ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 Stars

I so badly want to give this book a low star rating for making me have feelings, but the truth is that Bossed is one of Sloane Howell's best works. A contemporary romance at its core, Bossed features Sloane's famous witty dialogue, hilarious interactions, and heartfelt moments. Though the book is one that is already known as a "love-it or hate-it" kind of novel with Sloane's longtime fans, contemporary romance readers will not be disappointed in Sloane's newest release with Loveswept. The romance is forbidden, the female heroine is a bullheaded beauty, and the alpha-male shines with every reader's handsome looks and cocky attitude.

'"I wanted you.'
Gravel. His voice was gravel."

Ethan is the owner of an incredibly successful sport's agency with an incredible chip on his shoulder and a true lack of empathy. His past has defined how he's looked at the word and how he's treated others around him, at least until Jenny. Jenny's all about family and sports, she's spent the vast majority of her time caring for her ailing father, but a job opportunity that could change their finances can't be passed up, even if it comes from the jerk she spit word-venom at on the sidewalk. What starts as lust at one another's looks soon turns into complete desire, as each unveils the true character of one another. Their attraction, though immediate, is not one of insta-love and is built upon as they work together, meet on more personal levels, and as other angst-driven plots take place.

"He was getting close. Close enough to hurt me for sure, but I couldn't stop him if I tried."

Though I have minor complaints about both Ethan and Jenny's character development, I found myself forgetting those minor details as I was swept up in the story of lust, love, and baseball. While the majority of the story focuses on the romance, Sloane also included minor plots focused around family and friendship, specifically those of Jenny's father and best friend Kelsey, and the friendship Ethan shares with childhood friend, Matt. The secondary characters provided the layers that the main characters lacked, allowing the reader to fully understand the ins and outs of why both Ethan and Jenny are so closed off and why their connection isn't as easy a road as most contemporary romances have. The drama between these two is at times immature and highly insensitive when you consider their level of care for one another, but as far as romance novels go, there are definitely more novels out there with more nonsensical angst-driven plots. Then there's the smut, you know there had to be some! Sloane Howell can write the dirty with the best of them, these two are down and dirty, and while at times I felt they allowed it to be the priority of the connection, it also brought down the walls of each as they were vulnerable to one another in the barest of ways. The novel was equally as sexy as it was emotional, while also being sports and office-relationship driven.

"I'll be wherever you want me to be."

So, you're wondering about why I could possibly give a low rating after reading all that good, right? Sloane knows...and you'll know too if you read this book. I had tears rolling down my face by the end, I honestly considered quitting the book at the part I considered the best, but I continued because Bossed really is that good, from beginning to end. It isn't Sloane's normal fare, but it does incorporate his well-known and well-liked style of blunt humor, character banter, and the smut readers only dream about. I was highly impressed with the plot and I liked that Sloane gave us a driven, smart female heroine, even if she was a bit crazy when it came to Ethan. I can't wait to see what else Sloane has for readers who are fans of contemporary romance. ( )

Bossed by Sloane Howell
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 4½/5 stars
My Review:

When you’re up to your ass in problems, the universe has a way of just keeping the party going. Jenny’s life is sort of a mess with her father’s terminal illness, medical bills piling up, and a need for a job that earns her more than minimum wage. Which is precisely how she has found herself running in heels, late for an interview . . . . . and crashing into the biggest dick she has ever met, ever.

With the incident behind her, Jenny rushes right on into her interview with the biggest dick she has ever met, ever. Yeah, it’s him and if he weren’t so pretty to look at and she weren’t in desperate need of the damn job, she’d tell him where to stick his attitude. Jenny is willing to suck up her pride right up to the moment, the dick gets a baseball statistic wrong. Some things Jenny just can’t let slide and since there’s no way in hell she’s going to get the job, it is time to put the dick in his place!

Come Monday . . . . . .

The moment the ever so conservatively dressed, Jenny corrected his baseball statistics, Ethan knew he had to have her . . . . for the office, of course. Ethan’s life is his business, and he puts up with nothing less than perfection out of his employees. He will rant, yell, demean, embarrass, and any other damn thing he has to do to ensure his business is successful. On the surface, Ethan is a heartless bastard and that is exactly the way he intends to keep things. As long as his employees fear him, they’ll continue to produce quality work and Ethan will continue to be a top sports agent. Trouble is, Jenny just won’t allow for such behavior.

Yeah, Jenny’s got some backbone in her and when Ethan crosses the line with one of the other employees, Jenny stands up to him in front of everyone and damn, if that doesn’t make Ethan want her even more. Trouble is, Ethan has a strict policy against dating employees and Jenny is beyond skittish. Jenny likes Ethan, but spending any time away from her dad feels selfish and wrong. Jenny, however, finds Ethan hard to resist and if they keep things casual, everything should be just fine. Right??

Yeah, right . . . . as if that ever happens in a good book! Things between Ethan and Jenny get super-serious, quick, and both find it hard to reconcile their “real” lives with the love bubble they find themselves in. Out of the office, Ethan is far more relaxed, more forthcoming, and the dirtiest damn talker Jenny has ever encountered. He’s exciting and sexy, fun and intelligent, and serious forever material. Unfortunately, all that is ruined, the moment her dad takes a turn for the worse. Jenny’s guilt over the time she’s spent with Ethan consumes her, and without Jenny, Ethan is a shell of himself. Jenny makes everything in Ethan’s life better and no matter what he has to do, he will convince her they are good together.

The Bottom Line: Bossed took me completely by surprise!! From the first encounter between Ethan and Jenny to the very last page, I was hooked on these two. Yeah, Ethan is a grade A dick, but he has some pretty serious reasons for his behavior. Jenny softens Ethan and helps him see he can be a decent human being and an incredible sports agent. Ethan helps Jenny past her sadness and her guilt, he helps her see the light at the end of the tunnel beyond her father’s passing, to understand just how much he would have wanted her to be happy. Both Jenny and Ethan are strong people, stubborn people, and that makes them just about perfect for one another. In all, I completely enjoyed this read; the plot is solid, the fights are epic, the drama made me cry, and the dirty talking naughty bits are steamy good. Everything a girl needs in her reads 😊 ( )

I'm not to sure about this one. It started off ok. Jenny's first meeting with her soon to be boss doesn't go very well, thing is, she has no clue who he is, and when she does she's mortified. And then I felt the story went down hill a bit. He turned from being an arrogant, take no s*@t from any one, hard-line boss, to letting an employee of one day speak to him anyway she pleased, yeah! she was pretty, but come on....
A nice plot line, but I have to say this wasn't a very well balanced book. ( )

I like the snark of Jenny and her family, I like Ethan's wit. Together, they are on fire, when they aren't acting like immature teenagers.
The plot leaves a bit to be desired with the immature nonsense. Communication people! It became a bit much with the silent treatment on a loop for things that would have easily been rectified with a few sentences to each other. It was unnecessary and unbelievable angst in order to cause drama in the plot, but I simply got annoyed and bored with it. I put this one down.
*I received an arc from NetGalley for an honest review ( )