Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James
Reviewer: Wena
Main Leads: Jason Andrews, Taylor Donovan
Setting: United States, California, Los Angeles
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Tags: Hate to Love, He Fell First, Badass Female Lead
Published On: October 7, 2008
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Format: e-Book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 296
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
No woman could resist him—except the one he wanted most…
Cool, Calm, Collected…
Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan. In the courtroom she never lets the opposition see her sweat. In her personal life, she never lets any man rattle her—not even her cheating ex-fiancé. So when she’s assigned to coach People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for his role in his next big legal thriller, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob’s charms. Even if he is the Jason Andrews.
Confident, Famous, Irresistible…
Jason Andrews is used to having women fall at his feet. When Taylor Donovan gives him the cold shoulder, he’s thrown for a loop. She’s unlike any other woman he’s ever met: uninterested in the limelight, seemingly immune to his advances, and shockingly capable of saying no to him. She’s the perfect challenge. And the more she rejects him, the more he begins to realize she may just be his perfect match.
It’s been such a long time since I’ve read this book and I’m super happy to report that it stood the test of time. I still love this book as much as I did the first time that I read it. I really miss reading books by Julie James and now that my daughter is reading, I’m having a blast introducing her to some of my favorite authors and books. This is one of the first books that she actually agreed to read with me and I’m thrilled that she loved reading this book as well.
Reading this book after so many years reminded me how much I used to love reading. This book in particular reminded me how much I used to love blogging about books because blogging introduced me to Julie James, who I’ve come to admire because she writes my kind of stories. Smart stories with steamy romances and characters that I adore to pieces. The only thing missing from this story is the steamy scenes but I can’t even be bothered to be mad about that because the story was still engaging, the characters were still charming as hell, and the book itself is still a memorable romance that stayed with me long after I finished. Bren finished the book before I did and I was glad to hear that she enjoyed it so it sped my reading.
So Taylor Donovan is a lawyer working a big case in the Los Angeles office of her law firm when she’s assigned the task of showing Jason Andrews, an A-List actor the ropes of being a lawyer…or in his case, playing the role of being an attorney. Jason’s new film has him playing an attorney and he’s determined to nail the role by doing what he does best, learning all there is to learn, first hand, about being a lawyer and bringing his character to life. On top of showing Jason the ropes, she’s going to be consulting on the film’s script to make sure that the writing makes sense from an actual lawyer. As busy as she is, she’s not given a choice in the matter so she squeezes these appointments into her work day and would have been professional about it all, had Jason not stood her up and wasted her time. Now, the very last thing she wants to do is help him.
Jason Andrews is a busy man. He works hard and he plays hard as well. Everyone loves him so when he meets Taylor Donovan, he’s surprised that she doesn’t fall at his feet, wanting to help him. Sure, he can get help from anyone but there’s something about Taylor Donovan that pulls at him and his curiosity makes him determined that he work with her and only her. If anything, things will definitely be interesting and he witnessed first hand just how good she is in the courtroom so his gut is telling him that it’s gotta be her…so he’s got to be on his best behavior because for the first time in a long time, he’s met someone that isn’t thrilled to be in his presence.
There’s a lot going on in this book and the writing style drew me in so I was invested from the jump. As much as I enjoyed the story the last time that I read it, enough time has past that I couldn’t remember a lot of the details so it kind of felt like I was reading this for the first time. I really enjoyed getting to know both Taylor and Jason again but it was also really good to see the side characters again. I didn’t think that the romance suffered without the typical steamy scenes we usually get from a romance so that was just another reason to like Julie James efforts in writing this story for Taylor and Jason. They were a fantastic couple and seeing them come together in love was a lot of fun so if you’re looking for a fun contemporary romance with a swoony hero and a kickass heroine, look no further cause this book delivers the goods. I definitely recommend!
Final Rating
