Afterburn/Aftershock By Sylvia Day

‘Afterburn/Aftershock’ is the latest book by Sylvia Day.

Never mix business with pleasure. Never bring politics into the bedroom. I can’t say I wasn’t warned…Two years after I took Jackson Ruteledge as a lover, he was back. Walking into a deal I’d worked hard to close. Under the tuteledge on Lei Yeung, one of the sharpest businesswomen in New York, I had picked up a thing or two since Jax walked away. I wasn’t the girl he once knew, but he hadn’t changed. Unlike the last time we’d drifted into each other’s lives, I knew exactly what I was dealing with…and how addictive his touch could be. The inner circle of glamour, sex and privelege was Jax’s playground – but this time, I knew all the rules of the game. In the cutthroat business world, one adage rules all: keep your enemies close and your ex-lovers closer…

Sylvia Day is an author that I have heard a lot about but she was never an author that I looked into, as I am not the biggest fan of erotica fiction. But, as the lovely people at Mills and Boon took the time and effort to send me ‘Afterburn/Aftershock’, her first book as part of the Cosmo Red – Hot Reads from the Mills and Boon series, I thought I would give it a go.

The story is seen through the eyes of Gianna Rossi, an incredibly intoxicating and sexual business woman who falls for the charms of Jackson Ruthledge, a seriously sexy man who only has to growl at her and she has her panties off! It seems that Gianna met Jackson two years previous and fell madly in love with him for him to only disappear five weeks later. Heartbroken, Gia throws herself into her work and tries to convince herself that she doesn’t need a man to make her happy, but when Jackson returns to her life. Gia is torn between giving their relationship another chance, especially when Jackson lays his cards on the table or does she leave it and try to move on.

Like Gia, I was torn with this book. Part of me enjoyed it, I like Sylvia’s technique of writing and immediately warmed to it. It was short and snappy and flowed with a nice casual style, but I think it was the characters that I found it hard to deal with, particularly Jackson.

I found him much too intense and controlling and this I found extremely irritating. Having disappeared from Gia’s life for two years without any contact, it seems that he can pick up where he finished and command Gia’s attention or sex whenever he commanded. In true erotic fiction, Gia did drop everything for him, wanting to make up for lost time. Jackson reminded me too much of Christian Grey and that was why I didn’t enjoy the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ series, domineering, controlling, dictating her every move and never giving her space. I hated it!

‘Afterburn/Aftershock’ is without a doubt an extremely passionate and intense book filled with sexual and powerful characters but sadly it wasn’t the book for me. I can appreciate that Sylvia Day is one of the most successful authors of this particular genre, but as it’s not really a genre I enjoy, it would be difficult for me to entertained by it.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”026391030X” target=”_blank” ]Afterburn & Aftershock (Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon)[/amazon_link] and is also available to buy from good bookshops.