Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Tell Me What You Want

Rate this book
I'm an influencer by day and a shameless tease by night.

He's an ex-con. And my older brother's best friend.

I offer Reed an opportunity to help him get back on his feet after being released from prison.

He's reluctant. He's on probation, loyal to my brother, and doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize his freedom.

So we agree that his identity will remain a secret and that my brother will never find out.

First published October 3, 2023

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Lucia Franco

25 books4,073 followers
Lucia Franco has written over a dozen romance novels. Her emotional stories often include an age gap and forbidden love.

Her novel Hush Hush was a finalist in the RWA 2019 Stiletto Contest. Her novels have been translated into several languages.

Lucia resides in South Florida with her husband, two boys, and five pets. She was a competitive athlete for over ten years – a gymnast and cheerleader – which heavily inspired the Off Balance series. When she isn’t writing, you can find her at the beach getting slammed by waves or wandering through her butterfly garden.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
311 (23%)
4 stars
412 (31%)
3 stars
394 (30%)
2 stars
135 (10%)
1 star
51 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 29 of 283 reviews
Profile Image for currently being delulu .
425 reviews172 followers
October 14, 2023
Update I would like to add to the fact that the author posted a deleted scene where her best friend her & the hero have a threesome of sorts ….

And they still stay friends
Oh and this happens when the girls are like teenagers & he’s 8 years older than them .. bc he walked in on them kissing.. LMFAO I can’t with these authors anymore I’m gonna give this a one star now.




I keep thinking I’ll fall back into this authors writing style but idk what happened but she just doesn’t do it for me anymore.


I like angst/good plot/drama/actual sexual tension/

And it seems like no one Wants to write that anymore these days. it’s always what can get me to be a TikTok hit the fastest. And how tropey & vibes can I make a book without actually putting a plot in the works.


I miss when authors actually use to care abt what they write, but now it seems like everyone just “ copy’s & paste each other”. or repeat themselves over & over again.

In this case it falls on the second option. This is exactly a replica of hush hush & you’re mine tonight, but just in a not so different front.

Look I’m not an author & Ik it’s hard now a days to come up with new ideas, and not repeat yourself especially when the author feels drained out. But this is literally what she wrote in her last two books it’s the exact same plot.

Promiscuous heroine ✔️

Confident sex loving heroine ✔️

She’s a baddie ✔️🙄

Her & her girl bestie both toats bffs 4ever ✔️

No guy can tame her here comes the hero ✔️

It’s just all so similar to me, & on top of that it’s just boring I don’t care that she’s involved in sex work. I don’t care if her brother has a problem with it and he suddenly regrets his harsh words and is now an up to date modern feminist man 🙄🙄


Give me a fucking break all these authors are so scared to write what they normally would everything has to be “ woke” & “ modern” to fit TikTok ppls standards so they can become a best seller.

What happened to story telling “ fiction” where we separate books from actual real life I guess some authors are just too sacred to be canceled.
Profile Image for ❥ KAT ❥ Kitty Kats Crazy About Books.
2,414 reviews9,953 followers
October 13, 2023
pizap-1 MY REVIEW AND OTHERS can also be found on my blog:
╰┈➤KITTY KATS CRAZY ABOUT BOOKS

༺✿ 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 ✿༻ Is a full length brothers best friend romance book, spoken in dual perspectives. Reed and Vanessa

Wowzas! This was a 🥵🔥🥵🔥little number! Luckily my iPad survived the heat scorching off the pages, when this author gives us spice she goes all out.
It’s decadent, it’s sinful, it’ll melt the undies off a nun!

These two were dynamite 🧨🧨🧨🧨

gifntext-gif

By day Vanessa is a makeup beauty influencer, garnering herself with over three hundred thousand followers. At night she becomes a cam girl going by Poppy where the kink comes out which she's hidden from her brother, with fears if he knew what she did in front of the camera he'd disown her.

Reed's newly released from prison and is trying to get back on his feet again with the help of his best friend Noah, Vanessa's brother. He offers him their secluded cabin, wheels to get around in and a job working beside him in construction.

It's at the cabin where Vanessa does her night time live recordings, it's also where her and Reed re encounter each other again after many years not seeing the other.

He's shocked to see how much she's grown up
She's shocked to be in the same room as her old crush.

Being in such close quarters doesn't take long for these two to ignite.

