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![Rush (The Breathless Trilogy Book 1) by [Maya Banks]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51l-iMx3taL._SY346_.jpg)
Rush (The Breathless Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition
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When Gabe Hamilton saw Mia Crestwell walk into the ballroom for his hotel’s grand opening, he knew he was going to hell for what he had planned. After all, Mia is his best friend’s little sister. Except she’s not so little anymore. And Gabe has waited a long time to act on his desires.
Gabe has starred in Mia’s fantasies more than once. So what if he’s fourteen years older? Mia knows he’s way out of her league, but her attraction has only grown stronger with time. She’s an adult now, and there’s no reason not to act on her most secret desires.
As Gabe pulls her into his provocative world, she realizes there’s a lot she doesn’t know about him or how exacting his demands can be. Their relationship is intense and obsessive, but as they cross the line from secret sexual odyssey to something deeper, their affair runs the risk of being exposed—and vulnerable to a betrayal far more intimate than either expected.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBerkley
- Publication dateFebruary 5, 2013
- Reading age18 years and up
- File size1062 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“If you haven’t read this series yet, you totally should...Incredibly awesome...I love Maya Banks and I love her books.”—Jaci Burton, New York Times bestselling author
“A must-read for...Christine Feehan and Lora Leigh fans.”—Fresh Fiction
“Everything I love in a good book—suspense, romance, a twist, hot sex. Bring on the next one!”—Red Hot Books
“Maya Banks...really dragged me through the gamut of emotions. From...‘Is it hot in here?’ to ‘Oh my GOD’...I'm ready for the next ride now!”—USA Today
“[A] one-two punch of entertainment that will leave readers eager for the next book.”—Publishers Weekly
“For those who like it naughty, dirty, and do-me-on-the-desk HAWT!”—Examiner.com
About the Author
She lives in the South with her husband and three children and other assorted babies, such as her two Bengal kitties and a calico who’s been with her as long as her youngest child. She’s an avid reader of romance and loves to dish books with her fans and anyone else who’ll listen! She very much enjoys interacting with her readers on Facebook and Twitter as well as in her Yahoo! Group.
Product details
- ASIN : B00AI5APLQ
- Publisher : Berkley; 1st edition (February 5, 2013)
- Publication date : February 5, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 1062 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 413 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #25,633 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,142 in Contemporary Women's Fiction
- #1,240 in Billionaire Romance
- #2,509 in Romantic Suspense (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Maya Banks is the #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling author of the Breathless trilogy and more than sixty novels across many genres, including erotic, contemporary, historical and paranormal, all with a happily ever after.
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I really liked this book very much, both individually and as a set-up to what looks like will be a good series.
The basic set-up/plot: Jace, Ash and Gabe (hero of Rush) have known each other for years. They are in business together and highly successful/wealthy. Gabe is 38, and has fought his attraction to Jace's much-younger (by 14 years) sister, Mia. He is not an easy man, in that he is dominant, likes BDSM activities, and suffers from a fundamental lack of trust in women - he was VERY badly burned by his ex-wife, who publicly claimed such activities had amounted to non-consensual abuse. So, to protect himself, Gabe requires that each woman in his life - all of whom are very briefly in his life - sign a detailed contract about his expectations, activities, etc.
He sees now-24-year old Mia at a party (he's known her since she was 16, and Jace took on guardianship after their parents died), and decides he's done fighting his attraction. He proposes that she come work for him as his personal assistant, but that she also sign said contract and be at his personal/physical beck and call. Since Mia has always loved Gabe, after much soul-searching she agrees. But they also agree to keep it secret since both are sure this will run its course and not be anything lasting (though Mia clearly wishes it would be).
As the story unfolded - and, really, almost from the beginning - we were given pretty clear signs that Gabe had softer feelings for Mia. No matter how he tried to keep her in a very constrained box in his mind/heart - it didn't work. And he began to wrestle with that when he could no longer deny he felt better when she was around - that she really was like "sunshine" to him, while at home, in the office, everywhere. I also liked that, while he was clearly dominant, he also TRIED to be reasonable, and made it clear that some of his "demands" were more about keeping Mia safe vs. having total control.
