BLOG TOUR & REVIEW - Driven by K. Bromberg

“Jealous, sweetheart?” He raises his eyebrows as his grin flashes arrogantly. “We can always finish what we started, and you can mark me any way you’d like.”

I gently shove my hand against his chest, pushing him back. I’d love to wipe that smirk off if his face. Leave my mark that way. “Sorry, I don’t waste my time on misogynist jerks like you. Go find someone—”

“Careful, Rylee,” he warns as he grips my wrist, looking every bit as dangerous as his voice threatens. “I don’t take kindly to insults.”

I try to yank my wrist away, but his hold remains. To anyone in the room, it looks as if I’m laying my hand on his heart in affection. They can’t feel the steel strength of his grip.

 “Then hear this,” I snap, tired of this game and the warring emotions and sensations within me. Anger takes hold. “You only want me because I’m the first female who’s said no to your gorgeous face and come-fuck-me body. You’re so used to every female falling at your feet, pun intended, that you see a challenge—someone immune to your charm—and you’re unsure how to react.”

Despite his nonchalant shrug, I can see his underlying irritation as he releases my wrist. “When I like what I see, I go after it,” he states unapologetically.

Shaking my head, I roll my eyes. “No, you need to prove to yourself that you can, in fact, get any girl who crosses your path. Your ego’s bruised. I understand,” I patronize patting his arm. “Well, don’t sweat it, Ace, I forfeit this race.”

He raises an eyebrow, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he finds something humorous in my comment. The muscle in his clenched jaw tics as he regards me momentarily. “Let’s get something straight,” he leans in, inches from my mouth, the gleam in his eyes warning me I’ve gone too far. “If I want you, I can and will have you, at anytime and in anyplace, sweetheart.”

I snort in the most unladylike way, astonished at his audacity, yet trying to ignore the quickening of my pulse at the thought. “Don’t bet on it,” I sneer as I hastily try to skirt past.

His hand whips out and grabs hold of my arm again, spinning me back toward him, so that I’m standing intimately close. I can see his pulse beat in the line beneath his jaw. Can feel the fabric of his jacket hit my arm as his chest rises and falls. I glance down at his hand on my arm and glare back at him in warning, yet his hold still remains. He leans his face in to mine so that I can feel his breath feather across my cheek. I angle my head up to his, not sure if I’m raising my chin in defiance or in anticipation of his kiss.

“Lucky you, I’m a gambling man, Rylee,” his resonating voice is just a whisper of sound. “I do, in fact, like a good challenge now and again,” he provokes, a mischievous smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He releases my arm, but runs his finger lazily down the rest of it. The soft scrape of his finger on my exposed skin sends shivers down my back.

“So let’s make a bet.” He stops and nods at a passing acquaintance, bringing me to the here and now as I’ve forgotten that we’re in a room full of people.

“Didn’t your mother teach you when a lady says no, she really means no, Ace?” I raise my eyebrow, a look of disdain on my face.

That smarmy smirk of his is back in full force as he nods in acknowledgement at my comment. “She also taught me that when I want something, I need to keep after it until I get it.”

Great, so now I’ve acquired a stalker. A handsome, sexy, very annoying stalker.

He reaches out and toys with a loose curl on the side of my neck. I try to remain impassive despite my urge to close my eyes and sink into the whisper of his fingers across my skin. His smirk tells me that he knows exactly what his effect is on me. “So, like I said, Ryles, a bet?

I bristle at his proposition. Or maybe it is at his effect on me. “This is asinine—”

“I bet by the end of the night,” he cuts me off holding a hand up to stop me, “I have a date with you.”

I laugh out loud stepping back from him. “Not a chance in hell, Ace!”

He takes a long swallow of his drink, his expression guarded. “What are you scared of then? That you can’t resist me?” He flashes a wicked grin when I roll my eyes. “Agree then. What do you have to lose?”

“So you get a date with me and your bruised ego is restored,” I shrug indifferently, wanting no part of this contest. “What will I get out if it?”

“If you win—”

“You mean if I can resist your dazzling charm,” I retort, my voice laced with sarcasm.

“Let me rephrase. If you can resist my dazzling charm by the end of the night, then I’ll donate,” he flickers his fingers through the air in a gesture of irrelevance, “let’s say, twenty thousand dollars to your cause.”

I catch my breath and look at him in bewilderment, for this I can agree to. I know that there’s no way in hell that I’ll succumb to Donavan or his captivating wiles, the arrogant bastard. Agreed, I was caught in his tantalizing web for a few moments, but it was just because it’s been so long since I’ve felt like that. Since I’ve been kissed like that. Been touched like that.

So I am willing admitting to the fact that I’m a bit of a sucker for the trilogy series with intense and somewhat mysterious alpha males that have some seriously messed up issues. I mean it was that recipe that gave us our very own Christian Grey, right? Who could deny that these adonis-like men need more then one book to finally get them all the way broken down for us, because they are so complex with their deeply rooted problems.

We learn all about our heroine, Rylee, and her past demons that haunt her in Driven, but our hero, Colton still remains a bit of a mystery by the end of the book. Which is totally fine with me as it gives me something to look forward to the next two books. However, the problem is that by not knowing what made Colton is the way he is, is that it makes it hard to look over or even forgive how he treats Rylee or any other woman for the matter.

Now after say all of that, I really am in Colton’s corner and I’m cheering him on like you wouldn’t believe! I have a feeling that in the next two books of this series he is going to completely steal my heart and will officially become book boyfriend material! So don’t let me down K. Bromberg!!

In Driven though, it really seems like Rylee is seriously a glutton for punishment when it comes to her drop-dead gorgeous racecar driver. She’ll go off with Colton and at some point while they’re off together things will fall apart because of Colton and his yet-to-be-discovered issues, but then the next day she goes back for more. I honestly have mixed feelings about Rylee deciding she’s done with Colton after each “date” with him falls apart but then when she sees him it’s a totally different story. I think K. Bromberg wanted to cause conflicting emotions about all of that on purpose, and if she did – she did a great job!

Part of me wants her to run off with Colton everytime he comes by to steal her away, but another part of me is screaming ‘RYLEE! This guy is a douchebag! Tell him to leave you alone!’

Now if you were thinking I in anyway didn’t like this book, let me tell you that I honestly wouldn’t be talking about it with this much passion if I didn’t LOVE it! I’m seriously going crazy wanting to read the second book right now! I don’t know if I’ll survive until the publish date!

I really really really want Colton to turn into a book boyfriend very badly! He has so much potential! He just needs to prove to me that he truly can love Rylee and treat her the way she deserves!

Now, I wouldn’t call the ending of Driven a cliffhanger because it honestly could very well be the end of the story. It would an incredibly shitty ending, but it does come to a good stopping point in my opinion. That doesn’t mean though that you aren’t still going to be begging for more and wanting to know what happens between Rylee and Colton. You will. It will have you addicted.

K. Bromberg was born and raised in Southern California.  She graduated from University of California at San Diego with two bachelors—economics and political science—but always loved to write.

K. Bromberg remains in Southern California with her husband and their three young children. When not writing or working her day job, she can be found playing ninjas or power rangers with her son, fixing the hair of her oldest daughter’s American girl doll, trying to potty train her youngest daughter, or listening to any or all of them fight/whine at once.  When she needs a break from the daily chaos, you can almost always find her with Kindle in hand, devouring the pages of a good book.

Web/blog:  www.kbromberg.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/authorkbromberg

Goodreads:  www.goodreads.com/Kbromberg

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