Book Review: Rush by Maya Banks

RUSH
Breathless #1

By: Maya Banks

Published:  February 5, 2013

Attention:  This book may not appeal to all readers.

Gabe, Jace, and Ash: three of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the country. They’re accustomed to getting anything they want. Anything at all. For Gabe, it’s making one particular fantasy come true with a woman who was forbidden fruit. Now she’s ripe for the picking…

When Gabe Hamilton saw Mia Crestwell walk into the ballroom for his hotel’s grand opening, he knew he was going to hell for what he had planned. After all, Mia is his best friend’s little sister. Except she’s not so little anymore. And Gabe has waited a long time to act on his desires.

Gabe has starred in Mia’s fantasies more than once, ever since she was a teenager with a huge crush on her brother’s best friend. So what if Gabe’s fourteen years older? Mia knows he’s way out of her league, but her attraction has only grown stronger with time. She’s an adult now, and there’s no reason not to act on her most secret desires.

As Gabe pulls her into his provocative world, she realizes there’s a lot she doesn’t know about him or how exacting his demands can be. Their relationship is intense and obsessive, but as they cross the line from secret sexual odyssey to something deeper, their affair runs the risk of being exposed—and vulnerable to a betrayal far more intimate than either expected.

For most of the book, I was interested in the relationship between Gabe and Mia as well as between Mia and her brother.  The premise is common, guy falls in love with best friend’s sister, but what was uncommon was how their relationship played out.  I was interested in how they were going to keep their secret from Jace, how Mia would handle her personal and professional relationship with Gabe, and how Mia would handle being in this type of controlling relationship.

As someone who at one point in her life was in a relationship full of power and control, those parts of the book were definitely a turn off.  In no way did I find those parts of the book healthy or loving.  That is what turned me off from reading the FIFTY SHADES OF GREY series.  In a lot of ways this book was very similar to that book with a wealthy bachelor becoming infatuated with a naive woman, but there were differences as well.  I think if you liked that series you will like this one just as much, if not more.

Gabe was a jerk and his selfish behavior and greed made him very unlikable to me.  Even though he does redeem himself in the end, I am not entirely convinced that he will overcome his issues.  His relationship with Mia lacked emotion and if they are to remain interesting in future books, there is going to have to be more meaning to what is happening with them.

RUSH is the first is a series that reminds me a bit of the BACHELOR series by Carly Phillips in the early 2000’s.  The series focused each book on one of three bachelors much like this series.  The next book by Maya Banks, FEVER, arrives April 2, 2013. The final book, BURN, arrives in August 2013.

Maya Banks is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling romance author.  She lives in the South with her family. Visit her online at www.mayabanks.com.  
Like Maya Banks on FACEBOOK at http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMayaBanks, 
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