Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security Book 1)

MY RATING SYSTEM5 stars--WOW4 stars--would read again3 stars--was good, won't read again2 stars--read it, but didn't enjoy it1 star--didn't finish, it was so awfulDo I need to read books before this one: noCliffhanger: noSUMMARYAmber aces her thesis first chapter draft, comes home to celebrate. Instead finds her best friend of 20 years having sex with her boyfriend. She packs a few things, gets stranded in the rain. The grandfatherly doorman from the swanky hotel across the way invites her to the lobby, gets her a hot drink. She calls her brother for a ride. Patrick (Hawk) finally arrives at the same time as his best friend since kindergarten and her lifelong crush, Kit (Chaos). Pat tells Kit what happened to Amber, they decide she's now staying in Kit's spare room in the penthouse. They escort her up after Kit gets her a key.Kit has always thought Amber hates him. "When she wasn’t obviously disapproving of me and Hawk, she’d always managed to intimidate me with how smart and confident she was. But she was still my best mate’s little sister. Offering up my place had been second-nature." He doesn't know how to deal with her apathy, though.EVALUATIONFor me, the best part of this story was the guys's team dynamics. These guys are jokesters, protective, focused--whether on teasing or business.The romance was a typical sibling's best friend trope. It was well done. The fun part is when Hawk finds out.RECOMMENDATIONAdults who can handle the differences with Australian usage, spelling, and punctuation.FAVORITE QUOTESRollie, “Why is Amber being told to help herself to Chaos’ bathroom?” Chaos, “She's staying with me. Now can we get back to the Fortescues?” “No,” Nico said simply from behind his computer. “She came home to find Dannie [having sex with] her boyfriend,” Hawk explained and the other three gasped like we were fifteen year old girls gossiping crushes. “So she packed up a suitcase and left. We bumped into Chaos in the lobby and he very kindly offered up one of his many spare rooms.” Rollie, “Wait. I thought you hated Amber?” “I never hated her. We just never–” Hawk, “Speak. Acknowledge each other. Get along.” “The Fortescues?” I tried. “No,” Nico said again. [They discuss lifestyle changes, etc.] “Fortescues?” I asked again. “Go on, then,” Nico said and that was our cue to move on.[Amber's aced her thesis first chapter, Hawk asks for an evening off to celebrate] “We should all celebrate with her,” Tank said evenly and we all looked at him. “Come on, we all know Farrah’s going to side with Dannie.” And we were back to teenage gossip.Older brother’s mates were off-limits. It was like an unspoken rule. Unless you were in a trashy romance and then you could have whoever the hell you wanted.Nico, “She’s probably the coolest chick I’ve met.” Chaos, “You touch her and you’re dead.” Hawk’s mouth had been open to say something, his finger pointing at Nico. But at my words, he turned to me, still pointing at Nico, and blinked a couple of times. He finally shut his mouth, looked at Nico, back to me, another couple of blinks, then back at Nico. “Yeah.”I tried to think about what any of my romance novel heroines would have done in this situation.To make myself feel better, I was incredibly mature and grown up and reminded myself that Nico couldn’t have her either.“You believe whatever you want to. I know my truth and that is, quite frankly, all that matters. What the two of you think of me is no longer my problem.”“I can make my own decisions and it’s my birth right to either live happily with or regret those decisions later, not yours. If you hadn’t wanted to kiss me, fine. But don’t go assuming you know what I want or what’s best when I’m literally telling you what I want.”She looked at me like she thought I should know that, no, nothing was okay. Then she almost smiled as though everything was perfect. But then we were back to the wrinkled nose and biting lip of, no, nothing’s okay.POSSIBLE TRIGGERS (SPOILERS)Sex: 2 scenesLanguage: 91 F words, 19 Lord's name in vain, 32 S wordsViolence: 3 punches