Which brings us to Paris... and a totally boneheaded decision made by Gabe to prove to himself that Mia had not encroached on his heart. I won't go into all the details, but suffice to say, in one fell swoop he betrays Mia's trust, puts her at risk, and creates a situation that is VERY upsetting to her. In addition, he is forced to call his own bluff, because the scenario is something he immediately loathes, and he is forced to admit how much he DOES feel for Mia, that he is not indifferent, that he is incredibly possessive of her - and that that possessiveness is based on EMOTIONAL attachment.
Now, for some reviewers, this whole Paris interlude was a deal-killer for them. And I do understand why. But for me, it worked on several levels - it was brief, and the transgression was stopped almost immediately; it was a truly transformative experience for Gabe, and therefore his relationship with Mia. Moreover, not only did Gabe repeatedly, and strenuously apologize, but his inner dialogue made it clear how SORRY his was... how ashamed. I truly believed his remorse was real and total.
When they were back in NYC, some negative ramifications from the Paris situation cropped up - and, as other reviewers have stated, they were dealt with perhaps a bit too cleanly and easily. But this plot development was effective in further revealing (to the reader and Gabe), how much he felt for Mia - and it prompted the decision to finally bring their relationship out into the open, and see where it might lead. Gabe was astounded by the trust Mia showed in him. By the fact that she didn't betray him - even though he would have totally understood if she had. And all of this completed his realization that she was different, special, and someone he couldn't let get away.
Of course, nothing could be that easy. Gabe/Mia had intended to tell Jace upon his return from a trip. Clearly, they don't intend to tell him all the gory details of what they've been up to - just that they are seeing each other, and planned to continue. Unfortunately, at the WORST possible moment, Jace and Ash walk in on Gabe and Mia "in action". Fists fly. Recriminations abound - and, sadly, Gabe's self-recriminations, guilt, shame, etc., reach towering proportions. He goes back into self-blame mode, and adopts Jace's take on things as his own. That he took advantage of Mia; will change her; isn't good enough for her given his track record/predilections, etc.
Sadly, this leads to a part of the story where this reader (and likely many others) wanted to throttle Gabe. Rather than manning up and owning his feelings and the true nature of his relationships with Mia (namely, the deep emotions he felt right along with her), he pulled into his shell, acted as if SHE was the only one getting too emotionally attached, and told her it was for the best that they went their separate ways.
I had liked Mia from the beginning, but it was in this moment that I LOVED her. She called Gabe out for the total BS he was handing her, but also told him straight-out that if he was such a coward - if he couldn't put it all on the line for her the way she had for him - then he didn't deserve her. She warned him that he would soon realize the error of his ways, but it would be too late. But if he did try to come back to her, he'd better be prepared to crawl.
In the end, Gabe steps up big time - but not before Mia knocked him down quite a bit; she did not cave easily. Once Jace and Ash realized that Gabe truly loved Mia and wanted to marry her - that she wasn't just one of his transient partners - they helped him execute a really lovely surprise for Mia that sealed their happy ending.
So, yes, I liked this book. But all this said - at times it did feel like it dragged. 50 or so pages could have been cut, and the narrative would have been a bit tighter. And speaking of 50... it is not surprising that a number of reviewers have drawn parallels between this book and 50 Shades of Grey. But, some may not realize that Maya has written about BDSM - often in quite a bit of detail in her Sweet series - LONG before that other trilogy was written.
"The only thing I'm sure of is that I've waited entirely too damn long to have you."
