Review: One Night with the CEO by Mia Sosa (2016)

The Suits Undone, Book #2

This little number checked aaaaaaall the boxes. I will now go read more Mia Sosa books because I do love a satisfying contemporary with characters who acknowledge and lean into their sexuality. And also that doesn’t rely on the characters being emotionally stupid for the central conflict.

Let’s begin with Mark Lansing. He’s the CEO of a multi-million dollar company (power – check!). He’s ridiculously wealthy (money – check!). And he’s big, dark, and hot, with an ass that won’t quit (check! check! check!!!). Oh and also he believes in Karen and encourages her to be her best self (ermahgerd!).

Then there’s Karen Ramirez. She just graduated college, and she’s on her way to med school. Karen is pretty normal. She works hard. She has goals. She hasn’t had much satisfying sex because she doesn’t tell her sexual partners she’s totally bored. (It is shocking when men can’t read one’s mind. I know.) Short story, Karen’s young, but she’s strong and she knows what she wants (check!). She challenges Mark and encourages him to be his best self, too (check!). 

Karen and Mark meet cute after she’s had a bit too much celebratory whiskey at the club upon graduation. They have a totally intimate and scandalous conversation that’s protected by total anonymity… And then it turns out Karen’s sister and Mark’s best friend are getting married and there’s no such thing as anonymity. They’re going to spend time together. It’s so embarrassing and so tempting at the same time! The struggle of desperately wanting to bang forbidden fruit is real.  

The title of this book is “one night with the CEO”, so one wonders where the one night comes in, since it doesn’t come from a one night stand at the club. (Responsible adult behavior! Yay! Slash sometimes reading about other people making bad choices is fun. Boo! J/k, I like how this one turned out.) Karen and Mark are so fixated on each other that not acting on their attraction is more distracting than acting on it. But of course it won’t work long term because blah blah blah excuses. So they say one night only. Get it out of their systems. Because that always works. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. So then they say let’s play for the three weeks before Karen’s med school starts. Have you learned nothing, Karen and Mark? Guess how that goes. 

Sosa creates a reasonable adult relationship with enough drama to keep things moving but without all the frustrating stupid. There’s no crazy suspense drama with external threats on either protagonist. I didn’t want to slap either protagonist for being a complete chucklehead. (Win!) Do both make some bad decisions because they make questionable communication choices? Yes. But they’re not projecting a lot or making up stupid, nonsensical stories about the other person, so it feels pretty normal. 

Also, part of Karen’s issue is she gets distracted/bored during sex. We therefore have a bit of a sexual awakening for Karen, but I’d classify it more as Mark makes the effort to ask Karen what she likes and what distracts her, and as a result they figure out how to have stop-the-presses, amazing sex. I love it when a romance novel makes the sex flow into the narrative. Sex is part of Mark and Karen’s story. One imagines that sex is an important part of most romantic relationships, so it makes sense. In romance novels so many sex scenes feel like: OH! This is a romance novel! I have to include sex. Let’s get down:

K. Thx. Moving on. Sosa doesn’t do that, and the result is fun and sexy, and I’m gonna read some more!

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