Chaos and the Geek, by Elizabeth Stevens 4-10-20This book was a wonderful surprise. This is the first book I’ve read by Elizabeth Stevens, but I’ve always been a fan of stories with geeky characters. I was one of the weird ones growing up, and their stories often resonate with me. And since I ended up with a pretty hot guy (who’s still not bad after almost fifty years) I know these romances are definitely possible, but this one had an absolutely wonderful cast of characters and some of the best, snappiest dialogue I’ve read in a long time. I also liked the fact that Amber--the geek of the title--was not the least bit cowed by all the men of the Grace-Grayson security team. It was obvious that while she'd adored her older brother, she probably hadn't hesitated to give him some grief while growing up.She obviously hasn't lost her touch. Amber is smart, she’s working on her graduate degree, has an okay boyfriend and rooms with her best friend. At least until she gets home from an all-nighter studying and walks in on her best friend and Amber’s boyfriend doing the deed. Obviously, she needs a new roommate. Now. The boyfriend? He’s history.But first she has to get out of there and go...somewhere. Somewhere far away, but she ends up at a luxury hotel about a block away where she runs into her older brother’s business partner, a man Amber has been crushing on since she was Patrick’s baby sister, and Kit a much older teen. Kit, known as Chaos and her brother Patrick, aka Hawk, however, both think she absolutely hates Kit, which is why when he offers her a place to stay with him, her brother is all over the idea. Kit’s safe. He and Amber can’t stand each other, right?Watching these two figuring out how they really feel about one another while hiding it from Amber’s brother and the rest of the guys on their security team was absolute fun from the first page to the last. I don’t want to give any of it away, but I can guarantee a lot of smiles, some really deep, emotional moments, and a romance that is absolutely perfect.Kudos to Ms. Stevens for pulling off a top notch job on a story that has a lot of familiar tropes, but is fresh and lively and pure entertainment from start to finish. I really enjoyed this one, and absolutely love finding “new to me” authors!One note I might add--there were a lot of typos, but the reason I didn't drop any stars off my review is that the author's storytelling is so far superior to so many of the books that I read that I wasn't the least bit bothered by the errors. Certainly not enough to lower my rating.

This book had an intriguing story that made me curious and kept me readingAmber walked in on her best friend and her boyfriend having sex and she realised that she needed to get out of there fast. She packs a bag and runs, it’s raining out though so the kind doorman from one of the poshest hotels/apartment buildings offers her towels and a coffee so she can phone her brother to come get herTurns out however that her brothers best friend Kit (Chaos, army nickname) lives in the building and is meeting her brother. Kit invites Amber to stay in his huge apartment so she is safe and can study for her degree in peace whilst also being safeAmber always liked Kit but it made her awkward around him and he always believed that she hated him.I liked Kit as a character, and although I struggled with him at times, he then did something to redeem himself! It is clear that he wants to look after Amber and that came across really wellAmber on the other hand did annoy me a bit but I also did like her. She wears glasses and studies making people think of her as a geek (although she is also a gamer so maybe…)Kit and Ambers story had times where it made me smile and times I wanted to bury my head in my hands with a seriously why!!!I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a forbidden enemies to lovers romance with charming characters and a backstory that catch your attention

I do love an older brother’s friend romance so I loved this book!!This was a really good read and had just the right amount of chemistry between Amber and Kit. They didn’t pounce on each other straight away, they talked and got to know each other after years of not seeing each other.This is the first book I have read by Elizabeth Stevens and it is book one of a series of which will cover the story of some of the other characters. These characters have nicknames and back stories which are referenced but not really explained, which was a bit confusing for a while. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series!I received an advance copy in return for an honest review.

For Ms Stevens first book in the adult romance genre this was a very sweet, likeable book. Its main characters were very likeable and the story was sweet. I maybe would have liked a little more suspense in terms of maybe the best friend or ex boyfriend could have tried something that would have tied the security company in a bit more but that story has been written by many authors so I can see why she stayed away from it.Overall I would say this is definitely worth a read.

Amber had a thing for Kit since he became her brothers best friend. She hadn't seen him in years so the grown up version was even better. Kit didn't quite get Amber, he thought she hated him and she made him nervous even though he had never had any problems with women in the past. He offers her a place to stay when she finds her boyfriend with her best friend. They gradually learn to enjoy each others company with Kit trying hard to be good, after all Amber has grown up and he likes what he sees. Liked the way the story was written.

I felt some bits of dialogue needing rereading to fully understand the intention of what was being said. It felt as though Bert had gone from unbelievably shy around Kit to so much confidence too quickly....I found the main character having 3 names he is referred to unnecessary; Kit, Chaos and Christopher. It's not explained why she's called Bert but you guess its a childhood nickname, but again there is inconsistency of who refers to her as that. Enjoyed the different viewpoint chapters. Will read Book 2.