Two Halves, One Brian

Book Stats:

• Book 2 of the Naughty or Nice series
• Format: ebook
• Length: 320 pages
• Chapters: 40
• Narrator POV: 1^st person; alternating between the 2 main characters, Sloane and Cole

Summary (With Spoilers)

This review DOES contain spoilers from the book. If you’d prefer a review without spoilers, please check out this post instead!

Sloane is a jewelry designer at Moth to the Flame, working for Jasmine, who doesn’t appreciate her designs, finding them too edgy. Sloane feels like working there is stifling her creativity and spark. She wants to launch her own line but is worried about failing. She decides to give it a go, quitting her job and relying on her little savings to get her started.

Cole is a reclusive billionaire who has his eye on Sloane. He’s been watching her for 3 months and knows everything about her and the jewelry she designs. He stages a “random” meeting at a bar he knows Sloane is going to, creates a situation in which they bump into each other, and introduces himself. There’s instant attraction and when he offers to buy her a drink, she says yes. She ends up leaving Cole when her friend, Chloe, shows up for their get-together.

Sloane receives an email from Asher Industries, stating their interest in her jewelry line. Along with the email, they provided paid travel accommodations to Switzerland, to meet with the CEO and show her jewelry ideas.

Obviously, Sloane is unsure about whether the offer is even real and whether she should go for it. But ultimately, she decides to accept. Upon arriving to Switzerland, she learns that Cole from the bar is the CEO.

Cole offers her a job opportunity to get her jewelry line started. Sloane would have all the financial backing and creative freedom she could want, but in return, she must live with Cole at his penthouse and complete the first round of products within 1 month, by New Year’s Eve. The deadline and living situation are non-negotiable. Sloane is wary, but Cole convinces her to accept the job. 

There’s a lot of tension between the two, both sexual and professional. They clash over deadlines and Sloane’s creative process, while also fighting to maintain their professional boundaries and push their attraction aside. 

There are a few kisses that lead up to more intimate situations and once they have sex, that’s all they seem to do. It felt like it was part of every chapter until they have their big-ish fight. 

Cole takes Sloane to a gala to debut some of her jewelry. There’s an interaction with some Russian mafia men on Julian’s behalf. Julian is Cole’s ex-business partner and current rival. This interaction causes Sloane to realize she’s in danger and that Cole had been using her initially to beat Julian and ruin him and his company. This is the big-ish fight, (“ish” because it was actually quite short-lived). 

Sloane stays with Chloe for a night, then goes back to Cole’s penthouse to finish the jewelry line as promised. Cole immediately tries to make things up to Sloane by buying her things she’s wanted: a Christmas tree, a puppy, etc. They made up immediately and were fine again. Cole is also a big softy at this point and no longer the dominating alpha male. 

Sloane gets kidnapped by Julian and two of his Russian buddies. The kidnapping, like the couples’ fight, is very short lived. Cole and his head of security, Knox, rescue her quickly. Then Julian, who tried to steal Sloane’s designs, is found with enough evidence of wrongdoing to be put away. 

Review:

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Let me start by saying that 3 stars is a good rating, in my opinion. It means the book was decent. The things I enjoyed balanced with the things I didn’t, so it’s not a favorite read of mine, but a perfectly good book. Just because I rated this 3 stars doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a read. It was still good. 😊

I was immediately roped into the story. I had previously read He Sees You When You’re Sleeping, book 1 of the series, and it was fun to have Chloe from that book be part of this one. I like interconnected stories. 

The tension between the two main characters was well done. I could feel it from the first moment they met, until the end of the book. I really enjoyed the characters and the interactions between Sloane and Cole in the first half of the book. I did feel like halfway through, the plot gave way to the smut, and Cole became a big softy rather than continuing with his alpha male, dominant persona. It feels like he did a complete 180 and that was a little jarring.

Some things were also repetitive. I feel like within the first few chapters, the sentence “according to your specifications” was used so many times, rather than providing details of said “specifications”. I realize this was used to keep from spoiling whatever Cole had planned for Sloane, but I feel like there were other ways to reword the same sentence to make it feel less repetitive.

In my opinion, the situation with Sloane at the end of the book felt extremely rushed. She was kidnapped for 5 hours before being saved, but only because Knox convinced Cole to be patient. Thanks to his security cameras, he knew almost immediately that Sloane had been taken and by who. So she was suddenly thrown into a dangerous situation and them removed almost as suddenly. There was very little for me as a reader to take from the situation, except that it was likely meant to add some thrill and suspense to the story line. For me, it actually felt extremely anti-climactic.

Not only did the “big” ending happen so quickly, but then Julian just happened to be found with incriminating evidence, so everything was just over and wrapped up with a nice little bow. I typically enjoy my stories to have more tension and details regarding situations that are meant to be impactful.

I gave this story 3 chili peppers, as there were several kissing scenes, followed by more than 3 sex scenes, including some detailed descriptions.

My favorite things about He Knows When You’re Awake:

• I was immediately roped into the story. I like that it included some characters from the first story, despite focusing on a different couple. 
• The tension between the two main characters was well done. I could feel it from the first moment they met, until the end of the book. I really enjoyed the characters and the interactions between Sloane and Cole in the first half of the book.

My least favorite things about He Knows When You’re Awake:

• When Sloane learned that Cole was the CEO, she immediately jumps to “It wasn’t an accident at the bar, was it?” and “You’ve been watching me. Following me. For how long?” That felt like quite a jump, with no lead up or logic behind it.
• In the second half of the book, the interactions between Cole and Sloane weren’t as enjoyable. It felt like the plot gave way to the smut, and Cole became a big softy rather than continuing with his alpha male, dominant persona. It felt like he did a complete 180.
• Some things were also repetitive, as stated in the review above. One example is the use of “according to your specifications” having been used numerous times in the first few chapters.
• The situation with Sloane and the entire ending of the story felt extremely rushed