Filthy Rich by Dawn Ryder

Celeste Connor has been seriously victimized by her ex husband, Caspian, who is currently in prison for abusing her.  Celeste is in Alaska for her best friend Sabra's wedding to Tarak.  The best man is Nartan Lupan.  There is an immediate attraction between Celeste and Nartan, but Celeste has been so abused by her ex that she can't let Nartan past her emotional set of baggage.  (Heck, Celeste has the full set of Amelia Earhart luggage including train case!)  Nartan wants her bad and will do whatever it takes to get her.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  That being said, I could not complete this book.   By far, this isn't the first book from the "erotica" genre that I have read.  I will admit that I have quite a collection on my e-reader.   The norm is that the female lead character has some sort of conflict that needs to be resolved, be it a nasty ex husband or weird stalker.  Normally is hanging in the background of the plot, resolved toward the end, then the HEA.  However, I have not read a book where the heroine's abusive background (and crazy ex) consumed the ENTIRE plot from beginning to end.  Celeste was so messed up,and rightfully so, that she can't move beyond what she suffered in the past (even though she is in therapy and is now a black belt) and enjoy the hot male lead character.  This made the novel really difficult to read.

I had a hard time getting started with the book from the beginning.  The author's website even has this listed in her "single titles" section.  NO WAY.  The book "Out of Bounds" is about Sabra and Tarak, the couple that Celeste is in Alaska to attend their wedding. The first part of the book is so wound in the wedding and the details of it that I felt like I needed to read "Out of Bounds" first and this is not a "single title".

I kept  hoping that Celeste would loosen up and realize that Nartan isn't her ex husband and move on, yet all she kept talking about was how damaged she was.  That made it very hard to get into the novel and even enjoy it.

I did like that the male characters were Apache and the second half of the wedding was an Apache ceremony.  I adored Nartan.  He was the perfect dominant hero for what could have been the perfect book.

As said before, I received this novel as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.