Review: Beneath This Man (This Man #2) by Jodi Ellen Malpas

beneath this man
Beneath This Man (This Man #2) by Jodi Ellen Malpas


synopsis
She knew she was heading towards disaster. Every instinct told her to run, but Jesse Ward was a hard man to escape.

It has been five days’ since Ava O’Shea left Jesse drunk and raging at Lusso – left behind a man who drowned her in his intensity and blindsided her with his touch. Getting over this man was never going to be easy. And now he’s back in her life.

She has questions she needs answering, but her determination to get these answers will give the pleasure-seeking playboy the power to destroy her again. She needs to keep her eyes wide open and caution at the forefront of her mind, an ambitious intention when Jesse Ward is within touching distance. And he plans to be.

He’s dark, he’s broken – Ava knows this, but the only way to find out how dark and how broken is to get beneath the steely exterior of this man.

(Recommended for 18+ due to mature themes and sexual content.)

 
my-review
4 out of 5 stars

Beneath This Man is book 2 in the This Man trilogy and and it starts up right where book 1 left off.

This book was very intense and it had me slightly on edge when I was reading it. Because of Jesse and Ava’s personalities, it’s like a train wreck you can’t look away from because it’s so fantastic even though it is so intense. Excellent story!

I was immediately pulled right back in and I think I held my breath through the first three chapters. I thought it was very emotional because there is so much for Jesse and Ava to work out. I was totally invested from the beginning.

I thought their characters grew some and they were opening up to each other a bit more. I was happy to see Ava finally speaking her mind more and enjoyed the scenes where she’d wind Jesse up slightly. I felt Jesse grew more in this book but he also seemed a lot more alpha-male than in the first book. All the questions I had from book one were answered (and then some!) and lots of new ones were introduced. There’s a book three so I'm hoping those lingering questions will get answered as well (especially the one I have from right at the end). 

I loved that we got more interaction with the other people in this book especially John. He seems like quite the character and I was happy to have more of him and his personality shared. The were more interactions with Sarah also - a character that I did not like at at all in either book. I'm glad that got somewhat sorted out for the most part… I just wanted to strangle her! I want more of Sam and Kate and I really hope their story develops in book three. 

Ava and Jesse are both challenging but seem to be the perfect match in their odd, dysfunctional yet loving ways. There were a few things I didn't see coming and I love that there were unexpected moments like that. There was a scene around the 78% mark that I *LOVED!* So very Jesse! There was another at The Manor towards the end that caught me off guard (it was beyond intense!) but it definitely fit well with the story. 

Totally intense and intriguing story. And yes, there was some seriously scorching sex scenes! I can't wait to see what happens next for Jesse and Ava in This Man Confessed.


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