Reviewed by Louisa

TITLE: Scoring the Boss 

AUTHOR: Ali Atwood

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 163 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  June 16, 2017

BLURB:

This is a standalone novel, with no cliffhangers and a HEA ending.

Cody Madrid wasn’t born into privilege. He grew up in a crime-infested trailer park and suffered a childhood from hell. The gritty start to life didn’t break him. It fired his determination to make something of himself. With discipline, hard work and some unexpected luck, he founded Starwest Industries and built it into a multimillion-dollar empire.

Ben Jackson grew up in a loving family, enjoyed a picture-perfect childhood and aspires to become a fine artist. He’s vacationing in Greece when he literally falls at Cody’s feet. Their meeting is electric, but forestalled when Ben receives tragic news from home. As a result, he puts his artistic ambitions on hold, and looks for a full-time job to help support his family.

When Ben is hired by Starwest Industries, he has no idea that Cody Madrid owns the company. Their professional relationship means Ben has to work closely with the most compelling man he’s ever met without falling in love with him. Though Cody is still closeted, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the blond, blue-eyed Ben. But Cody has issues to work on, and someone has a hold on Ben. He’s been trapped into living a lie that could ruin any chance of a future with Cody.

REVIEW:

Scoring the Boss by Ali Atwood is a very cute story. Ben Jackson and Cody Madrid have a brief and accidental meeting that is tragically cut short. Ben needs a job to support his family after the tragedy that made him return home early. He is lucky that with all of his art subjects at college he also did some business classes. Starting at Starwest Industries in the advertising department is an interesting and much needed opportunity. Discovering that Cody works for the same company leads to a hot night and then a rather rocky relationship. On top of this Ben has secrets he doesn’t want Cody to know about.

While Scoring the boss is a cute, fun and low angst, it had moments where it was a little tedious to read. Lots of extra details about activities that slowed the pace down. It felt like there was a fair amount of telling and not showing. And Ben being a corporate spy was all a bit predictable. Not big surprises await.

I enjoyed Cody and Ben together. Cody was an interesting character, you can feel why he is secretive and protective of himself. His relationship with Janet, his friend and business associate is really good. Especially when Janet’s relationship with Ben is different but just as good. She is a good example of a supervisor who can also be understanding and a friend.

For a short book, Scoring the Boss was a nice read. I enjoyed the easy relaxing nature of the story. If you are looking for a nice story, this might be the book for you.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

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