Sweetened by a Kiss by Lexxi Callahan
Contemporary Romance
June 25, 2013
Self Published
Reviewed by Mandi
Raise your hand if you like the asshole aka alpha-hole hero? Yes, just what I thought. There are many who do *wink* In real life, put me in a relationship with an alpha-hole hero and I would probably punch him in the nose within five minutes. But in fiction, sometimes it’s fun to read a really possessive, cranky, controlling hero.
Jen was in a bad car accident as a young girl that killed her whole family. She ends up living with good friends of her family, which includes the slightly older Stefan. As she grows, she develops a crush on Stefan and the same thing happens to him too. At the young age of 21 (or maybe 22), Stefan basically puts a ring on her finger and says, ‘you are mine and we will get married.’ Jen thinks her fairytale is coming true, until Stefan’s ex-girlfriend tells her all he wants is control of the stock that she owns. When Jen was younger, Stefan took over her family’s company, growing it five-fold and also took control of her inheritance. When she turns 30 or when she marries, her stock can then be sold. When Stefan’s ex tells her that he still sees Jen as a little girl and doesn’t have sexual thoughts towards her, but rather just protective thoughts and dreams of her stock, she is devastated. She decides to enroll in pastry school with her best friend Jared in Paris and leaves for six months.
When she gets home half a year later, Stefan is a different man. He has grown cold and overbearing. Jen herself has grown up and has more of a backbone now. She tells him she doesn’t want to marry him. He tells her she will get married, and will never leave him again. Oh boy.
There are times I found Stefan quite sexy with his extreme bossiness. I mean – this man is really controlling and possessive. Jen tries her hardest to stand up to him, and a few times she actually does and I really liked those scenes. But there were a few times in this book that Stefan crossed the line for me. Especially because he controls Jen’s inheritance and when she asks him for money out of it open her own bakery, he denies her. GRRRRRR. I didn’t like that aspect of the book.
Another part that really bothered me was their total lack of communication. Jen suffered a very serious injury in the car accident all those years ago and lost a lot of her memory. And for whatever reason, she was never really given the details of that accident. Everyone was trying to protect her I guess by leaving out the horrid details, but as a 22 year old adult, she deserves to know. And, if Jen and Stefan had just sat down like two mature adults and discussed their issues, then I feel like so much drama could have been avoided.
Of course, had that happened, this book wouldn’t have been nearly as fun. Again, as a fantasy romance, Stefan owns the overprotective nature and boy does he stay consistent throughout the book. I liked that he doesn’t magically change into someone else at the end.
This is Lexxi Callahan’s debut and I’m definitely interested to see what she does in her next book. She gives us a nice cast of supporting characters and I hope to learn more about them.
Rating: C+
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I’ve been stalking your site to find out more about the alphahole book you read. Man I don’t know about this one. Not down with him shutting her out of her own finances. Need to think on it a bit :)
Nope, I hate a@hole heroes. In books and in real life. I need to be able to at least like my main characters.
But I am glad you liked it.
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Aw Mandi-great review..even though you gave it a “C” rating…I’m more interested in what you didn’t say…and I want to know what was “hidden” from Jen. I’m on the fence….it’s a maybe for me.
I did not see the hero in this story as an “alphahole” at all…definitely alpha hero, but not an asshole. In my mind, there is a distinct difference between the two. An alpha male is domineering, possessive, and highly protective. An asshole, or alpha-hole, is demeaning, abusive, and misogynist. The motivation behind an alpha male’s behavior should come from a place of integrity and protectiveness. The hero in this story is very protective of the heroine because of her past, her dissociative amnesia, and the promises he made to her family. His behavior is frustrating for her and the reader, but I thought he definitely changed over the course of the book. He was still protective of her, but he finally accepted her need for more independence and trusted her with the truth about her brother’s death. I loved the chemistry between the H/h and the resolution of the storyline at the end. Their HEA was superb. I’m also looking forward to more stories by this author.
I just don’t agree with this – “An asshole, or alpha-hole, is demeaning, abusive, and misogynist. ” If that was the case, I would definitely never enjoy an alpha-hole hero. And I think there are many out there that can be an asshole. A sexy one and one that I root for and one that I want a HEA for…but an asshole nonetheless. Like Barrons. ;) I know we don’t agree on this. In my opinion, this hero crossed the line – yet I still enjoyed him.
I actually think this brings up a more important topic in the romance genre, which is what constitutes a “hero”…I think an asshole is an asshole, not a hero. A real asshole may not have redeeming qualities, and may not be heroic in any way. I also don’t think Barrons is an alphahole. He is alpha. Plenty of heroes are “possessive, cranky, controlling”…they can be jerks. Alpha all the way. Not necessarily alphaholes.
I think the we disagree on the term. I don’t see it as benign, or as the equivalent of alpha. I think some folks see jerk=alphahole, which could probably apply to most romance heroes.
For me, one huge difference is motivation. An asshole’s motivation is always about HIM. Not anyone else, and certainly not the heroine. An alpha may act controlling and overbearing, but he is thinking about others’ safety and well-being, even if it’s misguided.
This would be a great blog post. A discussion of terms, of what constitutes a “hero” in romance, and if an asshole can be redeemable.
Great discussion!
Darn it Penny – I’m going to blog about it this week! If you don’t mind I might quote you. Good idea!
I was thinking it would be cool to ask a whole bunch of bloggers where they draw the line. What they consider an asshole, what they consider alpha, what they consider “heroic” or redeemable.
Definitely quote me! Sounds like a great topic and a great discussion. I will definitely drop by!
I’ll ask some reader/bloggers and some authors to get a wide spectrum. I’ll be in touch :)