*Grabby Hands* Release & Review - Sugar Rush (Sugar Bowl #2) by Sawyer Bennett

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Sugar Rush
(Sugar Bowl #2)

Author: Swayer Bennett

Publication Date: August 16th, 2016

Publisher: Loveswept

In the steamy and suspenseful sequel to Sugar Daddy (“A totally gripping take on romance and revenge!”—Lauren Blakely), a heartbreaking rift threatens to unravel a dangerous alliance . . . and a fragile new love.

After posing as an escort for the Sugar Bowl online dating service, Sela Halstead is looking for one thing: payback. She's closing in on the site's heartless founder, Jonathon Townsend, and she needs Beckett North, Townsend's business partner and her lover, by her side. She'd thought that their intimate nights together had forged an unbreakable bond, but after a shocking betrayal, Sela begins to doubt the brilliant bad boy. When push comes to shove, can she trust Beck to do the right thing?

Now that he understands the truth, Beck will stop at nothing to secure the reckoning Sela deserves. But between his desire for her and his disgust for JT, Beck doesn't exactly have a lot of control over his emotional state. Left with no other choice, he must summon all his discipline to maintain JT's trust and pretend that they're still friends. But how far will Beck go to prove his loyalty to Sela? He nearly lost her once. To keep her, Beck might have to kill for her.

Note: Sugar Rush ends on a cliffhanger. Sela and Beck's story concludes in Sugar Free!

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon 

4 "Another stunning cover, more sexy times and CLIFFHANGER!" STARS. 

ARC via Netgalley.

Thank you, Loveswept!

In the beggining of the year, I read the first book in this series. It's that book with that jaw-dropping cover (review here), much like this one. The ending of that book had me anxious for the sequel, but I wanted to read it closer to the release date so I waited.

Here it is now.

Sugar Daddy (Sugar Bowl #1) wasn't an easy book to rate, but I gave it 4 stars. Having read the second book now, I think I rated it higher than I should've because the second book is better, but still not a 4.5. Well, I'm keep them both like that for now.

Before I start talking about the sequel, here's a warning:

Sugar Rush starts right where Sugar Daddy ended, no "Previously on...", no let's take a moment to remember how we got here. Nothing. When the sequel starts, Beckett North (one of the minds behind the multimillion internet business Sugar Daddy) is kicking Sela Halstead (the girl who was raped by Beckett's partner and came into their lives to get revenge) out of the condo they'd been sharing after catching her going through his stuff in his office.

Beckett ignores how Sela is telling him that she was raped by Jonathon Townsend, his partner, and closes the door on her face. He can't deal with the idea that Sela betrayed his trust, and he's convinced she is a liar, so he doesn't believe her accusation.

So here we have these two people that are starting to fall for each other facing that moment that will definy their relationship -- and them as characters.

If you read my review, you know that I was a huge fan of Sela's revenge plan and admired her character. That didn't change after reading this sequel. The way Sela reacted to what Beck did to her even when she was still looking at the closed door was everthing I didn't expect from her, but still needed. She didn't bang on the door until he opened it. She didn't beg until he took her back in. Nope. She threw the damn key on the door - because she couldn't throw it on his face - and left. Yes, girl.

To my total surprise, because I had more than a few problems with Beck in the first book, he actually got his head out of his ass and YES, DUDE, realized the girl he was falling for was telling the truth. He'd had more than enough proof that his former friend Jonathon was a prick who treated women badly, so it wasn't difficult to believe he had heart Sela. To be completely honest, I expected him to keep denying it for a long time, to investigate and only when he had proof to turn to Sela and try to apologize. But he acted in a much better way than I expected and kind of redeemed his character by immediately accepting what had happened to Sela and going after her.

Sela also surprised me by accepting his apology without making a big deal out of it, which she could've done.

From that moment on, Sela and Beck decided to work together to get revenge for what had happened to her those many years ago. Look, I'm all for Sela's revenge plan, but Beck didn't want to risk getting caught (which makes a lot of sense), so he proposed doing things in a less "ilegal" way -- meaning, murder was out of question. Instead, he wanted to first force Jonathon out of Sugar Daddy and then get him arrested for all the crimes he committed. In order to get that done, he hired a private investigator who didn't fear getting his hands dirty.

That was when a new and very interesting character came into the picture - Denis. A man who understood revenge well. I liked Denis and what he brought to the story. He was a complex and interesting character to watch and a great addition to the Beck/Sela team. His ideas were as complex and interesting as him, and they worked, which is always a positive. I kind of want a book with Denis as the main character now.

This book also did a good job at solidifying Jonathon as this super villain. The guy is a prick. Disgusting. Really, really sick. What he did to Caroline? I knew it from the moment Beck mentioned what had happened and how the criminal hadn't gotten caught. It was no surprise when the truth came to light, but it was still disgusting.

Beck's family and their secrets were other positive aspects of the story, because his parents? Ugh! Just awful people. How they managed to raise decent children is beyond me. While the revelation of what had happened between Caroline and Jonathon didn't surprise me, I can't say the same about Jonathon and Beckett's dad relationship. I didn't see that one coming, and I'm eager to see what will happen when all the pieces are revealed.

So, as you can see, there were a lot of positive elements to this sequel.

The big negative? That plot choice involving Sela and Jonathon in the end. It was completely unbelievable. 

Look, Beckett had just informed Jonathon that he wanted to buy him out. Beck wanted him out of their business and his life. Sela knew he'd done that. She knew Jonathon didn't like her and that we was a sick and dangerous bastard. Then she still decided to meet him alone is his apartment when he called? Come on! That makes zero (minus ten, minus fifty) sense. No. Really. I didn't believe it for a second, and that kind of stained what would've been another awesome cliffhanger. It was still good, but I spent so much time calling Sela stupid for that decision that it didn't have the same impact as it should've had.

Having said that, I want to see if Sela finally got her revenge. It'll be interesting if she did, because it looked like she had finally decided to let go of her plan when the opportunity presented itself. 

This was a fast read (was it shorter than the first?) and it was a really good sequel that ended with a cliffhanger that will have people anxious for the next book. Well, I already have my copy of Sugar Free, so lucky me!

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.