Email ಇ Twitter ಇ Instagram ಇ Blog ಇ Facebook ಇ Amazon 
ಇ Pinterest 
Profile Image for Christy.
4,234 reviews35.1k followers
October 18, 2023
3.5 stars

I love Lucia Franco's writing. She is insanely talented and can always draw me into a story. When I saw this was a brother's best friend book and the hero was recently released from prison I was so excited to read it. I liked Reed, the hero, a lot. I found Vanessa unrelatable and it took a while for her to grow on me. The beginning and the end were great for me, but there were parts in the middle that were just a bit too much for me personally. If you're looking for something forbidden, fun, and steamy this may be the perfect book for you.
Profile Image for Kealyn.
394 reviews33 followers
October 9, 2023
In this novel we follow Reed and Vanessa. Vanessa is a beauty influencer and a call girl at night. I love that she is passionate about both jobs. And truly does her best to excel at both.

Reed just came out of prison and is trying to get back on his feet. He is Noah's - Vanessa's brother - best friend. And Noah offers him to stay at the cabin that both he and Vanessa own. But Noah doesn't know about Vanessa's other job, and he doesn't know that she uses the cabin to film episodes for her cam girl page. 

And that is exactly where Vanessa and Reed meet. Sparks instantly fly and they have an enormous attraction. At first he doesn't recognize her. But things quickly develop. I loved the little flashback to their first sexual encounter years back. 
They have incredible chemistry and I adore them together. They are both so kind, generous and right from the get go committed to each other. 

I like that this book normalizes working in the sex industry. But I also love Noah's reaction to it at first. And I love how Vanessa constantly checks how far Reed is willing to go. Like I said, the book is pure fire but boundaries are respected and I loved that.

We also read a lot about Reed's mother. And that felt a little bit like a missed opportunity. She is talked about, but not really in the book. I wish he was with her more. I wish we could have seen her living in the house he so desperately wants to give her. And that she maybe was at the wedding. 

And are Ivy and Noah getting their own book? If so then I understand the approach this book took. If not, then I wished we saw a little bit more of them. 

Overall a really enjoyable book. At first I thought Reed would be a bad boy after coming out of jail. But he is a total sweetheart and it suited him. I am glad he and Vanessa got their happy ending. 

4 well deserved stars from me! 
Profile Image for Haley Jean.
272 reviews2,939 followers
December 11, 2023
so imagine ur older brother had this really hot best friend… and he just got out of prison 😳 so he ends up staying at ur brother’s cabin and you run into each other again 😁 he tells you that he is looking for extra cash 🤨 so you invite him to secretly costar in your onlyfanz videos 😛

this was like 75% smut and the smut was hot
but i was skimming by the end— the super fun concept was not as well executed as it could have been. i liked how the MMC did have character growth, especially regarding his attitude/language towards s*x workers. but the FMC didn’t have much personality aside from her two careers.
Profile Image for NMmomof4.
1,651 reviews4,583 followers
November 5, 2023
2.5 Stars

Opinion Breakdown
The Good: The sexy times and premise.

The Not-So-Good: The lack of depth in characters.

The Bad: The last 1/4 of the book felt repetitive in the drama and lacking plot-wise.

Overall: This was what I consider pure smut. Nothing wrong with that! If that's what you're looking for, this was a pretty steamy read that will be right up your ally! I just got bored and ended up skimming.

Brief Summary of the Storyline: This is Vanessa and Reed's story. Vanessa is shocked to find a man in her family's cabin where she goes to film her secret sex videos with her alternate personality. Reed just got out of prison and isn't expecting to see his best friend's sister all grown up and tempting. They had a secret encounter years prior that neither of them forgot, and the sparks fly instantly. When Vanessa reveals what she's there for, Reed is furious, but after a while and realizing how much money they could make which he needs, he starts participating in her videos. There is some family drama, some sweet moments, and a good bit of sexy times...and they get a HEA ending.

Point Of View (POV): This alternated between Vanessa and Reed's POV.

Overall Pace of Story: Alright. I did skim the last few chapters because I wasn't feeling it anymore, but that could've been a me thing and not the pacing.

Instalove: No, but some feelings were there from their past.

H (Hero) rating: 3.5 stars. Reed. I liked how protective he was of the H.

h (heroine) rating: 3.5 stars. Vanessa. I liked her strength and sassiness.

