Review: Selling Scarlett – Ella James

Elizabeth DeVille doesn’t belong at a party like this—one where the gowns cost more than her Camry and cigars run higher than her grad school utility bills. Dragged out of seclusion by her best friend Suri, Elizabeth is merely playing dress-up, rubbing elbows with a crowd that banished her troubled family years ago.

Hunter West is tired. Tired of parties, tired of pretending, and tired of trying to right a wrong that haunts him every day. Bourbon heir and professional poker player by day, by night Hunter is gambling with his life in a high-stakes game of crime and blackmail.

When Elizabeth stumbles into Hunter’s den of vices, she’s a light in the darkness, a flame in the void. And, just like everything he touches, Hunter mars her in a record time. To rectify the damage done, Elizabeth needs money she doesn’t have, and she’s come up with a foolproof way to get it.

Follow Elizabeth—code-named Scarlett—to the lush Nevada brothel where she’ll auction her virginity and risk the only thing that’s not for sale: her heart. The highest bidder is a familiar face, with wicked hands and the devil’s mouth. And a secret so dark that it could cost her life.

Series: Love Inc #1
Release Date: April 14, 2013
Publisher: Barkley’s Books
Source: Provided by Author
Reviewer: Shannon
Rating:

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Reviewer’s Thoughts

When I read the blurb for this one, I thought it sounded like a great premise.  We had a girl was an heiress, but had no money, doing whatever she could to ensure her best friend had the best healthcare money could buy.  That her high school aged crush was the man that paid the ultimate price for her was even better.  But as I started reading the story, I found myself lost in the story and losing focus on Elizabeth  and Hunter, because of everything else that was going on.  For me, they were truly the bright spot and I needed more of them and less of everyone else.

There was something about Lizzy/Libby/Elizabeth (she was called all of these) and Hunter that managed to keep me with the story, even when everything else was turning me away.  I liked how she would do anything for her friends, even sell her virginity to the highest bidder, if she knew the outcome would benefit them.  In this case, it was ensure her best friend Cross had the medial care he desperately needed after his motorcycle accident.  That same loyalty was extended to Hunter, even though he really didn’t deserve it (most of the time).  No matter what he said or did, she managed to find a way to look past the deed to the man she thinks he is deep down.  I’m not sure how she was able to do that, but she did and in the end it was one of the reason I really like the two of them together.  She gave Hunter the knowledge that someone believed in him…not his money, his fame or what he could do for them.

Hunter was a character that really had me thinking about whether I liked him or not.  His circumstances were a product of his lifestyle, in a way, and probably something he deserved to be in.  But in the end, I liked him because I realized everything he did was because of the relationship he had with his step-mother, Rita.  He father did nothing to acknowledge that Rita’s treatment of Hunter was out of line, but rather punished Hunter for it and held it over his head.  So it’s no wonder he turned to alcohol, drugs and sex to numb everything that rattled around in his head.  But his Libby had him making strides towards being a better man and in the end, I really wanted Hunter to be the man who won the girl.

The storyline with the human trafficking was just a big distraction for me and took away from the storyline.  I understand if it was a storyline that just touched Hunter and that’s why it was there, but the number of people connected to it and why they were involved just kept getting more convoluted and got the point that I just didn’t care who was involved and wanted it to go away.  Plus, it seemed that the one very small side character (small only because we didn’t have a lot of interaction with him but he sure was prevalent in the story) that should have gotten so very bad press out of this whole storyline got off scott free.

I powered through this one, but that was because of Elizabeth and Hunter.  They should have been a disaster of a couple, but in the end they worked and that’s what kept me reading through to the end.