Avoiding the Playboy: Episode #1

Heartless #1

by J. Sterling

In her steamiest and sexiest novel to date, New York Times best selling author J. Sterling brings you her her most alpha male yet. The result is a leading man who will steal your heart and make all your fantasies come true.

After being cheated on, I made a rule for myself: No Distractions. No distractions basically translated into: No Men. And that meant HELL NO when it came to Daniel Alexander. Daniel was just like every other guy out there, only worse: he was richer than sin and used to getting what he wanted.

I don't care that Daniel thinks he wants me. I think he just likes a challenge, but I'm not up for the chase, no matter how ridiculously gorgeous he is. A guy that hot could make a woman like me lose focus and that's not something I'm willing to risk.

I have no interest in him. But he has no interest in leaving me alone. No matter how hard I push, he won't go away. No matter how much I ignore him, he refuses to be ignored. Daniel's convinced there's something between us, but I don't trust him. And my gut is rarely wrong.

This is a SERIAL ROMANCE told over 3 episodes.
All Episodes are out now!

Genres: Romance, New Adult, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Audiobook, Novella, Short Stories

90 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 19, 2014

About the author

J. (jenn) Sterling is a New York Times and USA Today best selling author of multiple contemporary romances. She lives in California with her only son, Blake. If you can't find her sitting behind a computer screen writing new stories, then there's a good chance she's sitting in the bleachers of a baseball stadium watching him play.

Jenn enjoys traveling to new places, meeting her readers and spending time with the love of her life, the one & only, Jack F'n Carter! Oh yeah, it's true. <3

Stay in touch with Jenn here:
Newsletter: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/619557...
Website: http://www.jsterlingbooks.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJSterling
Instagram & TikTok: @AuthorJSterling

Reviews

[Mysza · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a promising start, the writing is good, heroine seems sassy and strong and hero is confident, sexy, gorgeous, hot, rich, hard to resist (well you know the type). The heroine, Elizabeth, swore off men long time ago and is not interested in any of them, she goes to a party, meets Daniel Alexander, he starts pursuing her, she says no, he insists to see her afterwards, she is avoiding him. Not much really happened yet, except that they met, but I liked it and am curious enough to continue with the serial.

[Jess-i-ca · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Not bad, not great either...

[Paula Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided that this year I was going to go through my Kindle e-books and read ones that I have had sitting on there for years. I scrolled through and came to Heartless by J. Sterling. I knew this was going to be a quick read as it's part of a three episode serial. This book started with Elizabeth Lyons finding her boyfriend cheating on her with her roommate at the time. Of course, the guy Ben was a jerk and made it like it was Elizabeth's fault as she was ambitious and heartless, and no guy liked that. Fast forward eight years and Elizabeth is still a hardworking female, and she has made a name for herself in the production business which for females is hard including a young one like herself. She is awarded the honor of being one of the Thirty under thirty to look out for and heads to a party where she meets Daniel Alexander. He wants her, and she doesn't want the hassle of a relationship. Can Daniel find his romance bone to woo Elizabeth as she's not like the ones he has had before and will drop her panties on the first date? I liked the start of this serial and found myself really getting into the story and was sad when it ended but happy since I had the next two on my Kindle already to move onto. One of the best romance serials I have ever read. Definitely worth the read.

[Dany · Rating 2 out of 5]

*sigh* Where do I start on this one? I'm a sucker for theses type of books. But all the characters have to work and I disliked I'm disliked Elizabeth she made it difficult for me to even finish. I'm on the fence about finishing the last 2 books.

[Vani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo malo es que es muuuy corto. Y es insta-love (?). Pero definitivamente leeré el segundo ^^

[MJ Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

La actitud de Daniel me da repelús, como si tuviera dos personalidades .-.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (5/23/2019)! 🎁

[atomickitten · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up to very generous 3 stars

I kinda have mixed feelings...
Because it wasn't what I'd expected it to be.



I think my biggest problem with this one is simply that their entire connection is strictly physical.
They meet, ogle each other, immediately start talking about sex and then they kiss.
Ugh...



Another thing is the heroine.

I wanted to like her but I don't think I did.

She was supposed to be a strong woman who had no interest in the hero.
That's what we are told in the synopsis.

But she wasn't any of that.

We meet Elizabeth when she is in college and finds her boyfriend cheating on her with her roommate. He tells her it's her fault, that she never has time for him blah blah blah and as a result our heroine swears off men for good.



Now fast forward to the present moment, which is 8 years later. We learn she is all work and no fun. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But her first interaction with Daniel, our hero, shows her as a judgemental, man hating bitch.