Sadness level: Low, no tissues needed

Push/Pull: Not really

Heat level: Hot. They have some hot tension, chemistry, and many scenes -- and I would call this smut because the amount of it (vs erotic romance where it's balanced more on the romance part)

Descriptive sex: Yes

OW (Other Woman)/OM (Other Man) drama: No

Sex scene with OW or OM: No

Cheating: No

Separation: No

Possible Triggers: Yes

Closure: This ends in a pretty good place with what I would call a HEA ending

Safety: This one should be Safe for most safety gang readers
Profile Image for Batool Zainab Suleman.
134 reviews30 followers
November 2, 2023
No Substance Except Arousal Fluids

No plot, no character development, subpar writing, and about 70% smut. I expected better from Lucia Franco, but I am, as I have been for the past few months, disappointed in my latest read.

To clarify, I LIKE smut, I love reading smut, I look for books with good smut. My issue is that I expect a good story/good characters from Franco, and she didn't deliver.
Profile Image for Caitlin (The Love Librarian).
620 reviews1,237 followers
October 3, 2023
Tell Me What You Want is the forbidden romance between Vanessa, influencer by day/cam girl by night, and Reed, her older brother's best friend who was recently released from prison.

Vanessa secretly films all of her cam girl footage at her family's cabin, and is shocked to see that Reed is living there for the foreseeable future until he gets back on his feet. These two had tension before Reed was locked up, and it seems like that tension picked right back up where it left off. The book started a little slow with these two circling each other and Reed being wary of Vanessa as a woman and cam girl. However, things get interesting when he realizes just how much money the two of them can make together. Their adult videos may be the key to getting Reed back on his feet faster than he realizes.

The majority of this book was mostly about the sex between these two. It wasn't until much later in the book that I started to feel the emotions between them, which is why I knocked it down a star. The truth behind why Reed went to prison was a nice layer on top of everything else. I also liked that the angst picked up after Vanessa's brother (Noah) found out about their relationship and her cam girl gig.

As for Noah, I get why he reacted the way he did, I really do, but me and him would've came to blows the way he was talking to Reed and Vanessa!! I'm not sure if I personally would've forgiven him, but I was glad for Vanessa and Reed's sake that they were able to eventually get on smooth ground with him.

TROPES: age gap (11 years); brother's best friend; forced proximity; ex-con hero; influencer and cam girl heroine; forbidden; positive sex worker representation

TRIGGER WARNINGS: death of parents;
Profile Image for Valkyrie ✨.
652 reviews878 followers
February 12, 2024
Lucia Franco and I just don’t vibe.

Her characters and I don’t click. I don’t understand her female characters and how overly sexual and male coded they read. Her smut feels off to me and even when she writes women supporting other women, it feels shallow and fake.

This one tried to sell me sex work a bit too hard. How wonderful and empowering and lucrative it is. And how everyone in the story speaking against it were closed minded assholes. And how easy it is to make 70k with a few vanilla clips. I don’t appreciate it when a book tries to preach on me, no matter if I agree on the matter or not. And that’s what I felt with both books by Franco I’ve read so far.

So I guess it’s time to part ways in amicable terms. Best of luck to her heroines. I’ll see myself out.
Profile Image for Jamie Davis.
26 reviews10 followers
October 4, 2023
Talent wasted

First, let me say, I'm glad I used my Kindle membership instead of purchasing. This author has more talent in her finger than most have in their entire body. Her ability to convey emotions, set a scene and develop characters is second to none. That being said, her last three books have been horrible. Her main female characters are promiscuous and lead glorified lives with little to no redeeming qualities.

There is no moral high road. Now, don't get me wrong and believe that the low rating is because I'm a prude and cannot stand the spice level. I love a good forbidden or taboo book, especially one with heat and an angisty story line. The authors s*x sense are second to none however her heroine is completely unrelatable, morally corrup (not by her "job" so much as her justification, acceptance and desire to drag Reed into the depravity). Again, we touch on both characters being bi s*xual. Why is it necessary for Mrs Franco to have these same s*x encounters with her lead female characters? What value does that add other than to future entrench the idea that Vanessa is horribly promiscuous and most likely an addict?

This author cannot get away from the morally loose and promiscuous characters she's created in her last three books. I don't understand why such a talented author would choose to continue to use the same basis for her settings.

This book was again, a huge disappointment from Mrs Franco. Her talents are being wasted. If you want a sticky finger read, this is it. If you want a sticky finger read, that gets you're heart involved, wherein the characters jump off the page and stay with you - this is NOT the book for you.
Profile Image for Kateryna.
456 reviews
August 12, 2024
Solid one for me. Coming off a caper, I kept waiting for another shoe to drop wrt the PO but this is a decently built up HEA. Way more time than I was expecting, which was great.
Profile Image for Christi (christireadsalot).
2,309 reviews930 followers
November 15, 2023
3.5 stars! Tell Me What You Want is a forbidden, erotica romance with age gap, forced proximity, and brother’s best friend! This was my first time reading this author and since I went in knowing this was more erotica, I feel like my expectations were met and it was just a fun time!

