Bad

Bombshells #4

by Nicola Marsh

Wyatt Harrison is a geek and proud of it. The IT freelancer prefers delving into the mysteries of motherboards than women. Until he upgrades the computer systems at Vegas’s premier revue venue Burlesque Bombshells, where he’s confronted by the biggest mystery of them all, stunning choreographer Ashlin O’Meara.

Ashlin prefers brawn to brains. She likes her men uncomplicated for a reason. But there’s something about Wyatt that she can’t resist. Unable to achieve satisfaction in the bedroom for years, he could be the guy to push all her right buttons.

However, Wyatt’s no fool, and in agreeing to a short-term fling with the sexy geek, will her devastating secret of the past be revealed, resulting in the collapse of her carefully constructed life?

Genres: Romance

ebook

First published July 27, 2015

About the author

USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning Australian author Nicola Marsh writes page-turning fiction to keep you up all night.

She has published 86 books across genres, including contemporary romance, women's fiction, domestic suspense, and fantasy.

She's a Waldenbooks, Bookscan, Amazon, iBooks and Barnes & Noble bestseller, a 2013 RBY and National Readers' Choice Award winner, and a multiple finalist for many other awards.

She loves chatting on social media!

Reviews

[sraxe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly feel so fucking deceived by the synopsis and some of the reviews right now. What I was expecting was a socially awkward, shy, nerdy, inexperienced guy who couldn't talk to women and a sex-bomb heroine who'd be the perfect foil to him. And what did I get? A confident, alpha-esque experienced guy paired with a damaged, inexperienced woman. I knew that she had trouble in the bedroom, which the synopsis states, but what it fails to state is that those men she likes "uncomplicated" and why she hasn't been able to "achieve satisfaction in the bedroom for years"? It's because she goes no further than kissing any of them. She's only ever slept with ONE MAN, while the nerdy, supposedly socially awkward hero has slept with five (which you'll hear about more than once, btw, because I guess he never wants you to forget that he's a nerd but totally not a virgin stereotype).

Let me repeat that.

The socially awkward, nerdy hero has more sexual experience and partners than the bombshell heroine, who's had exactly ONE PARTNER.



Honestly, I don't even know why I'm even surprised. It's not like this sexist bullshit is anything new, and yet I still continue to be surprised and be disappointed over and over again. So maybe it's my fault? Some have shelved this New Adult, so maybe I should've fucking known. Because of course we couldn't get NA without it being paired with fucking sexist trope bullshit. And spare me the shit about how she's got some sexual trauma in her past and that's why she has issues. Because OF COURSE there'd be sexual trauma in her past, right? OF COURSE. And do you want to know what the bfd trauma in her past is? She had a fucking abortion almost a decade ago! And then her bf at the time said some nasty things and left her. Ever since, Ashlin has considered herself to be a "bad girl," damaged and undeserving of nice guys like Wyatt, forever repressing herself sexually.



Fine, if you want to have some sexual trauma in the heroine's past to keep her inexperienced for your bullshit sexist "reasons" (read: excuses), why couldn't the hero have been less experienced? It's not as if the experiences he had were remarkable or memorable. All the experience that he utilizes with Ashlin? He apparently got that from the porn he's watched. (No, I'm seriously not kidding: "Thanks to an extensive repertoire of porn in his late teens, he'd figured out how to get the business done with a woman, ensuring they were both happy.") So why couldn't the experiences with women just have been dropped altogether? That would go with his supposed social awkwardness, right?

And let's talk about that. He's supposedly a socially awkward nerd...err, geek? I'm not really sure because, like I mentioned before, the author keeps conflating the two even though they're not at all the same thing. And apparently women don't come on to him, even though he's supposedly super hot with a banging body, having got abs and other muscles and "zero body fat." And apparently, going by his interactions with the other women in this book, he has no issue with talking to women, even though he goes on and on about how women are a "puzzle" and he has difficulty speaking to them etc etc etc. And he has no issue referring to them with endearments like honey, babe, and sweetheart, like any socially awkward dude would, right? From what I know, a guy who's socially awkward, shy, and can't communicate well with women wouldn't be doing this with a woman he barely knows and totally has the hots for:

"Need some help?"

She jumped and whirled around, her hand pressed to her chest. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry," he said, not apologetic in the slightest, glad he wasn’t the only one off-kilter for once. "I'm in here for work. What's your excuse?"

