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Just the Sexiest Man Alive
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Just the Sexiest Man Alive
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Just the Sexiest Man Alive
Ebook383 pages5 hours

Just the Sexiest Man Alive

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

New York Times bestselling author Julie James’s debut novel—a dazzling romance about one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars and the woman who refuses to let him capture her heart...

Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan. In the courtroom, she never lets the opposition see her sweat. In her personal life, she never lets any man rattle her—not even her cheating ex-fiancé. So when she’s assigned to coach People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for his next big legal drama, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob’s charms.

Jason Andrews is used to having women fall at his feet. When Taylor Donovan gives him the cold shoulder, he’s thrown for a loop. She’s unlike any other woman he’s ever met: uninterested in the limelight, seemingly immune to his advances, and shockingly capable of saying no to him. She’s the perfect challenge. And the more she rejects him, the more he begins to realize she may just be his perfect match...
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPenguin Group
Release dateOct 7, 2008
ISBN9781101078884
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Just the Sexiest Man Alive

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Reviews for Just the Sexiest Man Alive

Rating: 3.9288461853846153 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is such a fun book! I love stories about celebrities falling for normal people. There's just something about the excitement of the wealth and glamour mingled with the darker side of photographers and fans hounding you. But it's the human need to be known for who we are inside that makes me fall in love with the characters.

    Taylor and Jason were great fun. I laughed out loud on several occasions. There was one point where Taylor was truly feeling like she had no one to turn to and Jason shows up in a big way. That scene made my heart hiccup, it was so sweet. *blissful sigh*

    But, the book loses a star for the ending, which was so fade-to-black that I was truly gobsmacked. This was by no means a "clean" book that required such an ending, so when Taylor and Jason finally declare their love for one another and things get down to business, we get this:

    "Hijinks ensued."

    I kid you not. This is the Sexiest Man Alive, people! I was expecting heat and clothes coming off and a scene that would leave me satisfied after a couple hundred pages of build up, but nope. So it left me feeling a bit like this:



    Other than being jipped on the love scene at the end, this was a fantastic book. Great fun. :)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As a graduate of a pre-law course, I genuinely love the story. Taylor Donovan, the main character, is a lawyer. I pretty much learned from this book even though the theme of it is love story. There is a little glimpse of the profession, etiquette and judicial proceedings. At the same time, the life in Hollywood as Jason is an arrogant, womanizer actor(Well, not all of them are like that). It is entertaining, some incidences are quite hilarious. I will leave some of my favorite lines:

    "I realized that the one person who could break my heart is the only one who should have it”

    “I think that for him, I'd risk everything.”

    "Sidekick ? Fuck you, porky."

    “Business associates? Ouch. That’s worse than friends”

    “And then the evil, arrogant movie star learned that lying does not pay."

    "Seriously, Taylor—do you know who I am?” he demanded.
    She smiled at this. “You celebrities actually say that? That’s cute."
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Cute but not my favorite Julie James book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I liked it, a lot, actually. And that surprised me. This is a very well-written novel about a lawyer who coaches a bit of a spoiled brat hollywood hunky type. The dynamic between the two is fun. I really love that she didn't just drop trou the instant he showed up in her life. She had other priorities that he was getting in the way of. That said--I thought his obsession with her to be a bit sudden. Overall though a great read for the celeb-romance sub genre.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked it a bunch. I thought this was NA, but, no, I don't think so. But, yeah, liked it!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Really enjoyable story that had so many funny parts. I liked the progression of the romance with her right on target witty banter and his reality check. Attorney Taylor is forced to coach famous actor Jason with his role as a lawyer in his new legal thriller movie.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    So cute, seriously.

    So, here are some thoughts I had while reading the book:
    1. Oh, God, that note from Daniel is going to stir some troubles. Shit. (Which turned out not so true, happily to me)
    2. God help me, Scott whatever, if you come between Taylor and Jason I'm going to kill y--Damn, you did it. I hate you. Prepare to die. (What an asshole this one was...)
    3.Jason is Yummy.
    4.I want to be Taylor (that one went on most of the book).

    So, yeah. Seriously, those are some of my genuine reactions. I wanted everything to go smooth for these two so badly. How odd is that? They felt really real, and I couldn't help my reaction.

    I think I can summarize my feeling pretty well, Taylor style:
    This book got me at shit happens!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pleasantly surprised by this book. Wasn't mind boggling or the kind of book that shakes your foundation, but it was a good, quick, happy romance.

