Release Day Blitz + Review: Thoroughly Whipped by Tillie Cole
I, Faith Parisi, love my life. I have the best job—resident sex-advice diva for Visage magazine—I have the best friends, and I live in the best city in the world. Things are pretty damn fabulous. That is, until Henry “Harry” Sinclair III comes crashing back into my world like a bad case of herpes.
I hate the way Harry’s lip curls in contempt whenever he sees me. I hate his bright blue eyes and those inexplicably offensive dimples. I hate his stuffy English accent and the stick that’s permanently jammed up his aristocratic ass. More than anything, I hate that he’s now my boss.
But my professional prospects start to look up when a chance at writing Visage’s big summer feature falls into my lap. Success won’t be easy. I’ll need to let go of all my inhibitions—not that I have that many of those—and jump, stiletto heels first, into a hedonistic new world. An exclusive, secretive world, filled with leather, latex, and Manhattan’s elite.
Pulling this off will take every ounce of daring I have, and every ounce of focus. I can’t afford to get distracted by anything, least of all my new boss, his arrogant mouth, or the way the ice between us seems to be slowly melting away…
“Holy shit,” Novah whispered,
leaning into me. “Little boy blue blood is all grown up!”
I rolled my eyes. “You do realize
he’s only a year older than you, right?”
“I’ve only seen him in pictures,
Faith. Unlike some, I haven’t been graced with the younger duke’s company
before this moment. Let me bask in his mighty presence.”
“He’s not a duke yet. That happens
when his old man kicks it and passes down the title. And nobody is graced with that dick’s presence. He’s
arrogant and so rich it’s made him beyond stupid, and he walks with a permanent
pole shoved up his ass. Il duko has
no redeeming qualities whatsoever,” I snapped and folded my arms across my
chest to exaggerate my point.
The object of our musings hovered in
the doorway to the conference room. He was conversing with Sally, our editor,
and Henry Sinclair II, his father. Or, as his father was better known, King.
Apparently, it was quite the amusing nickname among the British elite. Oh, how
they must have chortled at the “cheeky” reference to their most famous royals.
But to us, his American working-class worker bees, calling himself King
Sinclair just made him sound like an entitled douchebag, too full of his own
importance.
“Well I, for one, wouldn’t mind
delving into those khakis the duke
trainee wears so well and deep fishing for said pole in his pert, tight
posterior, if you know what I mean.”
I took hold of Novah’s arm and met
her eyes with my most serious expression. “It’s irremovable, Novah. That pole
is wedged in deep, like oil-rig deep. You’ll need a fucking crane to hoist it
out. A crane, Novah.”
Novah waved her hand in front of her
face. “Jeez, Faith. Even that image has my thighs clenching.” She whistled low.
“I could never be that close to his peach of a tush. I’d end up biting his
firm, toned, polo-playing cheek. I know I would. Or at least give it a swift lick.
I’m better off keeping my distance so as to not be arrested.”
“You’re sick.” I smirked as she
crossed her legs tightly.
“I never claimed otherwise.”
“Right, minions!” Sally shouted,
standing at the front of the room. The staff grew silent. Our editor clapped
her hands with impressive speed. She forced a smile. It wasn’t a good look on
her. She appeared constipated whenever she attempted “friendly.” Or as though
she were battling a mild-to-medium case of hemorrhoids.
“Today’s a big day here at Visage.”
I held my breath, waiting for more,
dread seeping into the very marrow of my bones. My skin itched in irritation
seeing Henry “Harry” Sinclair III stepping out from behind his father. No, I prayed, hands lowering into a
death grip on the arms of my chair. I looked up toward the heavens. God, I know we’re not always on the best of
terms. I drink, cuss, and enjoy fornicating far too much for your liking, but
please, please, please, do not say he is here for—
“As you may have heard, Mr. King
Sinclair is slowly taking a step back from the running of HCS Media Group and
focusing solely on his British investments. He is still very much ‘in charge’
on the global stage, but he has decided to start delegating the US enterprises
to his son, Henry Sinclair Junior.”
