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A review by rellimreads
Rush by Maya Banks
3.0
This is the first book in the Breathless Trilogy. The series is set around three 38yo Millionaire hoteliers. They’re best read in order - while each book focuses on one couple, there are storylines that span the series.
I love the Best Friend’s Sister/Brother’s Best Friend trope. Partially because there’s already a relationship between the two and things aren’t starting from scratch. In this case, Gabe is 14 years older than Mia (he’s 38, she’s 24) - so there’s an age gap factor as well. I like that when Gabe says he waited for her to grow up a bit, it’s because he noticed her at 20 not that he’s been wanting her since she was a child.
This is best if you enjoy over the top controlling, alpha male paired with sometimes spunky but mostly submissive women. While this is BDSM, it still felt off at times - for me Gabe’s behavior sometimes bordered on abusive, even within the context of agreed relationship boundaries.
The biggest problem I have with this is how repetitive Banks’ writing can get. At just over 11 hours, I think at least an hour could have been shaved off by not having internal dialogues and conversations rehashing info presented immediately before.
There are a lot of really hot scenes - but an unstable ex, family drama, and business dealings give it a bit of plot. A big breakup and some groveling from Gabe give this a decent HFN.
Narration:
I liked Adam Paul’s narration. Particularly that he gives Gabe, Jace, & Ash unique voices that are consistent through the whole series.
I love the Best Friend’s Sister/Brother’s Best Friend trope. Partially because there’s already a relationship between the two and things aren’t starting from scratch. In this case, Gabe is 14 years older than Mia (he’s 38, she’s 24) - so there’s an age gap factor as well. I like that when Gabe says he waited for her to grow up a bit, it’s because he noticed her at 20 not that he’s been wanting her since she was a child.
This is best if you enjoy over the top controlling, alpha male paired with sometimes spunky but mostly submissive women. While this is BDSM, it still felt off at times - for me Gabe’s behavior sometimes bordered on abusive, even within the context of agreed relationship boundaries.
The biggest problem I have with this is how repetitive Banks’ writing can get. At just over 11 hours, I think at least an hour could have been shaved off by not having internal dialogues and conversations rehashing info presented immediately before.
There are a lot of really hot scenes - but an unstable ex, family drama, and business dealings give it a bit of plot. A big breakup and some groveling from Gabe give this a decent HFN.
Narration:
I liked Adam Paul’s narration. Particularly that he gives Gabe, Jace, & Ash unique voices that are consistent through the whole series.