She tilted her nose up, as if he didn't deserve to know. "Chantal can't find her phone. We tried ringing it but it's off so she sent out a search party."

"I'm assuming she hasn't got that find a phone app running."

She glared at him. "Guess you assumed right, Einstein."

To his surprise, he found himself grinning. "That's the best you can come up with? Einstein?"

Her eyes narrowed to fiery blue slits. "Would you prefer asshole?"

This time, he laughed outright. "Wow, you're shitty when a guy turns you down."

"Your loss." She shrugged and gave her hair another toss over her shoulder for good measure.

"Or yours." He strode toward her, buoyed by the flicker of alarm in her eyes.

Goddamn, Steele had been right. She'd picked him because she hadn't expected him to accept her invitation. She'd been toying with him. But rather than the earlier anger flooding him, he was curious. Why would a stunner, who could have any guy she wanted, target him, an insecure guy who would probably refuse her?

Intrigued against his better judgment, he stopped two feet away, close enough to smell the same exotic fragrance that had muddled his senses earlier. "Maybe I've changed my mind."

"About?"

"Taking you up on that offer of coffee."

"Too bad I've changed my mind." Her wide-eyed gaze dropped to his lips, as she licked hers.

"Yeah, too bad." He took a step closer, bringing her within touching distance.

Barely an inch separated them and he heard her sharp intake of breath, felt the heat radiating off her bare skin exposed by the scrap of silk masquerading as a top.

"Why did you ask me out?" He reached out, trailed a fingertip down her arm, skating over a smattering of goose-bumps.

"Because you seem like a nice guy." Her voice hitched as he grazed her wrist, her palm.

"And because you thought I'd say no."

Awareness flared in her eyes. "That's BS."

"Is it?" His hand rested on her hip. Slid slowly around to the small of her back. "You thought the geek would be intimidated by your beauty."

A small smile curved her lips. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Do you seriously need the validation?" Even now, she was playing him, fishing for compliments and Wyatt had had enough.

Time to call her bluff.

"I need…" She sighed and lowered her gaze.

"What?"

He wanted her to say 'you' but that was wishful thinking. Strong, independent women didn't need anything or anybody, least of all a guy so far out of his depth he needed a lifebuoy ASAP.

"What do you need?"

She raised her eyes to meet his again, and the uncertainty he glimpsed floored him.

"I don't know."

Her vulnerability scared him more than her overt come-on earlier, and before he could second-guess his impulse, he blurted, "I think you need this," and kissed her.

I didn't realize socially awkward nerds who don't know how to speak to women could act like such alphas upon approaching a woman they're interested in so early into an acquaintance! (And when I mean early, I mean that they really only talked-talked for the first time like a half hour prior to this scene or something.)



The one and ONLY time he ever displays any sort of awkwardness or anxiety is when he's sitting with his BROTHER. His brother, who he has nothing to prove to, unlike a woman he's interested in. He can so easily banter with this woman he finds totally gorgeous and one of her hot friends, both of whom are complete strangers to him, but he has issues talking to his brother? He can sit there and stare at the heroine unwaveringly while pushing for answers just because. I'm not socially awkward or shy, but even I don't sit there and look at people with an unwavering stare while pushing them for answers. Wyatt says he doesn't socialize, that he "feared socializing," yet he can put the moves on the heroine like this...? (And this is the day after they meet and are going to his place together, because of course a socially awkward guy would invite a stranger to come stay with him for the weekend, and a non-tstl woman would agree to do so with a strange man.)

Uh-uh, it was the guy who scooted closer, stretched his arm out along the back of the couch, and twisted a strand of her hair around his finger. ... His fingertips drifted across the back of her neck, a feather-light caress that made her shiver with longing. "It's good to take time out when you need it."

"I'd need a year's worth of down time to get my head back in the game," she said, wondering what it was about him that made her blurt the truth consistently.

"Want to talk about it?"

His fingers drifted from her neck to her scalp, lightly massaging and she bit back a moan.

"No. No talking…" she said, realizing too late what that sounded like a second before he covered her mouth with his.

He's even the one who initiates sexting and phone sex with the heroine!

Yes. This socially awkward, nerdy guy.



Anyway, I'm sure I've made it pretty clear the issue I have with the false representation, so I'll just stop there with the examples. It just really pissed me off because I'd gone in for a nerdy, socially awkward beta type hero, but what I got was the complete opposite.

