I Blame Kindle Unlimited

 

TITLE: He Knows When You're Awake

AUTHOR: Alta Hensley

PUBLISHER: Avon

PUBLISHING DATE: November 4, 2025

PAGES: 320   

SOURCE: Kindle Unlimited

FROM GOODREADS: Stalking in a winter wonderland...

Jewelry designer Sloane dreams of launching her own custom line—but she needs a Christmas miracle to pull it off. With traditional banks turning her down left and right, she can’t resist when a mysterious stranger offers her a lifeline. 

I see what she creates in those stolen moments when she thinks no one’s watching. I see everything. There's a darkness at her core and I will unravel her until I find it. 

Reclusive billionaire Cole Asher offers to fly Sloane out to an ultra-luxurious Swiss resort for a meeting. Reluctantly, she agrees—only to realize she’s met him once before in a New York bar. 

She is crucial to my plans, and I need her close. She insists that we keep things professional, and I comply. But soon she will realize that every line is blurred when it comes to her and me. 

Cole offers to back her company—but there’s a cost. To secure his investment, Sloane must move into his Manhattan penthouse, where she’ll complete her first round of designs for him to review before Christmas. 

Sloane throws herself into her work, yet soon the attraction between her and Cole becomes undeniable. As the city sparkles with Christmas splendor from her penthouse view, Sloane wonders if she has stepped into a fairy tale—until Cole's powerful enemies close in. They will stop at nothing to destroy him, including going after the woman he loves. 

I will burn down the world to get her back...and it will be in time for Christmas.

MY THOUGHTS: After I read the first book in this series last month, I saw this one on KU and vowing to get my money out of the subscription service, decided to give it a go.  I will say I probably need to revise my rating for the first one to a 3/5 because I liked this one more.  It was less stalker-y, but still a tad icky- creepy.  Let's just say I liked the plot of this one better but liked the characters in the first one better.

Sloane works for a company designing jewelry.  However, she is tired of doing classic feminine styles and wants to do something edgier and more fantasy driven (aka sexually driven as well, one might say). She wants to start her own company but is having trouble getting backing. Enter Cole.  He is a billionaire who also has an interest in the jewelry business and a bigger interest in Sloane himself.  He offers to back her new line if she agrees to move into his penthouse where he has built her a state-of-the-art workshop and live there, as long as she gets the line ready for release in six weeks.  Oh, and there are cameras everywhere because he has to protect the secrecy of her designs and because he has several ulterior motives, once of which include voyeurism.  

Sloane knows Cole has some secrets and her friend (the MC in the first book) believes he might have had something to do with another popular designers' death.  But Sloane is adamant to be a success, and the fact that she just might be falling for Cole only makes her judgement cloudier.  

This book, which still spicy, just didn't seem to "ick" me out as much as its predecessor. I also feel like overall the book has more plot to it.  It gives off a lot of Christmas vibes and there is an adorable puppy named Havoc toward the end that I couldn't resist. 

There isn't much more I can say about this book.  If it sounds like something you'd like, pick it up and if not, thanks for sticking with me during my trek to the dark side.  I now return to my regularly scheduled programming 😂

MY RATING: 4 PAWS