Review: Kiss the girl by Tara Sivec

Kiss the Girl
(Naughty Princess Club #3)
by Tara Sivec
Publisher: Swerve
Publication date: Sept. 4, 2018
Genre: Romance
Rating:

A struggling antiques collector finds herself falling in love with a millionaire playboy; but can she ever be a part of his world?

Meet the Naughty Princess Club, a series from USA Today bestselling author Tara Sivec that brings readers to Fairytale Lane and the hilarity—and romance—that three women fall into once they decide to strut their stuff and bring on their own happily ever after.

While her friends have broken free of their insecurities, Ariel Waters is struggling to come out of her shell. Her ex-husband took away her voice and her self-confidence, and Ariel is drowning under a sea of debt to afford the alimony she has to pay him. She refuses to ever fall for a man’s charms again, and is determined to make her own way.

When her house and her beloved antiques are taken by the bank after too many missed payments, Ariel finds herself adrift until the infuriatingly charming Eric Sailor comes to her rescue. Although she can’t stand the millionaire playboy, Eric’s kindness and unconditional support reveal hidden depths and a love that Ariel never imagined she could find.

But there are outside influences who will stop at nothing to keep them apart; can Ariel and Eric weather the storm and find a way to be together?

Finally! I’ve been waiting for this book since the moment Ariel popped onto the scene with her sassy attitude at the beginning of the series. She never failed to make me laugh at her craziness and I was really excited that her book was finally coming out. I had to know what her story was and boy was I not disappointed.

While I loved that we got Ariel’s smartass attitude, we also saw that she’s hiding a lot of deep-rooted issues. She’s extremely self-conscious and has been so horribly abused verbally that she wears her sarcasm as a form of armor. She spent years under the thumb of someone who belittled her with backhanded compliments at every turn, and it was really hard seeing her struggle with that years later. It really kind of put her character into perspective.

While you didn’t really see too much of Eric in the previous books and he always kind of seemed like a bit of a skeezeball, he really surprised me in this book. I’m not sure which hero from this series I enjoyed more. At first you think he’s just this flirty dude who is always hitting on Ariel, but as time goes on you realize that he’s so much more than that. Somehow he sees through this tough-girl facade she puts on and can tell that she’s got some stuff to work through. He integrates himself into her life and helps her work through her issues and helps keep her mind off of things when times get rough. He was a solid rock without being overbearing or in your face. His approach to Ariel and what was going on was extremely subtle to the point that it had to literally be pointed out to both Ariel and the readers for you to see what he was doing.

“Seeing you broken and hurting and sad is like having someone stick a fucking knife in my chest. I don’t like it. So, if pissing you off removed that look from your face like your entire world is imploding and there’s nothing you can do to stop it, good.”

The author did a phenomenal job taking some classic fairy tales and giving it her own spin. I have highly enjoyed reading about Cindy, Belle, and Ariel. The author was able to give a solid nod to the classic story and characters without overdoing it and making it feel cheesy. The fact that Ariel collects antiques and sells them. Or that she has a fish tank full of fish named Flounder (all of them). Or that her ex-husband’s name is Sebastian. Heck, even her father is the king of car sales, or as he likes to call himself, the C King. The way the author was able to keep the essence of the original stories while making it completely her own was ingenious. I enjoyed the entire series and the author even added an epilogue of all their happily ever afters at the end of this book. I seriously loved this series and am sad that the party is over.

Favorite quote…

“I’ve been to an all-male revue before. Once, years ago, for a bachelorette party. There is nothing enjoyable about that shit.” […] “The men are strangely oily. They thrust their pelvises in your face while they put their foot up on your chair. Things are flopping around right in front of your eyes that you can never unsee. It’s not hot. It’s horrifying.”

Previous reviews from the Naughty Princess Club
At the Stroke of Midnight
In Bed with the Beast