I closed my eyes and felt Novah’s
hand grip my thigh at this revelation. “So today I have the great pleasure to
welcome Henry as the new CEO of Visage Magazine and the New York Journal and
everything that falls under that impressive umbrella.” The people in the
conference room broke out into somewhat enthusiastic applause, and I
reluctantly opened my eyes. I’d hoped if I kept them closed, this would somehow
turn out to be a bad dream. But as soon as I opened them, my gaze railroaded
right into Henry’s or, as I liked to call him, the eternally entitled
ball-sack.
Fuck my life. What had we mere
mortals done in the world to deserve three of these Henry Sinclair jerks on the
planet? His father was an asswipe of the highest order, and I’d heard the
grandfather, who’d created the empire, had been the worst kind of human being.
His grandson had apparently followed suit. Henry didn’t smile at me. His
nostrils flared and his lip curled up. I wasn’t sure if he was silently passing
gas or exposing the fact that he disliked me as much as I disliked him.
King Sinclair nudged his son from
his malevolent reverie. Henry pulled his hands from his pockets, nodded curtly,
and instantly became the leader I was sure he had been molded to be since
birth. “Good morning, I’m Henry Sinclair, but please call me Harry. Only my
teachers ever called me Henry.” He smirked a little at that. I blinked slowly
in confusion. I had never seen him smile. This was a barely-there smile and, no
matter how brief it was, it indicated Harry
wasn’t always the dour bastard he appeared to be.
“I know most of you have never met
me, but I’ve been living between New York and England for the past few years
and am extremely happy to be taking over here at the New York Journal and
therefore, of course, Visage.” Visage was the in-house style magazine, which
went out every Sunday along with the Journal’s other Sunday offerings. The
in-house magazines of such prestigious newspapers had always been considered
the ugly stepsisters in the world of newspaper publishing, but I loved it here.
Always had…until, I feared, now.
**ARC provided in exchange for an honest review**
Thoroughly Whipped is a light and fun contemporary romance, much different than what most readers are used to from Tillie Cole. Faith Parisi was a sassy and very lovable character, I absolutely loved her personality and the relationship she had with her friends and parents. The story starts when Henry “Harry” Sinclair III becomes the new CEO of the company Faith works for. She already met him years ago when she interned for the company, and had a bit of a rude and awkward interaction with him. She kinds of dislikes him and the same goes for Harry, who is a bit taken back with her colorful personality. Harry is a hard and cold man, and quiet the opposite of Faith. But when these two are put together in close quarters when an elevator breaks down, they for the first time start opening up to each other. Harry has put up walls around his heart, but Faith manages to break it down piece by piece.
This is a pretty straight forward romantic comedy, with many hilarious situations. There were a couple of times where I was suffering from second-hand embarrassment. Faith is super clumsy but also very sweet. Harry has been kind of living his life according to the society he is a part of, but it is obvious that he isn't happy with how things are going. Faith shows him to have more fun and go after the things that can make him happy. I enjoyed seeing Harry's personality change the more he was around Faith. I loved him relaxing and letting lose. I thought Faith and Harry made a great couple. This book besides being hilarious was also very hot and I loved the scenes that took place at NOX, a sex club. I rated it 3.5 stars because there were some scenes in the last quarter of the book that didn't really hold my attention. However, overall I enjoyed this book. If you are looking for a light and fun, sort of enemies to lovers romance, then you'll probably enjoy this book.
Tillie Cole hails from a small town in the North-East of England. She grew up on a farm with her English mother, Scottish father and older sister and a multitude of rescue animals. As soon as she could, Tillie left her rural roots for the bright lights of the big city.
After graduating from Newcastle University with a BA Hons in Religious Studies, Tillie followed her Professional Rugby player husband around the world for a decade, becoming a teacher in between and thoroughly enjoyed teaching High School students Social Studies before putting pen to paper, and finishing her first novel.
Tillie has now settled in Austin, Texas, where she is finally able to sit down and write, throwing herself into fantasy worlds and the fabulous minds of her characters.
Tillie is both an independent and traditionally published author, and writes many genres including: Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Young Adult and New Adult novels.
When she is not writing, Tillie enjoys nothing more than curling up on her couch watching movies, drinking far too much coffee, while convincing herself that she really doesn’t need that extra square of chocolate.
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