A woman with something to prove. A man trying to save his company. A reality TV show a la Undercover Boss. A couple of supportive best friends. And a lot of office hijinks.
This is Maliciously Obedient.
It’s also what I’d consider maliciously misdirecting. So while the blurb on Amazon is technically correct, it is also massively misleading. It implies that this is a full and complete story; it isn’t. There is a massive cliffhanger and nothing gets resolved. It implies that it is M/F romance; it isn’t. This is actually a MMF romance. It’s not quite equal triad yet, but it sure as hell is heading that way.
Also can we talk about the cover right now? Look at that really weird ass spacing? They don’t even line up the first letters! I want to take whoever designed this cover and introduce them to cover art 101. You want the title to be easy to read and not so filled with text that the viewer’s eye doesn’t know where to go.
Frankly the cover gives me a headache.
So this story isn’t bad up to a point. I liked the characters, a lot. I liked how Lydia was focused and determined. I liked how she knew what she wanted and was willing to go after it. I liked Mike, when he wasn’t being “Matt” the asshole boss. I liked Jeremy. I liked him more than Mike TBH… but that may have something to do with my hatred of all people named Mike… it’s a thing. I have reasons that I don’t need to go into in a review.
I even liked the supporting cast. Lydia’s parents were great! Supportive even. Krysta was fun.
There’s some great research in this that doesn’t feel like infodump. The prose was nice.
So where did it go wrong?
Two big things.
The first… there was a lot of sitcom hijinks. Like the second-hand embarrassment kind where you watch the characters do things and you just want to scream at them to stop. A lot of people like this kind of thing. Sitcoms are popular. I’m not a sitcom fan. I want my comedy less a comedy of errors and more a comedy of the mind. This is a personal preference, but it did lessen my enjoyment.
The biggest thing, though, was the fact that this story didn’t actually end. It’s a cash grab. A loss leader to make you invested so you buy the other books. And I can’t support that. I’m fine with a happy for now that leads into the next book, but there needs to be an actual ending. And this book doesn’t have that.
The lead up wasn’t enough for me to pay to buy the next books.
For the right reader, this could be a great series. But not me. So because of the cliffhanger and because I’m not a sitcom fan. I really can only give this
Three Stars.
You can get the book for FREE at most major retailers.