The Allure of Dean Harper is the second installment in the Allure duology by R.S. Grey. This review will be spoiler-free.

Good morning my dear, naive friend, I hope you’re enjoying a breakfast of regret and sorrow. Why?

Because you sent me to work for Dean Harper, aka a control freak in a tailor-made suit. Sure he owns the trendiest restaurants in NYC, but c’mon Jo, his ego makes Kanye West look like the Dalai Lama.

He’s the type of guy that only hears the word “no” when it’s followed by “don’t stop.”

Working for Dean Harper would be like selling my soul to the devil… and before you say anything, I don’t care if the devil has punch-you-in-the-gut brown eyes and an ass to match. My soul isn’t for sale.

Regretfully yours, Lily (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Chock full of heat, hatred, and hilarious moments. An enemies to lovers story that will suck you in on the first page.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved like 80% of this novel, but the climax and conclusion disappointed me. So, I don’t really know how I feel. I started this book immediately after finishing the first book in this duology. I really enjoyed the first book and was excited about how it set the second book up.

Lily and Dean. They are so similar that even I wondered if they were going to kill each other, fuck each other or maybe both. They are both stubborn, determined, and closed off. They both love food and know what they are talking about. It doesn’t matter what they are doing, they clash. But there is an underlying passion that fills them both and it fights to break free. The sexual tension and chemistry are undeniable.

Josephine and Julian are important side characters in this book and I loved being able to watch them from afar. But they weren’t the only important side characters. Zoey was hilarious. She worked for Dean and she was one of my favorite characters. She stood up to Dean in a way that only she could and I loved it.

Unforentualy, I was extremely disappointed by the end of this book. It came off as childish and overdone. I understand that they both needed something to happen to get them to let go of their attitudes, but this did not work for me. I hate when women in romance novels just give in for no good reason and that’s what I felt happened. Lily is one of the most stubborn characters I’ve ever read, but when it came to the end of this book, I felt like she just gave in. It was out of character and it ruined the book for me.

The pacing of this story was spot on though. Enemies to lovers stories are all about the pacing. If they don’t fight long enough, it loses me. If they fight too long, it loses me. This one was perfect in that aspect. Hate kisses are one of my favorite types of kisses and this one had them!

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. Up until the climax, I thought it was going to get all 5 stars, but it really did ruin this story for me. I still recommend this series because I really enjoyed the first one and the majority of this book.

⭐⭐⭐