Blogger Wife Chat Review: This Man – Jodi Ellen Malpas

Young interior designer Ava O’Shea has an appointment for a first consultation at The Manor with the owner, Mr Jesse Ward. She is expecting nothing more than an overweight, cravat wearing, well-to-do countryman, and on arrival, nothing would suggest otherwise. How wrong could she be? This Man is devastatingly handsome, charming and confident. He is also a conceited, hedonistic playboy, who knows no boundaries. Ava desperately does not want to be attracted to him, but she can’t control the overwhelming effect he has on her. Every instinct is telling her to run, so she does, but Jesse Ward is not so willing to let her go. He wants her and is determined to have her. She knows she is heading for heartbreak, but how can she run when he won’t let her?

What did you think about the first meeting between Ava and Jesse?

The sexual tension and chemistry was palpable, wasn’t it? Wowza! It was there from the very beginning and never seemed to wane. That Ava was dumbstruck when she walked into Jesse’s office almost had me giggling. But I also felt for her because she’d never experienced anything like it before and she certainly didn’t know what to do with those feelings. 

I actually really enjoyed the sexual tension that was totally there from the get-go. It was a bit mysterious, and it was so strong I could feel it very strongly myself!

What about how he kind of tricked her when she went back to The Manor?

That was a bit underhanded but honestly I wasn’t surprised. He’d told her he’d trample anyone or anything that tried to stand in between them. Yes, he was extremely controlling – and at times scary – but the more Ava was around him, the more I understood him. I think, as a reader looking from the outside, I could see all the things she was missing.

He was playing it cool, in my opinion, however, not for long. And while I understand chemistry and attraction, I just couldn’t understand Ava. I would have taken a vacation and left London behind for a while, I think. Jesse was way too controlling and a bit scary in my opinion.

WTF is up with Jesse ‘making friends’ with Ava all the time? I find him to be a bit creepy, to be honest…

The terminology he used – ‘making friends’, ‘reminder fuck’, ‘sense fuck’ – bothered me but I tried to read between his lines and just go with it. He did use their chemistry to his advantage quite often, and Ava knew what he was doing but seemed incapable of stopping him…because she really didn’t want to, in my opinion.

He used sex and their attraction to manipulate Ava from the beginning, I think. And he didn’t really care about what she truly wanted. He never answered her questions, and then he was ‘making friends’ or having ‘sense sex’ with her. It was really weird.

What did you think of the ending?

That ending! Man! If I could crawl into my kindle and throttle him, I would have. I get his devastation but Ava was devastated too. I understood his keeping The Manor a secret – it would have been difficult to find a way to tell her about it AND he really was terrified of giving her a reason to leave him. *Did you have a bonus chapter at the end from Jesse’s POV? Reading it gave me more insight into him and I understood his actions all the more. I’m not saying I approve of them or that I would put up with them, mind you. I’m just saying that as I said before, I could see things about his words and actions that Ava couldn’t seem to and that chapter from his POV served to solidify my thinking.* I’m not sure he’s redeemable but I *WANT* him to be. So I’ll be reading the next book. Will you read it with me?

The way Jesse acted towards the end made me really mad at him! He steamrolled his way into Ava’s life, and when the consequences of his secrecy happened, it was somehow her fault? Like, really? I’m not sure if he’s redeemable to me… But at the same time, I do kind of want to know what will happen next.

Oh, I think there was a bonus chapter – I didn’t read it *grins* I will now, though!

What did you think of Kate? How accepting she was of Jesse and his controlling ways?

I did find Kate interesting – she was accepting of Jesse and Sam, too, for that matter. But maybe she was seeing these things in Jesse that I saw and understood him better than Ava. Matt is a douche and obviously didn’t care a whit about Ava so I get Kate hating on him. Not only was he a cheat but I’m sure it was apparent to all but Ava that he didn’t care. So maybe Kate is just more intuitive? Look at me giving her the benefit of the doubt. *grins*

I didn’t get Kate at all! She was all upset about Ava’s ex, Matt. And she hated him – had no qualms about saying that, either. But with Jesse, she just let him take over everything. Why would she do that? I don’t think she’s a very good friend to Ava. 

So am I just more gullible or more forgiving or more naive than you, darling, seeing as I always want to believe that there’s good in people? I think I ended up liking This Man more than you did. I understand your frustration with Ava but at the same time, I understood her hesitancy and ‘wishy-washy’ behavior. She was attempting to protect her heart even if she’d handed it over the minute she and Jesse touched. And while I find Jesse’s behavior boorish and overbearing and would never put up with it in real life, I kind of understood where he was coming from. He’d finally found the thing to give his life meaning and he feared losing her. <–See? Always giving the benefit of the doubt because I *WANT* to believe he’s decent and redeemable. I’m actually looking forward to Beneath This Man.

See, yeah, I agree about wanting to find good in people. And I definitely want to continue reading! The writing was really good, and the story – even if I didn’t love it as much as you did – was rather addictive;) Jesse was afraid to lose her… then, when he really thought he did, he went ballistic – and he didn’t listen to her. EVER! Wanna buddy read Beneath This Man as well? I love chatting with you about the books we read 😉 

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

Subscribe to Blog via Email