Review: Temptation (The Hunted #1) by Ivy Smoak

Print Length: 352 pages

Publisher: Createspace (April 8, 2015)

From Goodreads.com:  Shy student Penny Taylor always follows the rules. At least, that’s how it appears to her classmates. But she has one illicit secret – she’s fallen hard for her professor. And she’s pretty sure he’s fallen for her too.

Everyone loves Professor Hunter. He’s tall, dark, and handsome. And completely unobtainable. But it’s the secrets hiding behind his deep brown eyes that allures Penny. Secrets darker than she could ever imagine.

James Hunter gave up his billionaire lifestyle in NYC last year to become a professor. The easiest new rule to follow: don’t fraternize with the students. It’s easy to follow because he’s become quite the recluse in his new town – the only way he knows how to keep his secrets buried.

But he never expected to be teaching such a beautiful student. He has to resist her. He needs to walk away. Penny deserves better than a man with his demons. But she’s daring him to cross the line. And he’s never been one to resist temptation.

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My Rating: 1 star out of 5

I don't typically read student/Professor novels, but the premise of this one made me decide to give it a shot. After all it was free with my Prime Membership.

Oh boy. What a mistake it was to pick this one up. 

Let's start with Penny shall we? She is a 19-year-old college Sophomore. Or at least that's what we're told she is. However, she has the maturity level of someone much younger. I can understand her feeling conflicted about her feelings for her Professor and the boy in her class, but her way of dealing with things and some of the things she says reminds me of someone of about 16.

Then there is the fact that despite the fact that James is her Professor, and therefore their relationship completely improper with long-lasting and far-reaching ramifications, he makes no attempt to cover up the fact that he's seeing her. He has sex with her in his office. He takes her to his country club. For crying out loud, he takes her to the beach in the middle of the day and somehow convinces her to go skinny dipping with him (and have sex with him in the ocean). He shows up to her dorm, he picks her up from her dorm. They have sex in the parking lot of said dorm. And somehow no one finds out about their illicit affair until ------ he calls her while the other boy she had feelings for had her phone? Give me a break! She had just gotten visibly upset during her speech, had rushed from class leaving all of her things behind, but simply because the Professor calls her cell phone, suddenly the other boy "knows" the truth about them? 

Sadly, those aforementioned things aren't what I had the biggest problem with. The thing I had the biggest issue with is the fact that after only a month of having sex with each other, James buys here a bunch of clothes and surprises her with them basically asking her to move into his apartment with him. Penny in turn finally tells him the truth about her age. Mind you she never lied to him about how old she was, she merely didn't correct his assumption from the first time they met. And yet somehow, this horrible secret that she's only kept from him for a MONTH is somehow WORSE than the one he kept from her (fun fact? It wasn't).  

This book does end on the typical "oh no they have broken up how will they go on" kinds of cliff-hangers that can either make or break a series. For me? It is very doubtful that I will continue on with this series, but who knows. Stranger things have happened.


                                Temptation is available from Amazon.com