Temptation (Hunted)

Let me begin my review by saying I’m not usually into the student/professor romance genre. I’ve only read one other, but happened to love it, so I figured I would give this a shot when Ivy emailed me with an offer to read her book. I cannot express how grateful I am to have been given the opportunity to read and review her book because I loved it. I could not put this book down and I went through some serious emotions throughout the entire story line. I will be honest I have very conflicting feelings about the two main characters. Let me start off with Penny. Penny is a 19 year old sophomore in college and starts off sweet, but works herself into an indecisive nut that I just want to shake and yell, “Smarten up!”(As previously mentioned, I went through a roller coaster of emotions). Penny is trying to get over a guy she was intimate with the previous semester, although he didn’t like to put titles on relationships, so they weren’t boyfriend/girlfriend. One day, while leaving a coffee shop she runs into a gorgeous stranger who turns out to be her communications professor. Professor Hunter is unlike Penny’s previous man in so many ways. He is a very assertive man and I will admit I love me a good Alpha and trust me Professor Hunter does not disappoint. He’s dominant, sexy, smart, and intense; all the things that make this girl swoon. To make a long story short they tried to separate but just couldn’t resist each other, and so begins the on again off again relationship. The sex scenes in the book are pretty damn steamy. There are enticing secrets which keep you hooked! I don’t want to give away the entire book, however, I can tell you it’s definitely worth the read! I just never wanted the book to end and when it did, with a cliff hanger I might add, it left me dying in anticipation. I just can’t wait to continue the rest of her series! The first book in this series was outstanding, I personally loved it. Purchase this book, you will not be dissatisfied! Oh and once again thank you Ivy for writing an awesome series and reaching out to me!

Temptation by Ivy Smoak is a well-written romance with interesting characters and a smooth, readable style, though it didn’t fully meet my expectations by the end. The story centres on Penny, a college student navigating her coursework alongside complicated romantic feelings. After meeting James and feeling an instant connection, she soon learns he is her professor, which shifts the dynamic entirely. At the same time, Penny is dealing with uncertainty surrounding Tyler, a classmate she likes but doesn’t fully understand after a misunderstanding. These overlapping relationships create tension, but the storyline begins to feel repetitive as the book progresses. Penny is not an unkind character, but her indecisiveness can be frustrating. Her choices often hurt people she cares about, and while this may be intentional character development tied to her age, it made her difficult to connect with at times. James fits the familiar romance archetype; confident, intense, and drawn to Penny but I found him emotionally distant, which made it harder to feel invested in their relationship. One of the strongest aspects of this book is the author’s writing. Scene transitions are seamless, the pacing is easy to follow, and the story flows well from beginning to end. However, the overall length and lack of resolution left me disappointed. The book ends on a cliffhanger without providing enough closure to feel satisfying on its own. I rated Temptation 3.75 out of 5. If you enjoy romance with strong chemistry, dramatic tension, and cliffhanger endings that lead into the next book, this may be a good fit. Readers looking for a more complete, self-contained story may want to keep that in mind before starting.

Let me start off by saying that I had heard about this series for a while now. I bought the series a few years ago because I seen a book recommendation on FB. I put off reading it because I am normally not into teacher student romances. My friend started reading these books and told me that had to give them a try. Now that I have I am very sorry that I waited. These books are 🔥🔥🔥. Professor Hunter has me in awe and swooning. With that said I will say that this is a book series. That normally implies that there is a cliffhanger that will continue with the following books. However I wanted to put that out there so that those who do not like cliffhangers will be warned. This series has 4 books but there is a spin off Series called Men of Manhattan. That can be read as standalone but are about some of the secondary characters in The Hunted series. Another spin off is Light of My Darkness series. I also wanted to put this out there so that you can find the whole story. Now that I have told you about all of that I will get on with my review.... College is resuming after summer break. Penny goes to a coffee shop in hopes of seeing a boy she likes and use to date before Summer break. The guy she liked never came into the coffeeshop goes to finally leave and handsome guy came in at the same time and she spilled coffee all over her shirt. The man felt back and gave her his sweater to wear to class. The next day she went to her Comm class and the handsome man was her professor. This book has a lot of 🔥🔥🔥 moments. I never really knew what these 2 were going to do next or what was going to happen to them next. I couldn't put the book down. I have found myself devoted in finding out how this story plays out. There are some characters that I want to smack, there are characters that I find funny, and there are characters that I loathe. This hit a lot of my emotions. However I am very happy that My friend told me that I should read these books. I never should have waited. If you like Alpha type men, a Book with a lot of emotions, a lot of 🔥🔥🔥 passion, and a good story. Then I recommend this book series.

