Sweet Filthy Boy

Kayla Barton

Mar 31, 20224 min read

Sweet Filthy Boy

by Christina Lauren

One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.

But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.

When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.

Spice Level: 5/6

Story Score: 8/10

Rating: 4.9/5

I saw this book randomly suggested, but always in the best of places, so I wanted to read it. Then it wasn’t KU and it was like $9, so I hesitated. Then I needed a book with France in it, but $9 was a bit steep, lol. Back and forth I went until finally, I bought it! Then it sat on my Kindle for a few weeks because as soon as I buy something, I no longer am ready for it.

Allll right, so I should’ve done this review before reading my last book because now I am in a headspin.

Ok, ok, ok.

The blurb is pretty much the story. There are no world-shattering, angsty twists. This is almost like a coming of age story…but post-grad age instead of as a teen. The entire story is told from Mia’s point-of-view and it’s her figuring out how her life is set to unfold versus how she wants it to.

Mia is smart which is pretty much one of my favorite traits in a female main character. She does some ridiculous things, and I don’t mean sexually, but she never comes across as dumb…just a bit lost occasionally. For the most part, I found her incredibly relatable. I adored her friendship in this book which surprised me because I’ve been on a really long roll of hating everyone in books outside of the main characters. These girls were FRIENDS and the best kind. I’m a sucker for a bromance and whatever the girl version is, lol.

Ansel is…delicious? He’s surprising, even if he confused me a couple times. I adored how willing he was to give Mia what she needed, each and every time. He felt like that guy that you just can’t help but love. A patient man is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever found.

I’ve read a lot of dirty books. A lot. And this one is a lot of sex. However, this may have been the first time this year that I actually felt the connection and the draw between the characters, which is one of the main reasons this deserved a 5. I felt their tenderness toward each other and their affection. I felt their hope and their nerves. It was amazing. I don’t know if the writing was just that good or if my mind was just in the right place to accept it, but I felt this book everywhere. It was in my head and my heart and my lady parts. I felt Mia’s struggle with opening herself up and expressing herself. I felt the need to pretend to be someone else to make that easier, even if I didn’t want to have to be someone else. I felt her refreshing openness to life as she wandered around Paris and I now want to go even though it’s never been on my list before. I felt her pull towards Ansel and I found myself just wanting them so badly to figure it all out together.

But why the 4.9 overall? I still felt like I was missing something. I don't know what, but it was just enough to hold me back.

-SPOILERS-

Mia’s dad and Perry both need to get what’s coming to them. They both suck.

My heart straight fucking collapsed in on itself when Perry attacked Mia with her venom. I felt so awful. Then the heartbreak when she stuttered in front of him after…oh my gosh. I felt it. I felt it everywhere. I knew she had to leave at that point. She had to. The thing that had made them so precious was broken and if that was broken then it was time for her to go put herself back together, but it huuuuurt. I spent the entire book waiting for the big crash, for Ansel to prove that he wasn’t the nearly-perfect person that I was seeing the whole time. I felt as betrayed as she did when it happened, even if it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Papercuts suck more than gaping wounds sometimes, ya know? Striking at the trust they built was painful.

So role play isn’t one of my book kinks. I don’t enjoy reading it generally and I didn’t always in this one either. However, I was surprised during the Satan’s helper scene. It wasn’t a turn that I had read before, I liked that they opened my mind to a concept of one person playing while the other got to be the most open version of themselves.

Ansel being so fucking open and willing to give Mia whatever she needed- role playing, time to think, biting, etc. -struck something in my soul.

Book #1 in the Wild Seasons series

355 Pages

Trope Challenge:

It Happened in Vegas