Vanessa is a beauty influencer by day, and a cam girl by night! One night she’s headed to her family’s cabin, where she secretly films her cam sessions, and is surprised when someone else is there. She finds Reed there instead, her brother’s best friend who she hasn’t seen in years. Reed is recently out of prison and staying at the cabin for a while as he gets his life figured out. Vanessa has always wanted Reed, they even have a bit of a steamy history, and the heat between them cranks up fast when they find themselves in the same place!

Knowing this was erotica more than anything, I feel like I wasn’t looking for an extensive plot, so I also wasn’t surprised that they hop into the sheets together quickly. Not to say there isn’t a plot or feelings coming into play in the story, especially with the last half. The voyeurism and cam girl action was fun! There is tension and complications once her brother finds out about them together, as well as about Vanessa’s cam girl work. Her brother became her guardian when she was a teen, so he definitely has strong feelings about Vanessa and Reed together. While Vanessa wasn’t always my cup of tea, she felt a bit over the top, in the end I think her and Reed are a good match for one another.

I received an audio ALC from Forever and Always PR, all thoughts in this review are my own.
Profile Image for dany.
675 reviews50 followers
October 3, 2023
As the title says TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT… I WANT TO MARRY THIS BOOK.

ARC Review (English/Español) - All opinions are my own

❤️📸🪵🌟


What a comeback! It’s been 3 years since Lucia Franco published a book, and the wait is so worth it.
I believe very few manage to write the forbidden trope as good as Lucia does, she’s a league of her own. With the forbidden comes longing, tension, and passion which Vanessa and Reed deliver perfectly. A SERVE.
Our main girl, Vanessa, has gone through a lot, and she learned how to paint her world with colours regardless of her situation 🌈. It was so fun to read how she did social media aka ‘Blush My Cheeks’, I genuinely felt I was watching a GRWM video… such cozy vibes. When it came to Poppy and Sanctuary Vine omg I fell in love with her confidence! She kept it on the low but had no trouble defending what she does. Her friendship with Ivy is goals, such a girls girl (if you know what I mean), it’s so wonderful when the FMC has someone she knows has her back all the time! Vanessa’s brother, Noah, had me feeling a bit conflicted but I understand him, they did have quite a few cute moments and in the end it’s clear that when you love someone, nothing could break that bond. By the way, Ivy and Noah’s (it’s complicated) relationship reminded me of the audio that goes like ‘walk him like a dog sis walk him like a dog’ lol I hope there’s more to see in the future about them.
Now, our main bad boy with the heart of gold, Reed… I have a lot to say, I could write entire paragraphs but I’m going to keep it short. It was refreshing to read his POV. I understood so well how he felt when doubting about his future and whether or not he’s deserving of second chances, ofc he is. He’s the real definition of a cinnamon roll and oh boy is he whipped for Vanessa 🤭 I have to quote her for his description; This man is all meat and alpha on the outside, but on the inside, he’s a total cinnamon roll. {perfect perfect perfect}. Ahem, he tried to fight his attraction for her but he didn’t count with how much of a seductress she is. Gosh, I kind of felt proud of him because I think he had a beautiful journey of self discovery, and I must recognise it’s because of Vanessa he was able to start all over again in a life full of colourful promises.
I adored Vanessa and Reed as individuals, but I’m FERAL for them as a couple. I blushed hard reading some scenes like dang the mouth those two have ❤️‍🔥 so hot! Miss Franco had no business making their spicy scenes that good. I’m not kidding, the first one is a flashback and it had me sweating and don’t get me started on their miniseries whew. I loved how each scene felt different yet super passionate, trust me, it doesn’t matter the place this couple knows how to get the horizontal tango done 🫡. Plus, the last 5% of the book had me smiling like a fool at my kindle, it couldn’t have been more perfect. AND when the title made sense, aaah, it was satisfactory.
Thank you Lucia Franco for this masterpiece. Vanessa and Reed are now alongside Kova & Ria as one of my all time favourite couples 💖.