The other issue I had was another part of the characterization, and that was that the author doesn't seem to have researched it at all. Marsh has a very stereotypical and generalized view of nerds and geeks. And, like I've mentioned, she also conflates the two, referring to him as a geek sometimes while a nerd others, even though they're not at all the same thing. While a geek can be a nerd and vice versa, they're not one in the same! The author talks about him being a geek and then a nerd, and he pulls chicks at the IT conferences that he attends...forgetting that just a while back she talked about him hooking up with "gamer girls"??? A gaming convention and an IT conference are not the same thing!

And he feels intimidated around women like the heroine, but then that means he never encounters anyone gorgeous at these conferences or conventions? Uhhh...there are plenty of drop-dead gorgeous women who are in IT/technology and geeky sub-cultures. It seems the author took the nerdy, loser stereotype that people have of geeky and nerdy men and then put it on the women. It's really frustrating reading these stereotypes, regardless of gender, with absolutely no research going into it.

And honestly, don't tell me that the hero is not hot and no one ever hits on him...and then have the heroine tell me that he's gorgeous and has a to-die-for body. And have her talking about how he's a "sex-god."

Yeah, because of course every man, even the most socially awkward, can be a sex-god if he watches a few fucking pornos, right?



Ugh. Whatever. I'm not even going to bother to break down how stupid the rest of it was and how the characters say one thing and do another. I was hoping to like this book, so I'm even more disappointed with how much I didn't like it at all. I'm so pissed that I went into this hoping for something different and all I got was the same shit, just wrapped in false packaging.

[Shiran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great addition to a great series!

Not surprisingly Nicola Marsh has done it again. BAD is a fantastic book that takes you on an emotional journey from page one. I read the entire book in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. Both Ashlin and Wyatt stole my heart and with every page I wanted to spend more time with them.

I loved that Ashlin had an intriguing background. I really couldn't figure out what her sin was, and I couldn't believe how amazing Wyatt was with her needs. Their relationship built so nicely and even though it's a short book, I still felt like their love was genuine.

I'm really enjoying how Marsh is building the brother's relationship over these books and it's made me so excited to see more of the Harrison boys. I just can't wait to see how things play out with Steele now. Write faster woman... I need more dammit!

[Misty (Reds Romance Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicola Marsh has outdone herself once again! She has provided readers with a highly addictive story packed full of passion, sexy banter and wickedly entertaining characters! I absolutely loved this short, but oh so good story, Wyatt Harrison had me smiling like a fool the whole way through!

Wyatt Harrison prefers to surround himself with the company of computers, and maintain his usual place in the background, unlike his brothers who tend to draw attention wherever they go. Being in their shadows is something he grew accustom to a long time ago and it has always provided him with a certain level of comfort. He is use to beautiful women always noticing his brothers first, and witnessing them fall all over themselves just to gain their time and attention, which makes his current predicament so baffling. While working on implementing a new IT program at Bombshells Burlesque Club he happens to gain the interest of a beautiful redheaded dancer who is dying to get to know him. His first inclination is to run, because this has never happened to him before, and he's sure she is playing games, but then he decides to have a little fun with her, and turn the tables on her. He figures if he turns on the charm, and acts interested, she'll get spooked and run the other direction, and the game will be over. Only problem is that she's not playing a game, she's ready to see if this computer nerd can teach her a thing or two...

I highly recommend you add this series to your reading list, and acquaint yourself with the Harrison brother's, they will steal your heart, and leave you highly satisfied!

ARC kindly provided in exchange for a honest review.

[Lynn Lim · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderfully, stupendous, absolutely, outstanding phenomenal series this is. I could not put this book down. There are two sentences that Nicola writes in the book, which I am going to quote, "That's not good. That's fan-freaking-tastic"! By the way, she was not describing the book, but I totally am. You need to read the book to see what she is actually writing about though. I love a great HEA book

The book is part of the Bombshell Series. This book is about two people Ashlin and Wyatt, each working through problems of their own. Ashlin feels guilty for something she did when she was very young. Now she feels she is not worthy of being loved. Wyatt is dealing with a part of the family that he and his brother knew nothing about. His father, Christopher, should be ashamed of himself in the role of fatherhood! I think my favorite part of the book is when Wyatt tells Christopher.... Stop. I will be giving absolutely no spoilers away! The story also tells of the wonderful journey of Ashlin and Wyatt falling in love in spite of their problems. Nicola Marsh always defines her characters so well, she makes them seem and what they are feeling, so real. I think that is why I love her books so much.
Great job on this series Nicola, thank you so, so much for the ARC of Bad" for my honest review. I think it is my favorite in the series so far. But, then again, I said that about the last one, hmmmm, I am so fickle. I am looking forward to reading the books on both Steele's and Kurt's stories.
Thank you for reading my review. Please, read this book, it is a phenomenal book, as are the rest of the books in the Bombshell series.

