series to get the full story which means lots of gaps :(

[Jesper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the first.
I liked the second.
And I shall read the third.

The only reason why I'm hesitant to give it 5 stars is because the men - whilst rich, mannered, handsome, authoritative, dominating, and so on - lack deeds that makes you respect their character. When you boil it down, then they're just snobby rich guys who live off of their parents money. It would have benefitted the characters if they had accomplished something, anything, on their own that gave them that air of superiority - especially if I'm supposed to really like them.
Right now I'm sitting on every second page thinking: "Get a job you twat!"
The only man who seems to have that extra layer is Damian, because he at least thinks about what kind of life he wants, so there's some depth there. But he doesn't take up a big part in the story, so...
But other than that, I quite like the story so far!

[Marybeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This the second book in the Waldorf Manor series. Bennett Fowler, Braydon James best friend, has decided that he wants a relationship like Braydon has with Alice. So, he asks Braydon to email his shortlist from when he was looking for Alice to see if they were interested in a discipline relationship. Elisabeth responds to the email and Bennett picks her. He takes her into house and gives her discipline. He buys her new clothes that are more formal like he wears.
I really enjoy this series. It is like age-play, but not. There is absolutely no sex whatsoever in this series. It is all about the relationships between the different characters. There are spankings, but they are matter of fact and done almost casually. I do think this story was a little short. We just get to a good part and it ends, ready for the next book. But, I did buy the next book!

[JD (on semi-hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could go on about how creepy these books are: deeply unpleasant full-grown men who do nothing but live off their inherited wealth "adopt" needy young women and turn them into Stepford dolls rather than encouraging them to grow into their own selves. I also can't stand how these young women were expected to "forgive" those who abused them -- what, exactly, is the point of that? And, authors: you cannot have it both ways; you cannot insist that spanking -- which is always sexualized in this genre -- is not, when you don't want it to be.

But what really bothered me in this book is that the H throws the h's sketches into the fire to test her commitment. If you don't understand how awful this is, then this is the book for you.

[jeanped · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading The Solcitation, the first of the series, I expected a lot from this second book, and I must say, Ms. Bryce did not disappoint... I found this book to be terrific... very well written, it comes to the point where you don't really have to read the first book to understand this second book, but it still would be much better if the books were read in their proper order, cause I guarantee and reader of this book, that you will want to go back and read the first book, once you read this one... BTW, if you want to see how Ms. Bryce viewed her book's characters, go to her blog... she has the photographs of all her characters, even Wellesley, the loyal butler!!!