Beard Wanted: Rent-A-Dom Book 4, Susi Hawke and Piper Scott

Perception and reality are rarely ever the same.  In the case of Monty, he's convinced that there's nothing that will ruin his company's image than for his to be seen.  As a twink-like 24 year old it's unlikely that anyone will think him the powerful Dom and CEO of his own company.  For an anniversary party he's determined to hire a beard to project the image everyone is expecting except it very quickly becomes more than just a contract.  Christian is wedging his way under Monty's prickly and controlled disposition and they quickly surrender to one another's magnetism.  But a lapse on Monty's part twice over produces some unintended consequences.  If he doesn't decide quickly what's truly important he might lose out on love.

The beginning was a good introduction to who Monty and Christian are at the current moment but very quickly we get into a confusing mess of emotion with no known foundation, mainly from Monty.  After that the interactions become awkward in a confusing way, as if we're missing something.  It feels like we should know something about why Monty acts the way he does but we don't actually ever get a concrete reason.  There's no event or betrayal that justifies Monty's reactions enough to believe all the angst he imposes on his life and relationships.

Christian's positivity, lightness, and desire are excellent counterpoints to Monty's pessimism, workaholic tendencies, and emotional restraint.  His natural submission seems at odds with what Monty is requesting of him so we get to see him fluctuate between the two.  I never feel a sense of him settling on one or the other and it kind of rubs off on Monty as well.  It's like their innate desires and natural states become less important as the story progresses and I'm not sure if that's intentional or even a good thing.

I did feel that Monty's anniversary party speech was a bit too sappy, like it was trying too hard to be profound, but shortly after the start of the book Monty's manner of speaking seemed to change rather quickly to reflect that same thing, too poetic, too aloof, just trying too hard.  Overall the story had a great premise and some serious steam as well as a lot of tender feels.  The anniversary party took a much better, healthier turn for Monty and I was glad for that.  When their "oops" moment became something to bond over rather than a wedge to drive them apart it was the time they had before that to get to know one another and to give in to their feelings instead of just their lust that made for a much more believable and lasting connection.

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