ARC Review: Filthy Rich by Dawn Ryder

I will admit that I was first drawn to Filthy Rich because of the cover. I had never read anything by Dawn Ryder before, and I love a good Erotic Romance. That being said, I did have a few issues with this book that kept it from being one that I really loved. I went into this book believing that it was a standalone title, but soon found out that some of the characters were actually introduced in Out of Bounds. It wasn't said anywhere that you need to read that book first, but I honestly felt a bit lost at the beginning of Filthy Rich and finding out that there was a previous book explained why I was so confused. I probably wouldn't have read Filthy Rich as a standalone if I had known about Out of Bounds. I would definitely suggest starting there if you are interested in Filthy Rich.

After finally getting out from beneath her abusive ex's control, the last thing Celeste needs is to wind up with another controlling man. But while in Alaska for her best friend's wedding, she draws the attention of Nartan. Nartan is a filthy rich businessman and doesn't like to take no for an answer. So when he sets his sights on Celeste, he will do what it takes to make her his. But can Celeste let go of her past and give this dominant man a chance? And will Nartan want more from Celeste when he is used to keeping things casual with his women?

I found it hard to connect with these characters right away. Nartan came off really horribly at first if I am honest. He was arrogant and controlling, and he made a remark to Celeste that really pissed me off. He was such a cocky jerk to assume that because she didn't immediately fall at his feet that she was a lesbian, and then proceeded to say that he could turn her at least bi. That was enough to almost make me give up on this book, but I went ahead and kept reading because I was really hoping that there was more to Nartan than this first impression of him. Celeste wasn't a character that I felt invested in right away, and at first I wasn't even that sure that I liked her. But as the book continued, she finally started to grow on me a little. I still found her to be pretty hard to fully relate to, but I did start to understand her better. The problem I had with her for the most part was how she just never could seem to make up her mind or be honest with herself. While these two had chemistry and were hot together, I just wanted to see more of a connection between them rather than so much push and pull.

Another thing that was hard for me to get over was how slow this book started. For the first almost 25-30% not much happened. Celeste was wishy washy and went back and forth, and I just kept waiting for things to pick up. I know there has to be some set-up and that things can't always just start in with all the action, but I honestly felt like there wasn't much that was drawing my attention or holding my interest. I think that a lot of that is because of my issues with Celeste, and I wanted her to stop fighting things between her and Nartan. I will say that this being an erotic romance, I did enjoy the sex scenes. They were sexy and well written, and I thought that Dawn Ryder did a good job of showing the heat between Nartan and Celeste. It was really the rest of the story that I had my issues with though. While things did get better and finally picked up some, I still found myself struggling a bit with this story. I think part of it was the writing style of the author. Sometimes things were a bit too wordy or detailed, and I found myself getting sort of lost throughout. While I think that this book had some issues for me personally, I think that there are a lot of readers that this story will appeal to. If you are looking for an erotic romance with some suspense to it, you might give this one a shot. I still think I would recommend starting with Out of Bounds first, but isn't necessary.

**ARC Provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca**

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