If you are looking for you next spicy, forbidden, light angst read look no more because this is it! I’m telling you what I want right now and that is to please read this book you won’t regret it. 🎀

~

¡Qué regreso! Han pasado 3 años desde que Lucía Franco publicó un libro, y la espera sí que valió la pena.
Creo que muy pocos logran escribir el trope de lo prohibido tan bien como lo hace Lucía, ella es punto y aparte. Con lo prohibido viene el anhelo, la tensión y la pasión que Vanessa y Reed demuestran perfectamente. ICÓNICO.
Nuestra chica principal, Vanessa, ha pasado por mucho, y aprendió a pintar su mundo con colores independientemente de su situación 🌈. Fue muy divertido leer cómo manejaba las redes sociales alias 'Blush My Cheeks', me sentía así como que estaba viendo un video de GRWM... tales vibes acogedoras. Cuando se trataba de Poppy y Sanctuary Vine omg, ¡me enamoré de su confianza! Lo mantuvo bajo el agua pero no tuvo problemas al defender lo que hace. Su amistad con Ivy es goals totalmente, una girls girl (si sabes lo que quiero decir), ¡Es tan bonito cuando la protagonista tiene a alguien que sabe la apoya todo el tiempo! El hermano de Vanessa, Noah, me tenía un poco confundida pero a la vez lo entiendo, tuvieron bastantes momentos lindos y al final está claro que cuando amas a alguien, nada podría romper ese vínculo. Por cierto, la relación de Ivy y Noah (es complicada) me recordó el audio que va como 'walk him like a dog sis walk him like a dog', lol espero que haya más que ver en el futuro sobre ellos.
Ahora, nuestro protagonista masculino el chico malo con corazón de oro, Reed... tengo mucho que decir, podría escribir párrafos enteros pero voy a ser breve. Fue refrescante leer su punto de vista. Entendí muy bien cómo se sentía cuando dudaba de su futuro y acerca de si era merecedor de segundas oportunidades. Él es la verdadera definición de un rol de canela (dulceeeee) y oh boy si es que está obsesionado con Vanessa 🤭 tengo que citarla para su descripción; Este hombre es toda dureza y alfa por fuera, pero por dentro, es un rol de canela total. {perfecto perfecto perfecto}. Ejem, trató de luchar contra su atracción por ella, pero no contó con lo maestra de la seducción que es. Gosh, me sentí orgullosa de él porque creo que tuvo un hermoso desarrollo de auto descubrimiento, y debo reconocer que es debido a Vanessa que fue capaz de empezar de nuevo en una vida llena de promesas coloridas.
Adoré a Vanessa y Reed como individuos, pero me convierto en alguien FERAL por ellos como pareja. ¡Me ruboricé al leer escenas porque dang la boca que esos dos tienen ❤️‍🔥 Miss Franco no tenía por qué hacer sus escenas picantes tan buenas. No estoy bromeando, lo primero spicy que ocurre es un flashback y me tenía sudando y no me hagas empezar con su miniserie whew. Me encantó cómo cada escena se sentía diferente pero súper apasionada, créanme, no importa el lugar que esta pareja sabe cómo hacer el tango horizontal 🫡. Además, el último 5% del libro me tenía sonriendo como tonta a mi kindle, no podría haber sido más perfecto. Y cuando el título cobra sentido, aaah, fue satisfactorio.

Gracias Lucía Franco por esta obra maestra. Vanessa y Reed están ahora junto a Kova y Ria como una de mis parejas favoritas de todos los tiempos 💖.

Si están buscando una próxima lectura picante, prohibido, de angst ligero ¡Pues no busques más mi corazona! Te estoy diciendo lo que quiero ahora mismo y es que por favor leas este libro, no te arrepentirás. 🎀
Profile Image for justlarissareads.
170 reviews20 followers
October 30, 2023
I was so excited for this book, but I sadly DNF'ed about 20% in! I refuse to believe this was written by the same author that wrote Hush, Hush and the Off Balance series...
Profile Image for Ashley (aflowersreads).
606 reviews59 followers
Read
October 5, 2023
DNF @ 25%

I just can’t get into this one. I know Lucia loves her spice (and I love her for that) but this (so far) is reading more like erotica to me. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I don’t think I need a 350 page book of it. Now I understand I’m only 25% in, but it hasn’t captured my attention enough to want to continue. I feel like there wasn’t a lot of build up to that first spice scene between Vanessa and Reed. I just needed more.
47 reviews
October 10, 2023
I was disappointed in this book, mainly because it really lacks a good meaty plot line. The author seems too focused on writing as many sex scenes as possible instead.

Most of it just is about how much sex the two protagonists are having, the forbidden aspect being that these fully grown ass adults are worried about the heroines brother finding out. Please!

