someone recommended this book to Me along with a hand full of others so so sweet and kinky my kind of book

Alayna and Hudson are exploring their relationship which is full of deceit on Alayna's side. She's hiding secrets after starting a job to work with the man who filed a restraining order against her, she's befriending Celia which Hudson asked her not to, and she's still attracted to her co-worker at different times. Hudson is not able to live without Alayna but also dominates her in what she can and can't do and every time they have a fight they have sex to make up without really dealing with anything. Everything comes to a shattering tear up at Sophia's birthday dinner. Still a lot of drama and Alayna thinks it's OK not to take responsibility for previous actions because she was "sick". I'm continuing with the story in hopes there will be information from the Dirty Filthy characters. ( )

3.5 stars ( )

This picks up perfectly where Alayna and Hudson leave off in book 1. Their journey together in this book is emotional and much like a roller coaster ride. But, it has many extremely touching moments. Hudson and Alayna have so much to work on as individuals and they do it together. ( )

Wow, this was a total cluster. I absolutely hate it when protags lie or conceal things that they know full and damn well their SO isn't going to like.

Do people do this in real life? I mean I guess they do, but the stress that Laynie was constantly feeling about keeping things from Hudson was enough that I just didn't buy that she wouldn't have said something earlier. Whether it was about working with her ex, seeing her other more problematic ex, or talking with his ex on the sly. Lot's of 'ex's' going on.

For the most part though, I went with it and the story, while melodramatic, held my attention. One thing that keeps bothering me though is Hudson. I can't get a read on that guy, and he's the hero! He never gives any real reason for liking Laynie, we just accept that he does. He makes all these sweeping romantic gestures, but again, the underlying reasons for it just aren't shown. Like house with no foundation.

If I was Laynie, I would be nervous about this relationship too.

Having said all that, there is definite progress on Laynie's end as far as her psychological issues. Paige does a great job showing you the baby steps she is taking to move forward and try to make a healthy relationship work. She's not perfect, she doesn't really know what to do most of the time, second guessing herself and wondering if she's doing or not doing something that is obsessive or not. But she does make progress and it's gratifying to read because it's quite hard won.

Hudson, who also has issues, seems to have gotten over them way before the events of the books. Even when there is slight evidence that he may be manipulating, it can generally be explained in a much more benign way and Laynie is just unnecessarily freaking out because of her issues. So yeah, even though we are TOLD he still has issues he's working on, we never see them or really hear him talk about them.

Still going to read the next book though since I have it. Kind of looking forward to whatever crazy shenanigans are going to happen next. ( )