    Sure wish there woulda been more details on the "naughty" times, though. ;)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    11/10 - It's ridiculous how many times I've read this novel. There's a brief teaser for this book in the back of A Lot Like Love, so naturally I had to dig my copy out for a re-read. I love this book.

    The dialogue is very strong and witty, without trying too hard. Some of Taylor's snappy comebacks had me cracking up. I love that she had a sarcastic sense of humor. There aren't many authors who can do sarcasm and make it work.

    The chemistry between them was fantastic and really leapt off the pages. There was humor, sexual attraction and a surprising amount of tenderness.

    I enjoyed the secondary characters, too. Taylor's girlfriends were a hoot, especially when they realize she's "seeing" THE Jason Andrews. Jason's best friend Jeremy was also a strong supporting character and I like that they had a good relationship. We don't see enough male friendship in romance novels, IMO.

    Just as good after 50 reads as after the 1st.


    11/09 I loaned this to my sister-in-law and when she returned it I decided to re-read it again. It was just as good this time around.

    Cute contemporary novel. I really loved both main characters and all the secondary ones as well. Sweet love story with excellent banter.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not as humorous as her others, however it is still a delightfully fun and entertaining read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I loved the writing in James' debut. It's fluid, vivid prose that does a wonderful job of showing through dialog and action. There were numerous points in the book where I felt I could see the characters clearly, facial expressions, tone and all. The characters were fully realized and fleshed out and their banter laugh out loud funny at times.

    I just had some niggling issues with the plot. The book acknowledges the conventional wisdom that womanizers stay womanizers, then doesn't quite put it to bed in Jason's case. While I loved him wanted to believe in their HEA, the whole deal is something I'd give a girlfriend hell for doing. Not enough from him or them to chase that "So why is Taylor's hoo-hoo the magical one?" question from my mind.

    But the characters were so damn likable, poor life decisions or no, that I couldn't help but love the book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Taylor Donovan has a problem. She has been transferred out of her fabulous office in Chicago, to the mayhem that is LA, to try a particularly large sexual harassment case. As the best in her field, it was only expected that she would be called to handle a case worth $30 million. What she didn’t expect was a side project to be dumped on her lap, which meant helping actor Jason Andrews play a realistic lawyer in his next film. The notorious actor, recently voted the “Sexiest Man Alive”, ignores appointments, expects everyone else to bow to his commands and thinks he can get anything/anyone he wants with a smile. After recently finding out her fiancée was actually a cheating rat, she wanted this experience to be stress, and man, free. Dealing with an arrogant actor was not on the list of things to do, especially one who is as irritating as he is attractive, but her boss wants Andrews as a client, so forces her hand. Taylor bemuses Jason. In 16 years, he hasn’t had a woman treat him this rudely. It’s clear that the only reason that she tolerates him is because she has to, but he finds himself wanting to see if he can crack the ice around her heart. He has never had to work at anything, is he going to be successful in getting Taylor to actually like him? Moreover, can he do it in the time that her boss states she has to spend with him?

    I really disliked Jason for about a third of the book. The man was a jerk-off of epic proportions. He was rude and arrogant and I wanted Taylor to run for the hills. I loved Taylor. The woman is as sharp as a tack and sarcastic as hell, which, ultimately, made me adore her. After hearing about her previous experience with Daniel, I really didn’t want her to get involved with womaniser Jason. He is of the opinion that women should be dropped as soon as a man’s interest wavers; I hated him and didn’t want him to get a chance to cause her any-more pain. Once she didn’t throw herself at his God-like feet, the real Jason started to shine through. He was so unsure of himself because she had deviated from the game plan, and watching him try to learn how to woo her was hilarious and heart-warming. Eventually I loved him and I defy you not to do the same. The side characters were lively and well written; I wouldn’t mind reading more about this crew!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Julie James has made it to my "must read" list. Of the three books I’ve read, she writes pure character romance, without bizarre plot twists or gimmicks. I love that her characters are strong, forthright, and believable.

    3/1/11 - Had to re-read after enjoying A LOT LIKE LOVE. Can't stop laughing, I wish I could transcribe the entire opening phone conversation here. This is possibly my favorite Julie James, but I'll have a lot of fun re-reading the rest before I can say for sure.

    1/19/11 - Surprisingly enough, Jason didn't hold up as well coming on the heels of the adorable J.D. of PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Taylor still kicks butt, however, and I'm off to read A LOT LIKE LOVE in a reverse of my earlier reread order.