I’m going to give this 3 stars because I think younger people will probably enjoy this. I was in the mood to read some kind of romantic/sexy book. I chose this b/c of the good reviews. I will get a little bit hypercritical here.. 1. The language is pretty plain and probably barely anything above a fifth grade reading level. That’s fine, but not a very challenging read. 2. The main female protagonist is a young virginal type (shocker), who’s never had a boyfriend. Her self-esteem and self-confidence is so low it drives me crazy. She’s absolutely pathetic and it’s really not believable that an attractive, rich man would actually be interested in someone who thinks so lowly of themselves. She’s constantly saying how invisible she’s always been and basically cringe-worthy how open she is to sharing her childish insecurities. I would’ve enjoyed it more if she had those insecurities but wasn’t regularly over sharing them. 3. I at first enjoyed that Ivy Smoak did not describe Penny’s looks in the first book. This way, the reader can picture whom ever they wanted. I used my imagination the entire first book for he physical features, only to discover in the second book that she is a redhead with freckles and she is pale (shocker again). How infuriating that it was divulged in the first book. I am still searching for a good, age-appropriate romantic book for a young adult audience who are not a teenagers, and a female main character who isn’t pale, dorky, with low self-esteem, virginal, etc. Isn’t anyone else tired of reading about a pasty, quiet female main characters? I’d like to read about someone a little more vivacious doing her own thing. Overall, the books content is explicit, but written as if a 12-year will read it.

I was hooked right away. I couldn’t stop reading it, it honestly only took me less than a day to read. Had me on my toes!

This was an interesting read . Penny is a college student, and takes a comm class when she's 19. Most take this class as a senior. On her way to class from an ex that stands her up, she's bumped into. And the extremely attractive guy lends her his sweater , because of the coffee stain he unwittingly made on her shirt. Once at her comm class, that extremely attractive guy is her PROFESSOR !!!!! This story was an awful lot of Penny being young and immature. And Professor being all caught up . Lots of sexy times in a college background. There is more to the story. I think I will check it out !!

I have my ups and downs with this book. It's an ok romance with a lot of steamy scenes and tons of sex, so if you are looking for a hot book, this is a good option. But in terms on the characters and the way the story move forward I find it a bit lacking. The book present the romantic story of Penny, a nerdy, bit shy college student with a little love live experience and a recently break up; and James Hunter, a wealthy, super hot, control freak professor. After a casual encounter on a coffee shop, in a kind of insta-love situation, Penny realize Professor Hunter is her Comm professor. They tried -not so much, really- to keep away from each other with no success and end up caught up in a hot, steamy, secretly, student-teacher romance. The good things first: James is the typical alpha male character: smoking hot, powerful, wealthy, with control issues and tons of mystery and secrecy. It's an stereotype because it works, and if you are into this kind of romance you are going to enjoy him. The narrative and writing style is good, easy to follow, and you can enjoy the reading from beginning to end. I also like tha the author marked the week days in each chapter, what help to follow the timeline of the story. Now, to the bad parts. Penny It's really infuriating, and not in the good way James implied in the story. I starting to really hate this weak female characters that doesn't know when they stand in life. She hurt a friend by leading him to believe she was interested, and all the fights she had with James were for her incapacity to actually have a mature conversation. I'm going to give her a chance to grow, taking into a count this is a long series, and understanding she is young and inexperience. But many of the angst and drama could be help it by a simple and honest conversation. The Professor Hunter thing is tiresome, I swear the 30% of the book is "Professor Hunter", literal. I even omitted sometimes while reading, because it was too much. Also, lately I'm not that into in that insta-love kind of romance, I enjoy more to see a couple grow into each other while the get to know each other, but that's a personal preference and I also enjoy good steamy-sex scene, so it's not that bat. Summarizing, I would rate it 3.5 if I could. It's a good hot, sexy, story... and if you are not looking for more than that is pretty good. Don't expect deep connections, conversations or big character transformations, this is basically a sexy romance, and it's fun in that sense.

