*I received a copy of this book in eBook format in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity. This review is being posted as part of the The Upper Crush blog tour hosted by Rachel's Random Resources.
Title: The Upper Crush
Author: Evie Alexander
Genre: Romance
Rating: ★★★★★
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Explicit Open Door)
He wasn’t
banking on someone else taking the reins…
Lady Estelle Foxbrooke is
done cleaning up the mess left by her wild parents. She’s got a plan: take the
reins and save the family estate her way. But then she’s saddled with a
business partner she’s hated all her life. He’s her twin brother’s worst enemy
and looms in her path like a six-foot-four hurdle.
After a catastrophic business failure, rich and
successful James Hunter-Savage has watched his dream life in London crash and
burn. Forced to ditch the city for the Somerset countryside, he’s now living
with his parents and expected to work with the infuriatingly attractive
Estelle. She’s sharper than a whip, pushes all his buttons, and seems
determined to break him.
As Estelle and James jockey for position, their
explosive personalities combust into passion, sending Estelle’s plans to the
edge of ruin. With James’s flimsy reputation in tatters, and the biggest event
on the Foxbrooke calendar on the brink of collapse, will they realise their
love is worth fighting for? Or are their hearts and hard work heading for the
ultimate fall?
The Upper Crush is
the latest instalment in Evie Alexander’s Foxbrooke series. Fans
of enemies to lovers, workplace romances, forced proximity and small country town
settings, with tons of spice, laugh out loud humour and ‘Britishness’ thrown in
for good measure, you will adore The Upper Crush just as much as I did.
I’m a sucker for a
good enemies to lovers romance and Evie Alexander writes this trope impeccably
well. It was combined beautifully with the forced proximity and workplace romance
tropes through Estelle and James being forced to work together organising a new
music festival. They start to try and get under each other’s skin by pulling
pranks and jokes on each other and this really made me laugh out loud, as did
their witty (and very British – which I loved!) banter. The increasingly sexual
tension between them was also SUPERB.
The Upper Crush is a
couple hundred pages longer than the romance books I am typically drawn to but I
just could not put it down so completely flew through the story. Evie Alexander
has such an engaging writing style that puts you right into the Somerset countryside
setting and the story was brilliantly paced.
Although this is
the third instalment of the Foxbrooke series, with all the books set in
the fictional Somerset village of Foxbrooke and the characters from the
previous books featuring in minor supporting roles, the story also works well
as a standalone story. The Upper Crush was my introduction to the series
but it has made me desperate to sink my teeth into the earlier books,
particularly An Unholy Affair to find out more about Eveline and Jack’s
love story.
Estelle and James
have sizzling chemistry from the very start of the story so it came as no shock
when the spicy scenes practically set the page on fire they were so hot. Something
I really like in a romance story is when we get to explore spicy scenes from the
perspectives of both partners and this was done really well within The Upper
Crush. James’ perspective - and in particular the way he described Estelle in
those moments – was incredible. I also loved the amount of variety we had
within the spicy scenes, including some solo scenes from both James and Estelle.
Alongside all of this
incredible steam, there are some really romantic heartwarming moments which
just made me melt. If your love language is gift giving you’ll particularly love
this story.
Estelle was a strong,
badass FMC. I loved the little insights we got into the internal conversations
she was having with herself when she was trying to be stubborn and not fall for
James. James was your typical charming alpha MMC who had a softer side that you
gradually got to see as the novel progressed. As I hadn’t met him before,
unlike other readers who had read the earlier books in the series, I didn’t
have that pre-judgment of him going into the story and that did mean that I did
fall in love with him quite early on, without him having to redeem himself too much.
The Upper Crush also has a
fantastic cast of supporting characters who brought so much to the story, particularly
both James and Estelle’s families. We have diverse family types represented in
the story, particularly through Estelle’s three parents who are in a polyamorous
relationship. There’s also lots of scenes with dogs; enough said.
Overall, The
Upper Crush is a gorgeous spicy romance read. I’ve been absolutely hooked on Evie
Alexander’s writing and the inhabitants of Foxbrooke and can’t wait to read
more of the series.
