Review: M. Leighton's Up To Me — Scandalicious Book Reviews

Review: Up To Me by M. Leighton

10 Jan posted by scandal

16093188 Title: Up to Me

Author: M. Leighton

Series: The Bad Boys #2

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Source: self purchase

from Goodreads…

Happily ever after doesn’t come easy. But for love, it’s always worth the fight.

Olivia finds bliss unlike any she’s ever known in Cash’s arms. He sets her skin on fire and melts her heart right inside her chest. Unfortunately, their happily ever after is short-lived when a shadow from Cash’s past threatens to turn their world upside down.

Dangerous people from his father’s world have discovered that Cash holds information that could put them away for a very long time. And they’re willing to do anything—and hurt anybody—to get it back. Giving it up means Cash must choose between the life of his father and the life of Olivia.

Having nearly overcome her wariness of bad boys, Olivia’s trust is shaken when this new threat arises. Now she finds that Cash is not only a danger to her heart, but his family has associations that are a danger to her life as well. She soon discovers that there are some situations in life where trust is a girl’s only option. And this is one of them. If she’s to live, she must trust Cash with her life. But to Olivia, that’s much, much easier than letting go and trusting him with her heart.

Well, I drank this one down in one huge gulp…and it was delicious. If you’ve not read the first book in this series, Down To You – you might want to stop now. There’s a pretty big twist in that one and I don’t want to spoil it for you. Seriously. I warned you…you can’t be pissed at me if you find out shit you don’t want to know.

Ok, for those of you up to speed. How fucking hot is Cash?? Oh my god and the sex. The sex in this book is seriously scandalicious. It’s safe to say Cash knows his way around a woman. God damn. I demonstrated the form/lay out of one particular scene with My Guy last night and let me just tell you, the descriptions were spot on. Olivia holding on the the headboard, on her knees, Cash underneath her…yeah – that’s good stuff. Well done Ms. Leighton, My Guy thanks you and so do I! Oh, and don’t even get me started on the Jack Daniels scene. Holy shit, my Kindle may need a cigarette after that one! I pretty much highlighted the entire book while I was reading. Ms. Leighton’s humor really hit the right note with me. From Ginger’s, “I’ve been so worried about you but of course you’re on the receiving end of a Greek God’s orgasm giving penis” comment to Cash telling us how Marissa deflated his hard on with the mere sound of her voice, I laughed a lot while reading Up to Me. It’s a great story. It has just the right mix of danger, suspense, humor and sexy. Seriously, sex scenes aside, Up to Me is, at its core, a very suspenseful, very engaging, fast paced story.

I’m not going to lie. Olivia is the reason I’m giving this 4.5 stars instead of 5. I thought we’d conquered her bad boy phobia in the last book. Geez, I thought Cash shut all that shit down and things were good. I expected there to be a little residual caution on Olivia’s part but I didn’t expect as much as we got. I was a little pissed she let an off hand comment from a known pot stirrer derail her happiness. I mean how many times does Cash have to prove his devotion?

“Trust in what you know about me. Because I know, if you stop listening to your fear, you know who I am. Deep down. You know me, Olivia. You know me.”

“Okay, then I used to like that kind of thing. Now I like your kind of thing. It’s the very best kind of thing. Makes all other kinds of things look like shit.”

“I want to be worth the risk. I want her to finally fall for the right guy. She says nothing, only nods. I know it’s hard for her, but the fact that she’s willing to try gives me hope.”

Come on Olivia. You’ve got him. Hook, line and sinker…he’s yours, don’t over think it just get busy. Let him love you. Good god woman, just let him love you…now that he’s found you, he’s good.

So, we get to meet some new characters in this book. I’ll tell you about one and the other I’ll just say…holy shit, didn’t see that one coming, and leave it at that. The character I’ll tell you about is Gavin Gibson. I’d like to formally request a Gavin Gibson book please. Is there a google document I can fill out…perhaps a petition I can sign? I’ll come fold your laundry for you Ms. Leighton if you’ll give that sexy, badass, accented hotness a book. That man made my palms all sweaty whenever he showed up on my Kindle. Phew…Gavin…delicious. I’m going to need more of Gavin…a whole lot more of Gavin, preferably a lot more of Gavin with a lot less clothes on. Yes, I’m objectifying a fictional character and I think Gavin would be okay with that. I’d be slutty for Gavin. You know he’s got some broke down baggage…and some scars…and probably a tattoo somewhere sexy. That’s the Scandalicious Trifecta baby. If Gavin had gotten a few more pages of screen time, I may have added his tall, dark alpha badass to my Fictional Freebie List. As for the other new character…read the story and say it with me…Holy Shit!! We can easily get at least two more books out of that little revelation. Bring it on sister.