[Review] If I Were You, by: Lisa Renee Jones

Inside Out #1

IF I WERE YOU

by: Lisa Renee Jones
Publication Date: August 22nd, 2012
Read Date: July 6th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotica, Adult
Format: eBook [Netgalley]
Pages: 384

 

How it all started…

One day I was a high school teacher on summer break, leading a relatively uneventful but happy life. Or so I told myself. Later, I’d question that, as I would question pretty much everything I knew about me, my relationships, and my desires. It all began when my neighbor thrust a key to a storage unit at me. She’d bought it to make extra money after watching some storage auction show. Now she was on her way to the airport to elope with a man she barely knew, and she needed me to clear out the unit before the lease expired.

Soon, I was standing inside a small room that held the intimate details of another woman’s life, feeling uncomfortable, as if I was invading her privacy. Why had she let these items so neatly packed, possessions that she clearly cared about deeply, be lost at an auction? Driven to find out by some unnamed force, I began to dig, to discover this woman’s life, and yes, read her journals—-dark, erotic journals that I had no business reading. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I read on obsessively, living out fantasies through her words that I’d never dare experience on my own, compelled by the three men in her life, none of whom had names. I read onward until the last terrifying dark entry left me certain that something had happened to this woman. I had to find her and be sure she was okay.

Before long, I was taking her job for the summer at the art gallery, living her life, and she was nowhere to be found. I was becoming someone I didn’t know. I was becoming her.

The dark, passion it becomes…

Now, I am working at a prestigious gallery, where I have always dreamed of being, and I’ve been delivered to the doorstep of several men, all of which I envision as one I’ve read about in the journal. But there is one man that will call to me, that will awaken me in ways I never believed possible. That man is the ruggedly sexy artist, Chris Merit, who wants to paint me. He is rich and famous, and dark in ways I shouldn’t find intriguing, but I do. I so do. I don’t understand why his dark side appeals to me, but the attraction between us is rich with velvety promises of satisfaction. Chris is dark, and so are his desires, but I cannot turn away. He is damaged beneath his confident good looks and need for control, and in some way, I feel he needs me. I need him.

All I know for certain is that he knows me like I don’t even know me, and he says I know him. Still, I keep asking myself — do I know him? Did he know her, the journal writer, and where is she? And why doesn’t it seem to matter anymore? There is just him and me, and the burn for more.

my rating

Let’s go back years ago… I received this book Netgalley. Then I stored it on my device. I while later I opened the book and started it, read the first chapter, closed the book and never went back. Until today. I devoured this book because I opted to give this series a second chance. I have recently read some good books by this author, so I said that this series couldn’t be different.

I was very turned off by the fact of the journal, Rebecca, then Sara being someone different, and last, the “cock-fight” between Mark and Chris drove me nuts. I’m totally team Chris, people, but Sara drives me nuts when she doesn’t put Mark in his place. I hate that he has this control over her and I double hate the fact that he will still be someone in her life more into the series. I can feel a love triangle coming, smell it even, and I don’t like that one bit.

All that aside, the book is very suspicious. I don’t know who to trust or what to think. What the hell happened to Rebecca? Why does everyone in this industry (art) has so many secrets that are so dark? I am not talking about the erotica part of the book, I’m talking about secrets in their persona. Even Sara! What the hell happened in her life that makes her what she is now? I’m totally rooting for Chris, but I feel that at some point he is going to give up a little and Mark will fly in.

I cannot do anything else other than keep reading. I’m totally in for the challenge and to read these famous secrets. I’m hoping that Sara becomes a little more badass and kick some asses between these two. Chris, please don’t let me down. Peace out.