Maya Taylor is all sass and style when it comes to closing a PR deal, but when it comes to men, she has about as much witty banter as a drowning grommet. So when fashion mogul, Dominic Wolfe, enters her life, he seems to be bringing the perfect deal.
She’ll teach him all there is to know about the highly competitive side of surf sponsorship. And in return, Dominic will turn the beautiful surf-klutz into a man-magnet. Dream deal, right?
Only the lessons start getting hotter than the beach mid-summer and Dominic realizes he wants more. Much more. But the deal was their relationship wouldn’t cross the line between business and pleasure…
I've been known to be an all round arty type so it's no wonder my first romance has a little sparkle of the stage tucked into its pages. Being a writer was not was I was supposed to be when I ‘grew up' but then neither was being a dancer. Sometimes my performing past jumps into of the dress up box and requires attention. But most of the time I'm content to stay in my PJs. All day. And I also thinks that chocolate can solve pretty much everything. You can get in touch on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/michele.dewinton Twitter http://www.twitter.com/MicheledeWinton Drop her a line or post a comment on her blog through http://www.micheledewinton.com
Maya Taylor has been pining about surfer god Rick Hunter for two years, no one knows about it, but he sees her only as a friend and his great PR person. Dominic Wolfe, a clothing chain owner and fashion expert needs to revamp his brand, he was told that Maya is the best, so he books an appointment with her while she’s in Australia for the Quicksilver surf competition and watching her clients. Dominic needs her business expertise, but after talking for a while, Maya confesses about her infatuation with Rick, and Dom agrees to help her nab her man in exchange: she needs help flirting and he needs her business knowledge.
MAKING OVER MAYA started really nicely, and the romance between Dom and Maya seemed to be going in the right direction at the beginning, it was really lovely, but when Dom starts “coaching” her, it didn’t work for me anymore. A shift in the balance of power, if you will, occurred and Dom became a rather pushy dude. I had liked them both at the beginning, but as the romance progressed I liked them less and less. I felt he was exploiting the situation, and he was making her disappear even more under his “guidance”. I never quite understood either how Maya – a PR maven from California - seemed to dress like a Victorian era governess; I would expect a PR person not to wear dowdy clothes or hide behind her hair. I understand that she is inept at flirting, but isn't this sort of a requirement for her job, to charm the clients? At first, she seemed to want to learn about flirting, but later on she came across as rather clueless about sex as well. There is a difference between not being good at flirting, and not being good at relationships, and it somewhat got blurred. The more Dom and Maya became involved, the weaker Maya came across, and I feel a secondary character described her best: Maya did seem like “an accommodating little mouse”. Maya is good at her job, but I found her overall quite boring, while Dom came off as gregarious at first, but then turned into too much of a dictator to be fun anymore. And while I’m not taking this into account for my rating, since everyone – including Maya – is thrilled with “the haircut”, I would have been appalled, and furious, to be honest.
I loved the banter between Brooke and Maya, and Michele de Winton demonstrates her aptitude at being one of the best at writing quirky, colourful prose. However, there was an odd situation with the punctuation, which is not typical for Ms. de Winton: it felt as if most of the commas had been swept away by a huge wave, which made reading challenging at time. I didn’t quite understand either why Mays’s “nickname” was “B”. Her friend is named Brooke, yet Maya is “B”? I just didn’t get it. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the “shop talk”, the clothing business and PR angles, but the romance, for me, was lukewarm in spite of the sexy times.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
*ARC kindly received from the author with no obligation to read or review.*
First of all I must apologise for my tardiness in getting this review written – life often finds plenty of moments for reading, but not that many for discussing the story, no matter how poor or amazing it may be!
Anyway, onto the story itself! And wow, what a read! You have Dom, who very much lives up to that name, and Maya, who we’ve already met in the previous story – the PR friend of Summer and Brooke, who is brilliant at her job, but knows as much about boys, dating, and fashion as a frog! In comes Dom, who wants to use her PR talents, but finds he also wants to help Maya improve on some of these talents that she is lacking… At times it feels like he’s using her, at others that she’s using him. The mixed-up matchup is all a bit of a blur whilst Maya is busy trying to decide what and who she wants, and almost deliberately being clueless about what is really going on between her and Dominic. Both learn how sometimes small sacrifices can be worth it in order to catch the big reward (or perhaps big wave in this setting!).
Again, another brilliant story that grabs you and doesn’t want to let you go. There were a couple of moments where concentration lapsed (as in wondering WTF Maya was doing a few times and does she have to be so sniffley?!) But the ending was an awesome squee moment that you knew had to come but had to hold onto for a few pages to see it realised!