And what's worse, her being a strong woman is just one big BS because I believe that mentally she is still in college or somewhere in high school, sulking over her cheating boyfriend.

A strong woman, my ass.

Don't even talk to me about the long list of all her unresolved daddy issues she, as a "strong independent woman", chooses to ignore and voluntarily lets them affect her entire life.

Or maybe she's just too stupid to connect the dots?
I dunno.



Last but not least is the fact that she wants Daniel's attention. And that whole "I don't like you and I'm not interested" attitude reminded me more a game teenage girls play in middle school and not something an adult woman would do. When all you do is pretend you don't like him but get all giddy inside whenever he looks at you.



With all that in mind, I am rather sceptical about book 2 and 3 but I got it all on audiobook so I will probably finish.
This one isn't bad if things I mentioned don't bother you.
But this is not what I signed up for.
But we'll see.
Now off to book 2 I go.

[Bj]

Free on Amazon as of 12/24/14!

[Robert Zimmermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars, but rounded up due to lack of half-star option.

Because this is the first of three episodes for Sterling's Heartless serial, what the reader gets in this installment isn't a full story. Though, to the author's credit, she was able to bring the story to a good cutoff point. There's enough in this episode to hook the reader and to be interested in continuing. I don't feel like it was an abrupt cut, like I've found in many other serials. I'll be one of the readers grabbing the next installment when it's released.

I enjoyed Elizabeth's voice and her character. She's strong and knows what she wants. She also knows what she doesn't want and is very conscious about her decisions. What threw me off in this story is the few sections that were from Daniel's point of view. I don't mind a dual POV story, sometimes this is the only way to get a better look at what's going on. My issue was Daniel's voice in his sections. When it was Elizabeth's POV, she told the story as well as what she was thinking. For Daniel, I felt it was too much of him trying to convince the reader that he wasn't a bad guy, and wasn't trying to get into her pants. At this point of the story, this didn't add anything to the story. It only threw me out of the flow Elizabeth had set up. Daniel wasn't saying anything that we didn't see from Elizabeth's POV. If his POV did more to drive the story forward, I could excuse his obsession with getting us to think he's good, even though he admits he's thinking with the wrong head for the most part.

I'm hoping that in the next episode, Daniel's attitude will tone down a bit, and we'll get to see who he actually is and whether or not he has more in mind than having sex with this woman he just met. Either that, or just less of Daniel's POV and sticking to Elizabeth where I felt the story had more strength.

[maria.g · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading I thought it was a great book.A strong female character and I really liked how she was true to herself.The instant chemistry was so good but there was barely any drama.But it seemed as though as soon as I started reading this book it ended.It seemed as a prologue to a story.Great, quick, quirky fun read.
Elizabeth is a sassy women and doesn't need a man in her life and she was once burned by an experience.Daniel is a pushy playboy who doesn't understand the word no but they do have a chemistry but the book ended before I got familiar with the characters. The cliffhanger was good but not as effective.

[SammiesBookBlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this yet. It started with her catching her cheating boyfriend. Which happens a lot. But I liked her take life by the horns attitude and she would no longer let a man f*** with her. Good for her! book world needs strong women and I get that feeling from her. But then she also caved easily to Daniel I feel. She is making him work for it for sure, but she let those walls down quick and Daniel seemed to change his ways as soon as he met her also, seemed very rushed in that department. It have a FSoG feel to it ( just how she was to him and him to her) it gave me dejavu. But the story has a lot of promise and I actually did really enjoy it. I can't wait to see what the other installments have for us, so I can get a better feel for the story. I love Jenn and her books. So this is nice reading something new and intriguing. I have high hopes it will pick up in the other installments. It wasnt bad by any means. But, I didnt love it. Can't wait to see what she does and where the story goes. Totally not like anything Jenn has written, in a positive and enticing light Think everyone should give Heartless a chance! I do think its worth the quick read.

[Lluvia Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by Jenn Sterling, I had never read something from her before and I loved it. I was hesitant between giving it 4 or 5 stars, but I couldn't come up with something I didn't like, or something I hated about this book, so yeah, it deserves 5 stars from me.

What I loved about this book is the fact that, while meeting a hot guy who'll be attracted to you in a random even is not something that happens pretty often (or not something that would happen to me like...ever!), Jenn did a pretty good job displaying it as she did. There's nothing more real (and nothing wrong with it, either) than attraction at first sight, and I'm sooo glad it happened that way instead of going right into "love at first sight" and insta-love.

