Audiobook Review – Egomaniac by Vi Keeland

Egomaniac by Vi Keeland

Narrated by Joe Arden & Andi Arndt

Standalone Contemporary Romance

Egomaniac is my first book solely written by Vi Keeland, and let me tell you, it won’t be my last. Egomaniac has everything I love in a book: humor, banter, great sex, romance, a completely unique storyline and amazing narration. In some ways it was almost too perfect, checking every single box of the “perfect romance checklist”. That’s not really a complaint, but as I write this review about a week after finishing, I had to do a little re-listening to refresh my memory, it just didn’t really stand out as overly memorable beyond the initial meet.

“Maybe, just maybe neither one of us had found the right one before now…because we hadn’t met each other yet.”

Normally I re-word the blurb and add some quotes that illustrate the things I love (or don’t) in a book, but the blurb for Egomaniac is so thorough, I am going to use that and keep this review short and sweet.

The night I met Drew Jagger, he’d just broken into my new Park Avenue office.
I dialed 9-1-1 before proceeding to attack him with my fancy new Krav Maga skills.
He quickly restrained me, then chuckled, finding my attempted assault amusing.   

Of course, my intruder had to be arrogant.
Only, turned out, he wasn’t an intruder at all.   

Drew was the rightful occupant of my new office.  He’d been on vacation while his posh space was renovated.
Which was how a scammer got away with leasing me office space that wasn’t really available for rent.
I was swindled out of ten grand. 

The next day, after hours at the police station, Drew took pity on me and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  In exchange for answering his phones while his secretary was out, he’d let me stay until I found a new place.
I probably should have acted grateful and kept my mouth shut when I overheard the advice he was spewing to his clients.  But I couldn’t help giving him a piece of my mind.
I never expected my body to react every time we argued.  Especially when that was all we seemed to be able to do. 

The two of us were complete opposites. Drew was a bitter, angry, gorgeous-as-all-hell, destroyer of relationships.  And my job was to help people save their marriages.
The only thing the two of us had in common was the space we were sharing.
And an attraction that was getting harder to deny by the day. 

I loved how they met initially. She was just so awkward and I felt so sorry for her, but I had a smile on my face from that moment on.

“I’d like to report a robbery.”
“Robbery?” I arched an eyebrow and looked around. A lone folding chair and crappy metal folding chair were the only furniture in the entire space. “What exactly am I stealing? Your winning personality?”
(…) “No, I don’t think he’s armed. But he’s big. Really big. At least six feet. Maybe bigger.”
I smirked. “And strong. Don’t forget to tell them I’m strong, too. Want me to flex for you?”

The banter began right away…

“I have moves. I swear. I’m just all sorts of off tonight because of everything that happened.”
“If we’re showing off moves, I’d be happy to demonstrate some of mine, too.”

Since he is such a good guy deep down, he couldn’t throw this girl out, so she helped him out at his office in exchange for using the office while she looked for another. An innocent small town girl, a marriage counselor no less, and this big-time divorce lawyer who only has male clients sharing an office? How would that work out?

They developed a friendship. They both had some baggage, Emerie moved to New York because she was in love with a man that didn’t love her back but keeps giving her false hope; and Drew had an ex wife from hell that messed with his ability to trust, and some more stuff that you’ll find out when you read it. But the friendship, banter and chemistry were just so hard to ignore.

Drew was a dirty talker, and so hot in the bedroom! And I love how he appreciated Emerie.

“You’re the color in my black and white world.”

There were a few things that were just so easy and coincidental that they kind of stuck out to me, niggling in the back of my head the whole time. Like how is this guy a successful attorney on Park Avenue no less, and he has NOBODY helping him? No assistant? No paralegal? And who moves to NY for a crush? Also, the story changed a lot once we find out what Drew has been holding back, to the point that when I was looking through my notes I forgot the beginning and the end were from the same book. But I can honestly overlook all of it, because I flat-out enjoyed every second of listening to Egomaniac.

Likes:

• Banter.
• I loved both characters.
• I laughed out loud a few times.
• Great side characters.
• I listened to the whole thing with a smile on my face.
• Unique premise
• Awesome epilogue.
• It was great to have another sexy male narrator that isn’t in every other book.

Dislikes:

• Everything was a little bit too easy and coincidental.
• Seemed like every single popular romance novel theme was covered in this – rich hero with damaged past, poor heroine with rough past, dirty talker, hot sex, she has an unrequited crush, he has a bitchy ex, he’s an asshole with sweet inside, she’s naive but strong, they are opposites that shouldn’t get along but do and many more.
• She was a bit too naive.
• Wasn’t very memorable.

The Down & Dirty:

Rating: 4.25 Stars, 4.25 Heat, 4.5 Narration 

Purchase Egomaniac by Vi Keeland