Afterburn (Jax and Gia #1) by Sylvia Day

Afterburn is the first book in the Jax and Gia duo.

Two years after Gianna Rossi spent five unbelievable weeks with Jackson Rutledge, he walked into a deal Gia had worked hard to close.

Jax still had a hold on her even after two years, and despite his hardness, she wants to get closer even as she wants him to disappear. But Jax has no intention of letting her go a second time.

Gia decides to unravel the mysteries behind the man, no matter the cost.

This book is a novella that's the first half of a novel. The second half is the novella Aftershock, review upcoming.

After the wondrous novel I read by Sylvia Day recently, I found myself disappointed with this one.

Not with the writing, which was excellent. The descriptions, dialog, character development, and grip on the reader were superb. I found myself completely immersed in the story and read it in one sitting.

My disappointment was with the actions of the characters and how similar Jax is to Christian Grey from the Fifty Shades novels.

Gia is a strong woman, fully committed to her job, and she'll do anything out of loyalty to her boss. She comes from a hard-working, loving, loyal family she adores. She loves freely and honestly, and I saw her as a bit of a free spirit.

Jax is a hard man who is ruthless in the wrong ways. He works as a fixer for his family, many of whom are politicians. He'll do anything to achieve his goals, even at the detriment to those he cares about. I took an instant dislike to him, and he never recovered. It's no wonder, since the author somewhat demonized him.

Gia's love for Jax was incomprehensible to me. Yes, he was handsome. Yes, he was good in bed. Yes, he was fixated on her. But every single red flag was waving in the breeze! She deliberately jumped in his bed solely to figure him out and exact revenge for what he'd done to her when he left her heartbroken two years earlier. She risks her job that she loves to do this. It was completely idiotic, and I didn't understand the logic at all.

Gia's family liked Jax. He charmed them the first time he met them, which was the last time he saw Gia two years earlier. When he enters her life again, they're wary but easily won over by his charms. I saw no charms, and it made no sense to me why they would like him. Gia didn't even like him even though she was still in love with him, which also made no sense.

I couldn't understand the actions of the characters as the story went on, and because I couldn't understand them and didn't like the love interest, I had no like for the story.

My rating is higher than it would otherwise be because the writing is excellent. While it was absorbing because of the writing, my issues with the story were too strong to overcome.

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