I feel like I am the last romance reader on the planet to read Tara Sue Me. I’ve seen her books before but never actually read one. Well, American Asshole proved to be a great introduction to this author. This is the first book in the Bachelor International series.
When Mia’s mother dies unexpectedly, she passes on a lot of debt to Mia. Debt that unfortunately, Mia had no idea even existed. Mia and her mother ran a matchmaking service. It wasn’t super successful but both women loved their work and were good at their roles, Mia as the matchmaker, her mom as the numbers woman. Well, Mia thought they were good at their jobs. Mia discovers that the only person willing to give her mother a loan (of $250,000 at that!) is Tenor Butler, a very successful owner of the dating agency, Bachelor International. Mia is determined to confront him and figure out what she can do to pay off the loan…slowly.
Tenor has his own wish though. He sets up a plan to get Mia to work for him at Bachelor International. He appreciates her expertise and thinks she will bring a personal touch to the company that is currently lacking. Mia cannot believe that she’s about to accept his job offer but she doesn’t have much choice. Time to work with Tenor and pay down her debt.
I have to say, the title is very misleading. Tenor is far from an asshole. He was pretty dang caring and nice. Sexy for sure! But he was also a really nice guy for the most part. He is conflicted because he is very attracted to Mia but he has a rule against dating coworkers. And given the circumstances of how Mia came to the company, it definitely would not be smart to get involved.
I really liked the instant chemistry that Mia and Tenor have. From the moment these two meet on the pages, I was interested and connected to them. I admit to being surprised that I would respond to Tara Sue Me’s writing this easily but she definitely had me intrigued from the get-go. Mia is really good at her job and it’s a facet of her that Tenor admires. Unfortunately, like most romance novels, there has to be something that drives these two apart.
I do want to give one content warning. Early on in the book when Mia meets a man she knew back in college, she goes out with him at a hotel bar in Atlanta to catch-up. He ends up drinking a lot. When he walks her to her door, he tries really hard to get into her room with her to the point where Mia is scared. Tenor is waiting up to make sure she had made it home safely so she was safe fortunately, but given the things that are being discussed in the media right now regarding sexual assault and women, I think this is a crucial scene to mention. Tara Sue Me gives this scene the value it deserves in regards to Mia and I really appreciate that immediately, Tenor validates what Mia was feeling. No gas lighting on these pages.
The romance is steamy but there is a last-minute melodrama that kind of caused me to roll my eyes. That being said, overall I thoroughly enjoyed American Asshole and I’m ready to dig into Tara Sue Me’s backlist. This is a fun introduction to a series I am quite looking forward to reading more from.
Take a look at the excerpt below if you’re intrigued! American Asshole is available now.
“I have to be honest, Mia. As much as I’m attracted to you, you and I can never happen.”
I wasn’t sure why I just lied to her. I probably didn’t sound very convincing, because Mia froze for a brief second before she continued eating. She took her time chewing and swallowing her bite of pancake.
“Okay.”
That was all she said. Okay. My proclamation didn’t seem to bother her a bit. I was shocked. I thought she’d push back or argue with me. Anything. But the calm, cool, and collected way she continued to eat her breakfast told me one of two things:
Either she wasn’t attracted to me at all, which implied I’d read her all wrong or…
She thought I was completely filled with horse shit.
I was more inclined to go with the second option. I was, after all, a matchmaker and there was no way possible I could have been that wrong about the signals she was throwing my way the night before.
And if option two was correct, she didn’t believe a word I’d just said. Not that I did either.
I cleared my throat. “Can we at least pretend that I meant what I said?”
She gave me a sultry grin. “You’re the boss.”
That shouldn’t have made me hard. It really shouldn’t have. But damn…
“Did you sleep okay last night?” I asked. Maybe a change of subject would help.
Help what? I didn’t know.
“I did. And if I didn’t say it before, thank you for everything you did.”
“No need to thank me, Mia.”
I wasn’t sure she would thank me if she knew how much I’d enjoyed holding her during the night or how I’d spent a lot of the night battling my erection.
We fell into silence as we finished eating our breakfast. We would start meetings soon and we had plans to continue business through lunch. But tonight I had plans.
Plans that didn’t involve Benjamin. Meetings. Or anything remotely similar to behavior my lawyer would approve of.
Which made me wonder why I even spoke that lie about us never happening. Maybe I should have worded it differently. Much differently.
AMERICAN ASSHOLE by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Tara Sue Me is finally LIVE! American Asshole is the first book in the new series, Bachelor International! Grab your copy now #FREE in Kindle Unlimited.
About AMERICAN ASSHOLE
He’s a self proclaimed bastard with a double helping of lying asshole.
Mia Matthews never thought much of big shot matchmaker Tenor Butler, but when she finds out he loaned her late business partner a quarter of a million dollars and no one told her, there aren’t enough four letter words to describe him. She’d like nothing more than to pretend Tenor doesn’t exist, but she owes him all that money, not to mention he’s hot as hell.
Tenor doesn’t see why it’s his fault Mia didn’t know about the loan. In fact, he thinks he’s being very magnanimous when he offers to forgive the loan if Mia closes her own matchmaking business and works for him for five years. But as he gets closer to Mia, he realizes two things: 1) he doesn’t want her as an employee and 2) she hates his guts.
When an old flame threatens them both, Mia and Tenor find themselves working together and are unable to ignore their mutual attraction. But it might be too late for these two romance experts to create their own love story.
This is a standalone romance. No cliffhanger.
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About Tara Sue Me
Tara Sue Me wrote her first novel at the age of twelve. It would be twenty years before she picked up her pen to write the second.
After completing several clean romances, she decided to try her hand at something spicier and started The Submissive. What began as a writing exercise quickly took on a life of its own. An avid reader of all types of fiction, she soon discovered she enjoyed writing a variety as well.
Tara lives in the Southeastern United States with her family, two dogs, and a cat.
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