Anyway, I enjoyed it, and don’t really have any major quibbles that are worth mentioning (another reviewer has done it in detail, even pulling up points I missed, blindly skipping on past). It’s fun, it’s hot, and I’m hoping the last of the three will more than hold up this series’ awesomeness!
💕Business mixed with a Cinderella transformation and a challenge to Maya's life plan🌊 August 28, 2018 Format: Kindle Edition 👍4.5 stars I really enjoyed this short💕 romance set in the world of competitive 🌊surfing! Maya, the PR expert heroine, is business smart but a bit socially inept when it comes to attracting the right man. Fashion exec Dominic sets out to give her a makeover and soon finds himself enjoying their association way too much for his peace of mind.
Michele de Winton has created some great characters. In addition to Maya and Dom, I loved the loyalty and occasional silliness of Maya's best buds Brooke and Summer, and even surf god Rick is fun in his own career driven and oblivious way. I adore a romance with an evil disruptor and this one does not disappoint. It's well-written and brief but long enough to get a good tale told, with some heart-stopping drama on the beach, too!
I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.
Maya Taylor is a PR genius, handling many of the surfing world's hottest prospects, but when it comes to her love life, that's definitely not so hot ... at least not until fashion dynamo Dominic Wolfe decides to take her under his tutelage in return for her help in rebranding his high end men's fashion line. I love the surfer culture that de Winton is portraying in her new, Hot Tide series. Summer, Brooke and Maya are all smart, savvy and very sexy and her surfer boys are brawny and beautiful, even if they and often self-absorbed and not so bright. Fortunately, Maya's new business associate has both the brains and the heart to go with that surf worthy bod and watching the chemistry between the two is a rollicking ride that will warm the heart of any light romance fan. I loved Making Over Maya and I think you will too.
I loved this novel Making Over Maya. Maya Taylor is an exceptional and driven PR person for the surfing royalty. She gets the job done for her clients, but she can't bring herself to "sell herself" to one of those surfers she desires. Australian fashion magnate, Dominic Wolfe, wants to get some surfers she represents to help build her brand. They agree, she'll teach him of surfing people, and he'll teach her about landing her surf hunk she crushes on.
The lessons are not quite what either of them expect, and the results generate more heat in more places than either of them could have guessed. It was tough to set down this book to do the needed things in life. I really think you will enjoy this read. It is well edited so you won't be so distracted. I received an advanced release copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a first time read of this author and I already have another book in the "Hot Tides" series lined up to read. This story was good and was well written. The characterizations were good as well and each character seemed to be imbued with so much "life". There was great camaraderie between the main female character and her two best friends. The repartee between the main male and female characters was utterly delightful. Sometimes interspersed with humour (and wit) and sometimes during sensual scenes.
Excellent reading that was highly entertaining!
I voluntarily received a free advance review copy of this novel via Booksprout and I am leaving an honest and unbiased review. I have no affiliation to this author.
I absolutely !loved the first book in this series the second brought some surfer PR smarts as well as fashion tips, but I missed the beauty, smell, the substance of the ocean that was in the first book. We have a good looking and smart girl when it comes to surfer business, i.e. promoting. Unfortunately she has no confidence in herself when it comes to men, especially one in particular. She needs to learn how to attract and reel him in. Enter the rich, good looking, always gets what he wants guy, but who needs he!p in learning about the surfing world in order to create a new clothes line. They agree to teach other what they need to teach their objective. I don't do spoilers so if you want to know how they go about this and what happens between them a!ong the way, grab this book now.
Dominic Wolfe knows his fashion and when he decides to take PR executive Maya Taylor under his wing he doesn't know what he has started. She may be brilliant and hot at her job of promoting the world's top surfers but her lovelife is a disaster. Now Dominic is enjoying her company a little to much do they have a future together This Is a great book with plenty of secondary characters to make a fun read
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is an entertaining, almost Pygmalion-esque romance. I liked Maya and Dom and enjoyed the way that their attraction, chemistry, and emotions evolved over the course of the story. This book is part of a very fun series of sports themed stories that offers the unique twist of being about the sport of surfing. This is my honest, voluntary review.
She is great with everything to do with the business world but useless with dating. He walks in and they make a deal. She will help him with the job and he will help her in the dating world. They should not mix it. Will they? See what will happen
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
My rating is a 3.5. This book took me longer to read. I just had a hard time getting into the story. I truly didn't like Dom's approach with things especially with Maya. At the end Maya got what she desevered in her happily ever after.