I really liked the characters, I was laughing while reading the book and I had a very fun time doing it.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to read Episode 2.

[Kristy & Kayla - My Person's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this sexy little surprise from J Sterling.

Elizabeth is gutted when she catches her boyfriend cheating on her, this one moment changes her. Never again will she open herself to another man like that. Driven and focused she throws herself even more into her work.

Over the next few years she has become a very successful business women in a male dominated field. She works hard and doesn't have much of a life, a man is only a distraction, one she doesn't want or have time for.

Daniel Alexander is a young and successful business man, he's known as a player. When he 'bumps' into Elizabeth he finds her challenging, something he is not use to with women, he is use to women fawning over him. He wants Elizabeth and is determined to have her, she might be saying no but she is worth the challenge.

I am loving this series so far and can't wait for Episode 2

Review by Kristy

[Jo - •.★Reading Is My Bliss★.• · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenn Sterling has gone all hot & sexy on us and I loved it!

Elizabeth was stunned when her boyfriend not only cheated on her but also left her feeling like she had to prove to herself he was wrong.

She is now a successful business woman who seems to have made it her life’s mission to prove how capable and confident she is, especially working in a male dominated environment.

Is she missing the big picture though? She works hard but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to her inner dialogue, that she chooses to ignore.

Daniel Alexander ‘bumps’ into Elizabeth at a dinner and he wants her, plain and simple. Elizabeth lives by the ‘all men are bastards’ mantra and gives him the brush off. Daniel is determined though and will not give up until he has Elizabeth under him….

[Naudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick and easy read that I finished in one sitting. I enjoyed it, and it's the first book I've read in episode form, and the first book I've read by J. Sterling. I'll definitely pick up episode two because I feel like this episode was lacking, perhaps because it's meant to.
I didn't quite buy the instant attraction between Daniel and Elizabeth; Elizabeth seemed like an excessively snobby girl with no solid reason for being so excessively snobby. Daniel seemed oddly persistent towards a girl clearly faking disinterest, but made it seem real with insults and hurtful comments. I have no idea how that reflects on Daniel, but I'm not complaining.
Off to episode two!

[Carlene Amabel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had a lot of reviews and I thought, maybe third times a charm.
Yeah. No. I skipped 75% of the book because it JUST WENT NOWHERE! The small interactions between her and her assistant were ok, but not enough to keep me interested. Her writing is boring, wordy, over-explained and riddled with useless dialogue.

I guess I just don't get J. Sterling. I gave this book a chance because shes's always being pimped by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher. One could assume she's as good as the company she keeps. But I think she's more like their DUFF.

[Janie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to get into this book but I found myself skipping through the book just to see where it was going. I enjoyed reading the interaction between Elizabeth and her assistant but overall I wasn't connecting with her at all. Reading this book I was intrigued with Daniel but he was just missing something for me to love him like my many other book boyfriend.

[Ilonita50 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was funny and intriguing, playful romance story, I would have preferred that the book actually would include the full ending. Although the novel had more chapters, it is too short and I can't classify it as a short story, it has no ending, it finishes with cliff ending, in the middle of story.

[Neka · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so bad I'm surprised it even got published. I'm glad it was free. I wanted to quit after reading the first page (yes, it was that bad), but I forced myself to keep reading. At 30% the ridiculousness of the conversations and interactions and everything in general were just too much. This author goes to the list of "never read anything from them again".

[Leanne Crabtree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that if this hadn't been part of a serial/trilogy and I got to read all of this story in one go then it would have gotten four stars instead of three because it had promise. The hint of good things to come... And then it ended. Ugh!

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I enjoyed this, and it was entertaining to read, it was just okay. There was nothing special to set it apart from the thousands of other rich bad boy meets successful office woman type stories out there. I will continue with this series though to see if something special does happen.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn!! This is good! totally excited for the next!!!!

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

To short to form an opinion on how I really feel about this book, but so far I'm liking the characters and look forward to seeing what transpires between Elizabeth and Daniel

[Jessica~loves to hate a cliffy~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great quick read. Looking forward to the next episode.

[Tinabooklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an ok start to this serial. This book was very unbelievable really.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartless is a super fun, sexy book! This first episode is quick to read but leaves you wanting more! Can't wait to read episode 2!
For more indie book reviews: Myindieauthorfix.com

[Cath Erine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting start to this story. Left me wanting more, so I'm off to read the next book.

[Marianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was this book written by a pre-teen?

[Asia · Rating 4 out of 5]

J Sterling apparently wrote a serial about my heart.