I found this book on my facebook page and it was free so I took a chance. I wanted so bad to like the story. The idea was one that appealed to me. James is a college professor and his student is Penny. She has only been with one other man and he treated her like crap after getting what he wanted. James is gorgeous 27 year old mature adult. It's one of the things that attracts Penny. Her roommate, Melissa, tries to encourage her to get out more but because of Austin (ex) she thinks poorly of herself and being hurt again. The other character worth mentioning is Tyler. He is in her class with Professor Hunter. It's important I bring up the name professor Hunter as several pages in the book are riddled with it. It was one of the biggest problems I had with the delivery of this, "adult couple." This is a 19 almost 20 year old woman who falls for the teacher. You are pulled to sympathize with Penny. How she has been wronged by an immature man and Tyler who also came acrossed as only wanted one thing at first. So why even after the pair have been together several times is she still calling him as a student addressing a teacher instead of James? I guess it is meant to appear sexy and forbidden but for me it kept reminding me of how immature Penny sounded. The next thing that bothered me was apparently this girls wardrobe consisted of nothing but tank tops. Seriously it was like groundhogs day with Bill Murray all over again. Different day a different tank top. It was like the author had no imagination. I just want to sayagain the idea was wonderful it was in the delivery that made it crash. Another poorly thought out idea was that performs oral on her twice and it is the following day he asks if she has any STD's. I guess you only worry if it's your junk unprotected. This is also a man that later admits he has been with over 15 women from his college years wouldn't you think in order to keep himself clean he would go to greater lengths to protect himself. He had to notice her inexperience. Usually in books I tend to favor the h. I know that sounds sexist but I find that I am harder on my H in most books. It was not the case with this one. Penny was such an immature idiot. For all that she preached of wanting a man and not a boy she herself was adolescent. I could not see why a successful man almost 8 years older would choose such a weak and confused person. Burnt once in love that changed the course of his life it is so confusing what he is attracted to. She's into James, no wait she is going out with her ex Austin. She's pep talking to herself in the mirror so she doesn't jump back into bed with Austin. She's into James, no Tyler asks her out, James is a man, Tyler is sweet, James is mature, Tyler is gorgeous, she makes love to James in his house and things are great but wait while in the shower Penny finds something James has kept hidden. A shocker but a real adult would not jump to conclusion without hearing his side and refuse to talk to him for a week. She would not so freely be willing to jump in bed with Tyler, would she? One conversation two or three sentences are formed by James to explain what happened and her mood totally switches. If Melissa had not walked in she would have followed through with Tyler. At one point she is giving a speech about why she chose her major and flips out and runs from the room. James tracks her down to question what happened because he thought she was happy. Her reasoning and approach was so high school temper tantrum, not to mention how she hurts Tyler. Irresponsible and again made one question what was it James saw in her. The last thing I will mention is the secret she keeps that causes the separation at the end that causes the cliffhanger; because she finally chooses to be totally honest and this is what would push him away. Not all of her ridiculous behavior but when she finally tries to behave like an adult, that's irony for you. I hate to bring this up but I also felt like key points were ones I read in Fifty Shades. I'm not in anyway saying she stole them as they are different just reminiscent of ones I remember from that series. This is not BDSM though. I would like to say that I did laugh when Penny hid under the desk at lunch time, that was priceless. I can't see myself carrying on with the series, wish I could tho. I hope with future work she creates stronger characters that are more mature and know what they want and are not back and forth. Now, why she did not actually cheat on James the fact that it was clear that her feelings were for what was what was in his pants, ironically enough it's what she resented Austin about. That was my only conclusion when she could so easily just blow James off and go for Tyler and even look at Tyler the way she did was not consistent with a woman that was supposed to be falling for James.