Maya Banks' Breathless series is a new trilogy of books about how three fabulously wealthy, attractive and single men each find that one special person to love. Gabe, Jace and Ash are all each other's best friends and together they've built a wildly successful company that owns the best hotels all over the world. In this first book, Rush, Gabe Hamilton decides that the time is finally right to act on his desire to possess the one woman with whom he has been obsessed for years. The main reason he had put it off for so long was the significant age difference between them, but now that she is a grown woman of 24, he can't deny himself for one more day. But the other obstacles are still present, not the least of which is that she is Mia Crestwell, the baby sister of his best friend and business partner Jace. There is also the problem of Gabe's insistence that the relationship be purely one of Dominant/submissive sex, especially when unbeknownst to him, Mia has nurtured a crush on Gabe since she was a teenager. The whole situation is positively guaranteed to end badly for both of them. But when his desire meets her passion, anything is possible, if they can just learn to trust each other outside as well as inside the bedroom.
"He wanted her desperately and he seemed content to let her do anything she wanted. Anything. It was like laying out a chocolate buffet to a woman with PMS."
The word love doesn't even begin to cover my feelings about Rush. The attraction between Gabe and Mia is so compelling and so hot that you wonder how either of them managed to wait this long to act on it. And because this is Maya Banks, we get not only incredibly hot love scenes but also the deep emotions that are stirred up in both Gabe and Mia each time they come together. Rush succeeds where other books of this type have failed because of Maya Banks' ability to put the reader in the heads of her characters in such a way as to understand their motivations at every step, even when we strongly disagree with their actions. She is never afraid to "go there" when it comes to character confrontation, nearly but not quite crossing the line in what readers are likely to forgive in their hero or heroine's behavior. In Rush, this signature style is present on every page, along with her natural gift at creating new worlds with all the supporting characters and backstories without getting bogged down in overly wordy expositions or descriptions.
"She'd walked into his life and heart like she belonged. And the hell of it was that he was convinced she did."
As much as I enjoyed and recommend Rush, I do need to point out that the BDSM scenes between Gabe and Mia may be a bit intense for some readers, especially during a pivotal scene when Gabe's moment of negligence nearly costs Mia more than anyone should ever ask. If the portrayal of a BDSM scene gone wrong is something you would not want to read, then this may not be the book for you. Gabe does not always do the right thing by Mia, but his failure comes more from his attempt to deny his deeper feelings and not because he wants to see her harmed in any way. And once Gabe realizes what Mia really means to him, his efforts to make things right are genuine and heartfelt.
"She was tattooed on every part of his body. Deeper, in his heart, his very soul. A permanent brand that would never wear off."
With Rush, Maya Banks has merged the two tropes of "BDSM billionaire" and "little sister / big brother's best friend" into a seamless and riveting story of two people who loved each other all along but just couldn't manage to make it happen until the time was right at last. I'm eagerly anticipating Ash's and Jace's stories in the next two books of the Breathless series.
Ratings:
Overall: 5
Sensuality level: 5 (several intense BDSM scenes and one attempt of sexual assault)
Top reviews from other countries

That made me sad.
Having said all the, it is readable, very 'steamy' and the main female character is pretty feisty.
I didn't hate it. I won't be reading the rest of the series though.

Please don’t waste time or money on this one!

her erotic fiction normally consists of creative love scenes and great stories, which this book really lacked. A major problem for me was the lack of story, and what was there was has all been done before. I love erotic fiction but for me there still needs to be a story!
I could not identify with the main characters and the sex scenes really were not up to standard for a BDSM type book. further, the eroticism in this book never felt at all believable. Gabe's character never came across as a true dom.in addition to this there was no true romance to be seen between the couple. in fact a time or two Gabe showed some stalker-ish tendencies and behaviour.
this is not the worst erotic book I have read, but it is truly not this best either. I think it will be quite a let down for what maya banks fans will be expecting. I would advise that new readers look at her other books first, as normally they are good. however, after reading the a excerpt for the next book at the end, I will persist with this trilogy. it seemed really good, and appeared to have a far better story! I just hope its not another let down, as these book are expensive and this one was not worth the price!