    12/24/12 - EXPOSED TO YOU had me hankering for a "leading man" romance. Jason and Taylor were exactly what I needed, I love their back and forth. There's no beating Julie James's legal heroines!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I probably would have liked it more if the whole obsession with Hollywood actors thing made more sense to me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I guess I have to sum up my reading experience of this book with a "mehrnhh," if that can be translated into sound. The first half of the story was GREAT: I was sucked into Taylor's high-pressure, high-stakes, nonstop-work lawyer world. I know next to nothing about the lives of lawyers, but James' depictions of Taylor's lifestyle and workload felt extremely real to me. I also adored Taylor and Jason's initial power struggle, cheering whenever Taylor won a round and showed Mr. Full-of-Himself that he couldn't think so highly of himself and treat others like crap just because he was paid seven figures per movie and women flung themselves at him.However, my interest began to flag as Taylor and Jason's relationship progressed with what I felt like were overly contrived plot elements borrowed straight from the tropes of our history and present day. Some lines were definitely lifted straight from Jane Austen, her world, or adaptations of her novels, which I wouldn't have minded so much (being a great admirer of Austen's writing) had it not been almost word for word, which then caused me to roll my eyes and wonder, was the similarity intentional? If not, there is some clear influencing going on. If yes, then it was a slick one-liner that rang falsely and didn't impress me a whit. Similar to that were the very clear parallels to some famous figures in our Hollywood, which the characters definitely note and make fun of, almost like a meta-joke, but I guess those aren't really my thing because we already have ONE too-pretty Australian actor who shot to international fame by starring in a fantasy epic, and one is enough. There were also a lot of moments when I lost track of the timeline--weren't they supposed to meet the next day? But all of a sudden it's the following week already?--and which character was supposed to be where and with whom at what time.Taylor and Jason bumbled and fumbled their way to each other through such a slew of conventions it was almost painful to read through to the end and certainly made their relationship less climactic (no pun intended) than it could've been. There were some jealousy-inducing moves, impulse midlife crisis career changes, a slight misunderstanding that pretty much BLEW UP entirely out of proportion when if they would only just at least ATTEMPT to talk to one another about it, some really cheesy "I can't live without you" lines that were--again--very blatantly alluding to famous quotes in media history, and an overly fairy tales-que ending. At the end, I just felt like Taylor and Jason were not who they were at the beginning. Of course they were going to be changed by one another, but I felt like all of their life philosophies, the beliefs that make up the core of who they are and were explained so fervently at the beginning of the novel (at least in Taylor's case), had been cast aside by the end, and all that was left was their witty repartee. Sigh.I ranted a lot. I'll try to end on a lighter, happier note. The banter was top-notch, if obviously very scripted. I liked Taylor's drivenness and intelligence--until she clearly loses all her senses over this guy. It was, of course, always nice to see the male love interest change his ways for the woman. As this is my first novel by Julie James, I think I'll reserve a more definite judgment on how I feel about her stories after I read at least one more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a woman who can write amazing contemporary romance. I usually need something more with my contemporaries (as the hundreds of books on my romantic suspense shelf will tell you!), but Julie James is something special. I loved this book. Julie James gets the best covers. Seriously. She has real men, and they don’t have to be naked to be appealing. Cover designers should take note - you don’t need a waxed, oiled twelve-year-old to get people buying a book. There are so many reasons I shouldn’t have liked this book. The whole situation seemed a bit contrived really - Chicago lawyer Taylor is sent to Los Angeles to work for a few months, gets forced to help out movie star Jason with his new role, the two eventually fall in love amongst a whole lot of Hollywood craziness. It all sounds so cheesy, chick-litty (shudder). However, I loved it. This is the kind of book I’d usually hate, but instead I couldn’t put it down, and was laughing and cheering through the whole thing. James’ characters are intelligent, accomplished people. No stupid ‘feisty’ romance heroine in this book. It’s very refreshing. Jason is such an unlikeable character at the beginning I didn’t know how James was going to redeem him. She did of course, which made him all the more interesting. I thought maybe the ending could have been a bit better. I understand that this is Hollywood and there is drama and there’re too many people watching every move. But even considering that, it was a tad too contrived for me. On top of that, there is a lot of celebrity name-dropping which is going to date the book so fast. (And I don't think there need to be Eva Green references in every one of the author's books - I don't care how much you worship her!) One thing that really annoyed me about this book was the ‘villain’ - Scott. While I am eternally grateful to Julie James for not making her Australian character a ‘G’day cobber’, shrimp on the barbie, crocodile-hunting, cork hat-wearing stereotype, she kind of missed the heart of Australian culture. She shows Scott not getting sarcasm