Axe and Grind
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
In this decadently dark romance, a virtual dating experiment spins into a deadly web of obsession, greed, love, and passion.
Josie Greene has always been a glass half-full kind of girl. But after a messy breakup, she’s broke, betrayed, and barely getting by. Even her trusted tarot cards point to chaos in her future. And they’re right: Axe MacKenzie needs her help.
As part of the tech CEO’s latest covert mission, Axe has been developing a simulator to create any user’s “Perfect Match,” and bubbly Josie is the ideal woman to test his product. When the gorgeous, reclusive billionaire makes her an offer—fake date him so he can launch his groundbreaking AI dating app—Josie’s in no position to refuse.
But Axe’s two worlds collide as the criminal underworld corrupts their experimental fling. What started as steamy role-play quickly spirals into a very real threat, leaving both Josie and Axe no choice but to uncover their well-buried pasts. With her life on the line, Josie will have to trust the man who has created the ultimate virtual illusion—and who might be hiding the most sinister truths of all…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The trite sequel to Hutton's Strike and Burn turns the focus onto Axe MacKenzie, "a smokin'-hot multimillionaire tech wunderkind with an ego the size of his bank account," and Josie Greene, a chronically ill shop worker whose characterization leans into the "not like other girls" trope. Axe hires Josie to serve as the basis for She's the One, the disturbing artificial companion he's designing. For Josie, this entails fake-dating Axe so he can gather data, even as the demons from their respective pasts creep closer. Josie takes the job for the stellar health benefits and the promise of independence from her overbearing mother; meanwhile, vigilante Axe hopes to use the project to catch suspected sex trafficker Niles von Grafenhagen. Josie and Axe grow closer through their dates, but Niles's interest is also piqued: he becomes obsessed with both She's the One and with Josie herself when he realizes she's the inspiration for the AI, putting her in grave danger. Though Axe's insistence on using Josie as the model for his "perfect woman" is supposed to be romantic, it comes across as creepy and violating, especially as Josie's valid concerns are repeatedly dismissed. Weak characterization does little to make up for the unsettling premise: both Axe and Josie read more as amalgams of tropes than genuine people. All but the most diehard series fans will be disappointed.
