REVIEW: Tycoon by Katy Evans

In Tycoon by Katy Evans, Newly transplanted in New York City from Texas, Bryn Kelly is a twenty-something year old ready to make her mark on the fashion industry. But first she needs a financial backer. And unfortunately banks and other traditional options are out, thanks to the tragic loss she suffered in her late teens. So that leaves Bryn with really only one option: to approach the man everyone else in the city seems to both fear and admire–Aaric Christos. The biggest problem she faces? They have a past. He was her What If, the boy who got away whom she never got to date or got the kiss he was always promising her. And the man is even more enticing than the teenage boy she remembers. Bryn knows getting intimately acquainted with Aaric could jeopardize her business venture but how can she refuse the sexy things he says or the smoldering looks he sends her way?

“I can tell you’re as incorrigible as ever.” I shake my head, but I’m smiling, truly just relieved that he recognized me.
“I try to be,” he purrs dangerously.

Even though Bryn has always been in the back of Aaric’s mind, he wasn’t sure he would ever see her again. His teenage dream of dating her and making her his own went up in smoke when he had to leave Austin to find his way in the harsh world. And now Bryn’s sudden appearance throws a wrench into his well-laid plans. The goals Aaric has been working towards are now the least of his concerns. All he can think of is getting Bryn into his daily life and helping her grow her upstart business. He is a venture capitalist, after all. But complications from Aaric’s recent past creep up and try to force him to let go of his hopes for a future with Bryn. If there’s one thing he knows about himself by now it’s that he’s not afraid to fight for what he wants. And what he wants is the beautiful, creative woman he once nicknamed Little Bit. Only there’s nothing little about what he feels for Bryn, knowing they could have one hell of a wonderful future together if they could just make things work this time.

“All I’ve wanted in my life was one fucking chance with you, Bryn…” His eyes are raw with pain. “I wanted to *deserve* you. I waited years…”

Katy Evans is back with a new intensely emotional romance that ended up ripping my heart apart and putting it back together again–just like she did to our unsuspecting hero and heroine.

I’m of course a huge fan of Katy Evans work and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book. And while I loved how deep she went into both character’s feelings and the passion and tenderness that was between them, I was conflicted on a few things. What I loved was that this was a second chance romance for two very deserving people who had been through hell in their teens, losing loved ones. We had alternating POVs, with the majority of Aaric’s being from the past, setting up their backstory and making sense of how he became such a ruthless businessman. I loved getting his insight and seeing his true feelings for Bryn. Let’s just say that he was a lot more engaged emotionally than his hard-edged persona let on.

Now I really liked Bryn and Aaric together and thought they made a sweet and sexy couple. They both had an extremely dry sense of humor which took me a conversation or two to pick up on the subtleties of their bantering, but it was modern and fun and worked well for them. I think the level of angst and the back and forth of will-they-won’t-they is what threw me a bit. Aaric and Bryn were in their late twenties or so but at times they almost seemed like they were back in high school, with how she pushed him away and the information he withheld from her. And without giving too much of the storyline away, there was sort of a complicated love triangle that threatened to tear Bryn and Aaric apart before their second chance even got started. There wasn’t really any cheating involved but just a big old complicated mess that took until the end of the book to straighten out.

This definitely was not your typical millionaire romance, written with Katy Evans’ eye to detail and down to earth characters. At its heart, Tycoon was a lovely second chance romance in which the hero and heroine were both trying to prove themselves worthy of success, of love–and of each other.
 

Book Info:

Publication: Published June 20th 2017 | Katy Evans |

He wasn’t always this rich. This hot. This difficult.
Aaric Christos was a guy who protected me. Wanted me. Maybe even loved me.
That man is gone.
In his place is the most powerful real estate tycoon in the city.
He’s a cold, ruthless, aggressive businessman.
The only one who can save me and my startup from ruin.
It takes every ounce of courage to put my pride aside and ask for his help.
I didn’t expect him to offer it easily.
And he doesn’t.
Instead, he vets me harder than he’s vetted anyone.
Don’t invest in what you don’t know, he says.
He’s assessing every piece of me, to the point I’ve never felt so bare.
I yearn for the boy I once knew, whose touch once craved me.
Putting it all on the line will be worth it, I tell myself.
Until I realize—too late—that some risks are not worth taking.