Bookabulary: This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Young interior designer Ava O’Shea has an appointment for a first consultation at The Manor with the owner, Mr Jesse Ward. She is expecting nothing more than an overweight, cravat wearing, well-to-do countryman, and on arrival, nothing would suggest otherwise. How wrong could she be? This Man is devastatingly handsome, charming and confident. He is also a conceited, hedonistic playboy, who knows no boundaries. Ava desperately does not want to be attracted to him, but she can’t control the overwhelming affect he has on her. Every instinct is telling her to run, so she does, but Jesse Ward is not so willing to let her go. He wants her and is determined to have her. She knows she is heading for heartbreak, but how can she run when he won’t let her?

Just when you think you have all the book boyfriends you need, you meet Jesse Ward. This is the very first book of the This Man series and I don't think I'll survive this trilogy. He is that nom!

Jesse Ward met Ava O'Shea when he asked for her services as the interior designer of his hotel after he saw her work for his newly bought penthouse. Their mutual attraction both surprised them but to Ava's credit she did try to fight it, considering that she had just gotten out of a years long relationship. But Jesse was relentless in his pursuit of her and what was a girl to do, right?

This man is a God.

Ava got that right. Although it was frustrating the way she always kept him at bay, to the point of running away from him more than once, it was more frustrating to read how she easily goes back to him after these attempts. But I have to admire how she tried, sensing that she was headed for heartbreak. Even if:

This mans is so perfect, I'm almost pain.

or:

I'm a pooling mass of want.

But it was rather apparent that Jesse was hiding things from Ava, primarily what his business was really all about which she initially really thought was a luxury hotel. That was the ticking time bomb in this part of the trilogy. And just when Jesse decided to tell Ava everything, she found out beforehand. And all hell broke lose.

The last two scenes in this book were just heart-breaking. I got to read a Jesse that wasn't expected and was a total surprise considering how confident he was in the first part of the book. But then when Ava decided to leave him, that was really the very first time she had stood her ground. It just proved that despite their history where she seemed to always give in to him, she showed that she could be firm about her decisions and he just couldn't bulldoze her into anything.

Second story goodness: Ava's bestfriend Kate and Jesse's friend Sam. These two were just hilarious but also were very good friends to both Ava and Jesse.

I can't wait to read the second book and see how this love story unfolds. Let's see if Jesse finally tells us his age. He was pretty sensitive about it--for a guy.