and dry humour. The thing is, Australians ARE sarcasm and dry humour. We have trouble in the States because of it - not the other way around. That you could have this charming (yet sleazy) Australian guy there and have him NOT get sarcasm is utterly ridiculous, and was culturally very incorrect. My other issue is with the dreadful editing. Seriously, where are all the editors these days? I shouldn’t have to come across the hero being referred to as ‘Vason’. I shouldn’t have to come across changes of tense in sentences or missing or extra words because there wasn’t any decent proofreading done. And it’s COULDN’T care less. If I read ‘could care less’ one more time I was going to scream. If you could care less, it means that you DO care and that it’s possible for you to care less than you do. This book was fantastic fun. It had so many things I didn’t think I’d like, but it all worked for me in this story. It’s nice to see a book like this where the characters are intelligent rather than infantile - it’s very rare indeed. Just The Sexiest Man Alive was a great weekend read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Though I nearly stopped reading when I found out the heroine, Taylor, was a lawyer, I have to admit that the novel was clever, well-written and well-plotted. I could tell that Julie James was a lawyer in that she presents believable details that later come up in a "gotcha" sort of way. For example, a magazine believably nominates certain actors for "The Sexiest Man Alive" title each year. These rankings, of course, include "Other Contenders" or this years runner-up for the title. Later in the novel, James uses this set-up with an alternate meanings as two actors compete for Taylor's affections. That's just one example of the many clever devices Julie James uses. All in all this is a fun, well-written book by a talented writer.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don’t read much contemporary romance. I prefer my love stories with werewolves and/or vampires. Faeries are nice too ;) I had heard great things about Julie James so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Just the Sexiest Man Alive was a quick and fun read. I enjoyed the banter between Taylor and Jason. I liked that Taylor was a strong and independent woman. She was established in her career as a lawyer and happy for the most part with her life. This book was difficult to put down and had me up past my bedtime reading. I'd highly recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Main character, and lawyer, Taylor Donovan has been sent out from Chicago to L.A. to lead in a defense against a sexual harassment case. As an undefeated lawyer, Taylor knows how to prepare for a case and how to question a witness, and is ready to move from a member of the firm, to partner. Because of this fierce attitude and drive, Taylor is quickly chosen to help one of Hollywood's most famous actors (and Sexiest Man Alive), Jason Andrews, learn the ins and outs of being a lawyer for his next big film. Taylor is less than happy with the set up, and is even less happy when her newest client blows her off, wasting her precious time. Not only does Taylor blow off Jason once he does show up, but also tries to get out of working with him. As in most romance novels, this lack of instant appeal intrigues Jason, and creates the instant tension in the story. Taylor has no time for pretty-boy Hollywood stars, and Jason underestimated the female lawyer who was to be his trainer. Somehow, the two would have to work together, because Jason won't take no for an answer, and neither would the law office Taylor works for.Review: I'll spare you the extended storyline, as I think the set up of the base tension between these characters can be mapped out in a pretty broad way and shown to connect to a much-loved Elizabeth and Darcy storyline from over a century ago. While not the most believable plot at times, nor the most well-tuned writing, I did find that the dialogue and banter between Taylor and Jason to be highly entertaining...and to be quite honest, exactly what I needed right now. The connection to Pride and Prejudice is very loose, and doesn't really distract you away from the story in any way, although there are these delicious moments when lines pop up from the original that have you connecting the characters more than you would have otherwise.To a purist, the connections to Pride and Prejudice would be offensive, but I have to say that I liked the entire ride. I thought that the mix between the two was not enough to really offend, so I was all on board. Also, it seemed that for a romance novel, there was very little sexual content. In fact, the author handled the tension between the two characters in a pretty restrained way, that actually added to their chemistry. In this case, I really think that less was more, and created a fun, escapist read that kept my attention. I really enjoyed my time with this first novel by Julie James and will have to give her others a go!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Taylor Donovan is on no-nonsense ambitious lawyer who has come to LA to do work on a case. But she is also ordered, despite her protests, to help out Jason Andrews, Sexiest Man Alive, in a role he is researching. After being stood up twice in a row, she’s not exactly eager to help him and makes thinks very difficult for him – as well she should. Jason is a rich, spoiled actor who is used to people catering to his every whim. He just can’t believe that Taylor isn’t willing to drop everything when he calls. And this intrigues him – quite a bit. And so the hunt is on. Added into the mix is another up and coming actor who is out to replace Jason as the top dog and he wants to date Taylor too in a game of one-up-manship. It was fun to see Jason have to work for Taylor.Julie James is another author I now have my eye open for!