I really wanted to like this book, but from jump, I did not like the male lead. So I figured I would just wait it out and keep reading. So I did.
And then he literally never gives the heroine credit for any of the scary things she’s trying with him and treats her like a burden even though she is putting herself in danger testing supplies for his company for free. So I waited and kept reading.
Then he kept telling her she was selfish. Why? Hard to say. I couldn’t really follow his logic. So I waited and kept reading.
Then he made her feel ashamed that she got a settlement from the restaurant that put her in a coma at the beginning of the book, making it seem like because she had her medical bills paid for, she deserved nothing. And it was her fault her parents (who get NO comeuppance in the book btw) stole 4 mil from her because she lets them walk all over her. But I waited and kept reading.
Then he had sex with her and treated her like shit afterwards. Then he continued to have sex with her and continued to treat her like shit. Then when she is put in the middle of a media frenzy that loses her her job and humiliates her over and over, he ignores her calls after telling her the day before he wants to be her boyfriend. Then he shows up and says he wants to keep banging but not to be in a relationship and that he wishes they had never become more than sex. Then he makes fun of her when she tells him she loves him. Then when she tells him she can’t consider taking him back because he didn’t apologetic, he shrugs and leaves.
He tells her over and over that she should stop making everything about herself, that she’s selfish and spoiled. Selfish when all she uses her millions for is to buy nice bedspreads and then works for minimum wage to save a community center. Spoiled when she buys a shitty house to save 12 animals who are about to be destroyed. HE calls HER spoiled and selfish when his parents are gazillionaires, and he doesn’t deign to consider her relationship material until she talks to his driver (but she’s the spoiled one) because now he knows she’s not just some rich asshole…despite the fact that in all their time together, she never behaves like a rich asshole once. When he is trying to woo her to be his girlfriend instead of just his fuck buddy, this is his argument:
“He doesn’t move. ‘We come up with so many reasons for not being together.’ ‘We?’ The word rips through every other feeling raging around inside me. ‘All the reasons we come up with?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘You mean you have reasons,’ I say, making sure he is clear on this. ‘You thought about us and decided against me.’ His voice is quiet. ‘Yes.’ I stand up much taller. ‘But tonight I finally passed muster when I talked to Chick. Lucky me.’ ‘Give me a break, Lisa. We’re nothing alike. Nothing. And you can be so clueless and selfish. It took me a while, but I got here.’”
So in the process of telling her he wants to be with her, he continues to talk about how clueless and selfish she is WHEN SHE HAS DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DESERVE IT. And this is not a mistaken first impression. This is 75% into the book.
Then after leaving her to handle the scandal his mother created, after trying to convince her to be his fuck buddy again instead of his girlfriend, after making fun of her for saying she’s in love with him, he…calls a press conference and tells the world he’s sorry and he loves her. Ummmm, swoon? Eff this guy.
Also, I tried to give the author some leniency because this was written in 2014, but even 10 years ago we knew better than to continue to refer to a community center for disadvantage youths “ghetto centers,” and we also knew not to make an entire plot line about how everyone assumes the heroine is disabled because she wears a helmet and dances funny. WHO GREENLIT THIS??