[Maria Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great addition to the Bombshells series (each can be read as a standalone) this romance is the story of Wyatt and Ashlin. Ashlin is the choreographer at the burlesque club she works at, and meeting sexy IT geek Wyatt makes her wonder if her years of almost celibacy might be over. Wyatt seems to have the right things to make her tick - but when he finds out her secrets will he still want to be with her?

This is the fourth in the series, but follows closely behind book 3 (Bold) which introduced us to Wyatt, the half brother of Zane, the hero of that book. I really enjoy the way the brothers are getting to know each other (there are 2 more, and they'll be getting their own stories next). It's a complicated relationship that they will have when it's all said and done, but it's clear that they are going to become good friends and their banter together makes for lots of fun times. Equally, Ashlin's girlfriends are obviously there for her as well and we gets lots of great conversations with them too. The romance between Wyatt and Ashlin is sweet and sexy. Some great bedroom action between them, but equally important is the relationship they are building. Wyatt is a blunt speaker, but that's exactly what Ashlin needs in her life. Their connection was interesting and woven in with the rest of the story made for a great romance. 4 stars!

Note: a copy of this story was provided by the author for review.

[Rachael Fick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wyatt is an IT guy, the quintessential computer nerd. He relates to motherboards and circuitry more than people. Which works for him because after growing up the way he did, he would rather fade into the background. So why can't he stop thinking about Ashlin?

Ashlin is the choreographer for Bombshells, Vegas' hottest burlesque club. She has worked very hard to get where she is, which means that personal relationships take a backseat (at least that's what she tells herself). After her disastrous history she decided that she's better of single, to tell you the truth. But there's a problem; she can't get that IT guy, Wyatt, out of her head.

On paper, these two are complete opposites but they quickly find that they are more alike than they seem. So what happens when Ashlin is offered her dream job in London & accepts it without talking to Wyatt? Especially knowing that in addition to him just meeting his half brothers from Australia, she hasn't been entirely truthful with him. Hearts get broken, mistakes are made, and the truth comes out. Are you ready?


I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!
This is the story of Wyatt the IT computer guy and Aslin the stunning and georgous choreographer at Burlesque Bombshells. Wyatt and Ashlin are total opposites. Wyatt thinks Ashlin has something up her sleeve when she asks him out for coffee. Can two opposites find a common ground? Can the secrets keep them apart? What happens when distance has the opportunity to keep them apart?

Nicola Marsh does it yet again in Bad. This book was absolutely fantastic and I couldn't put it down!!! I laughed and felt the real and serious emotions of the characters. This book for me was a five star read. Nicola Marsh and her writing style is amazing.

I highly recommend Bad!!! It has it all...hot steamy scenes, laugh out loud moments, secrets, the oh no moments...IT HAS IT ALL!!!

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bad was awesome!!

Nicola Marsh does it again with beautiful imagery and amazing characters.

I loved the sexiness of Wyatt and how he is brought out of his shell and becomes a super hottie.

Ashlin is different although beautiful and highly talented her secret keeps her apart from the rest from fully becoming who she is supposed to be.

The sexy times were hot made hotter with Wyatts tenderness and attentiveness to Ashlin

The easeness and the flow of the story beautifully written leaving you wanting that little bit more and getting it at every stage.

All up another great instalment to the Burlesque Bombshells and I'm really looking forward to Steele's story.

[Pauline Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of BAD to read for an honest review.
I love the way the author writes this story, it draws you in from the start to discover just how Wyatt a IT geek comes to love the very impressing Ashlin a lead choreographer. As Wyatt gets closer to his new founded half-brothers he finds the love of his life in Ashlin and even with all the problems they both face it turns out good in the end. All the characters were strong, independent, intelligent people. The writing had plenty of details and let you connect with all the characters and love them all.
I would recommend this and all books written by Nicola Marsh as she has a way to draw you in on her stories.