Title: André
Series: High Rise: Book Two
Author: Jayce Ellis
Publisher: Carina Press
Length: 270 Pages
Category: Contemporary Romance
At a Glance: André is an Office Romance lovers romance, and by the end, I was totally gone for both him and his one-night-stand/intern/love interest, Marcus. At its heart, this is a story about figuring out what it is you want, and then going for it.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: After a week filled with nonstop work, André Ellison heads to the club to blow off some steam. One night off is the perfect distraction from the project that’s about to make his career—or tank it completely. A few drinks in and he leaves with a smoking-hot stranger for some scorching, burn-the-sheets-up sex.
Marcus Thompson is going places, so he can’t think of a bigger waste of time than being put on loan to a two-bit firm to prepare some small-time report. The last thing he wants—or needs—is his impeccably dressed, hot-as-hell one-night stand as his boss.
As they work side by side, their attraction grows to a fever pitch, but there will be no kissing, no touching and absolutely no sex until the project is over—if they can wait that long.
Review: I love when a contemporary romance catches me off guard and throws a little something extra unexpected into the storyline. Jayce Ellis did that with André, the second book in her High Rise series, and I appreciated not only the surprise of it but the statement she made about destigmatizing relationship roles through her characters.
André is an Office Romance lovers romance, and by the end, I was totally gone for both him and his one-night-stand/intern/love interest, Marcus. The way they met wasn’t as much of a surprise as the shock they felt upon realizing that the guy they’d each hooked up with just a couple of nights before was the same guy they’d be working with in close proximity for the next three weeks—namely, each other. Marcus looking down his nose at André’s small, but ambitious, financial advisory firm is the bucket of ice water thrown on the fire of their attraction to each other, and it’s all business between the two of them from there…for about a minute. Oh, they tried to go back to being just the boss and the intern, but that was a bit like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Marcus being a grad student who has no interest in working for a company that doesn’t even show up on page one of a Google search becomes a factor in the story, most especially as his feelings for André evolve into something more than simple lust. As Marcus invests himself in the project he’s been assigned at Ellison Financial, he not only gains new respect for how hard André works, but Marcus also begins to reflect on what he’d always thought he wanted, how that fits in with the life he’s beginning to envision with André, and the specific stereotypes associated with wearing a multitude of hats, fulfilling myriad roles, providing a multiplicity of support, and having all that work, in the end, not being assigned a dollar value. I feel a certain type of way about that, and I loved Marcus all the more for giving voice to his options and his opinions about the subject. Respect and equity in a relationship really isn’t that difficult if the people in the relationship work to make it so….
Moving on, there are a few side characters who contribute to the story as well. André’s backstory comes into play, specifically in what prompted him to start his own company, as does family and their inherent complications and sometimes toxic attitudes, and friends and allies of both he and Marcus. I adored André’s friend Fiona in every possible way. Strong, feisty, and not afraid to put some folks in their place when they needed putting, Fiona stole nearly every scene she was in. I also love the every-dad Mr. Johnson, who isn’t just the concierge at the Crestline Apartments, but he watches over his tenants and metes out wisdom when it’s needed too. Marcus’s roommate Jake also factors in at a critical juncture, and Jeremiah and Collin (from Book One) even make a minor cameo appearance just before the end.
André is a story about figuring out what it is you want, and then going for it. I loved so much about this book and am looking forward to seeing who’s up next in the High Rise series.
You can buy André here:
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