Ivy Owens - Scandalized

Ivy Owens - Scandalized 

2.5⭐

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  Piatkus Books  

Date Published: 1st January 2022

 

Book Blurb: 

Exhausted and on deadline with a story that could make or break her career, investigative journalist Georgia Ross is on the verge of a meltdown when a cancelled flight leaves her stuck in the airport overnight. But when a familiar face appears—the older brother of her childhood friend—and offers help, Gigi seems to have caught a break.

Alec Kim is handsome, humble, and kind—exactly the sort of man that Gigi has forgotten existed after her own painful heartbreaks. An evening of reconnection followed by a night of no-strings-attached passion with Alec feels like a gift—that is, until Gigi finally realizes that their childhood connection isn’t the only reason he seems so familiar to her.

Alec is determined to prove to Gigi that he is truly the man she thinks he is, even if it means coming clean about his fame—and his family’s connection to the story Gigi’s been working so hard to break. But as their feelings for each other grow deeper, Gigi and Alec must navigate a new reality…one where both of their hard-won careers are put directly in the path of an international scandal.

My Review: 

For some reason I expected this to be something similar to How To Fake It In Hollywood by Ava Wilder, yet it was a total disappointment. Apart from so many smutty scenes, there wasn’t much plot to it or character development. At times it also felt very shallow and so-called ‘romance’ didn’t really feel like a romance, just two people sleeping with each other, because they are sexually attracted to one another.

The book follows Gigi, who is an investigative journalist working on a controversial piece about some high-profile celebrities in London. She is on her way from London to Seattle airport when she bumps into her childhood friend's brother Alec. One cancelled flight later they end up in bed together, with no expectations and no strings attached. However, only after the steamy night, Gigi finds out that Alec is a world-famous actor and that he is somehow related to the story that she is writing.

This book wanted to be it all, a friend to lovers, best friends’ brother, celebrity romance, friends with benefits who fall in love, yet didn’t hit any of the marks. The premise of the book was quite interesting but the execution of it was not good.

Also, the writing wasn’t that great either. Most of the dialogue felt forced and the characters didn’t have any growth throughout the book. All of them were just so one-dimensional and without much personality, especially Alec. The plot development wasn’t there either, since most of the book was the main characters being in bed.

There were so many smutty scenes that at the end I was just bored by the repetitiveness of it all. There wasn’t much romance apart from the main characters having sex. Also, the instant ‘they are soulmates’ kind of romance just didn’t feel realistic.

Also, the third act of this book was just so rushed. The drama at the end of the book was quickly resolved in a few pages and glossed over pretty quickly too, which was really anticlimactic.

Overall: Couldn’t connect with the characters as they felt one dimensional, the romance just felt very shallow, there wasn’t much plot or storyline apart from loads of steamy scenes, and the ending was very anticlimactic. It’s sadly a no from me.

About the Author:

Ivy Owens is the pseudonym of Lauren Billings, one of the coauthors of longtime writing partners Christina Lauren.

Ivy Owens has been writing for fun her entire life.

Scandalized was a labor of love written in the wild paradox of boredom and inspiration during the pandemic.

She lives in California with her husband, two kids, and two dogs, and is rarely seen without a book in hand. 

https://www.instagram.com/helloivyowens/