And don’t get me started on the whole porn industry theme it heavily features and glamourises. Still trying to figure that one out. Is it a recent trend on TikTok?

I agree with another reviewer who noted that nowadays these authors are too focused on pleasing their social media following and they are too scared to take risks anymore.
That’s what she’s done - with mediocre writing and “steamy” sex scenes (which mostly do nothing to further the plot) that guarantee attention and TikTok hits.

It’s Lucia’s old work ironically that singled her out as an author in the first place.
Profile Image for ForeverreadinG.
162 reviews
October 4, 2023
I’m tired of this ‘woke’ shit. What a flop.

Oh and I didn’t ask for FF scenes in a supposedly MF romance. Who Tf does what they did in the name of experimenting that with their bestfriend and calls it a day?
And don’t even get me started on the Hero and his time in jail apparently.

I can’t read a decent MF book anymore.
Dnf at 21%
Profile Image for Liz.
315 reviews44 followers
October 2, 2023
Oh my gooossshhhhhh, Lucia never disappoints! This book was great and the spice was delicious!🥵🔥

Vanessa is a beauty influencer by day and a cam girl by night. I loved how confident she was with herself and her body. She was such a boss babe and I loved that so much for her. 💖🔥

Enter in Reed, her older brother’s best friend who just got out of jail. Vanessa has always had a crush on him and she’s ready to get a piece of Reed when they bump into each other.

✨“You should know me by now, Reed. We’re each other’s dirty little secret. If one goes down, we both go down.”✨

Reed was very hesitant on Vanessa’s secret life but over time… his view changes. And when he joins in on her fun… wowwza, that melted my kindle. 😮‍💨🥵

✨“My thong is drenched right now. Seems like we have more things in common these days than we think.”

“I’d lick those panties just to know what you taste like,” ✨

I’m not gonna say too much now but I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves spice. You don’t be disappointed. 🤭😏😏
Thank you Lucia for the ARC!🖤

📷 TROPES 📷
•Cam Girl/Beauty Influencer
•Ex-con
•Forced Proximity
•Brother’s Best Friend
•Age Gap (11 years)
Profile Image for Noor 👾.
663 reviews41 followers
October 6, 2023
the walmart version of hush hush but make it even worse 😵‍💫 i can’t believe that this turned out bad, some authors needs to come up with new plots because the repetitive cam girl/bad boy is getting OLD and nothing interesting happens from the beginning to the end!! no angst even lol ! hoping she doesn’t disappoint me with xavieravery because they’re my most anticipated from this author since 2022
Profile Image for Jenny Lovez Bookz.
580 reviews137 followers
March 10, 2024
This was alright until it wasn't. I'm all for smut but this came across as trying too hard. There was no depth to the characters and Vanessa especially was unrelatable
Profile Image for Joanna.
963 reviews11 followers
January 2, 2024
So. . . I guess I'm the minority here but I really hated this 🥴

This was my first time reading something from this author and I decided to start with this one since the blurb got me really curious so maybe I had big expectations but this was kind of a mess. . .

I didn't connect with the characters at all. Don't get me wrong, I love strong heroines but the "I'm not the typical girl" type just made me roll my eyes and the hero was also so bland. . . and don't get me started on the story, I mean, what story?! I wanted more development instead of boring plot. . .

This ended up being really boring for me. . . so yeah. . . happy new year to me 🥴

Even so, I have a few books of this author on my TBR so I hope those will be better 🤷‍♀️

▬ 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: brother's friend, secret relationship, friends with benefits, LGBT
▬ 𝐭𝐰: domestic violence, death
Profile Image for Emmi (bookish_redpanda).
478 reviews29 followers
October 18, 2023
I wanted to love this book. The tropes of brother's best friend and age gap got me.

I've been following Lucia on IG for a while since I started slowly working my way through her Off Balance series, and saw all the hype and the teasers for this one, and it seemed right up my alley. And then I got into the thick of it.

This is an erotica book. Very minimal plot. Probably about 80% spice. And in all honesty, the spice was kinda repetitive after a while. Very minimal character development. Characters that were very one-dimensional and didn't really grow throughout the book - though when the entire book takes place over three months, what growth can be done?

It was only as I was reading it that I realized just how... lets say problematic some parts of it were. Did I finish reading it? Yes. Was it a decent read? Also yes, it kept me entertained between ARC reads of other books when I needed a break from all the dark romance I've been devouring. But as others have stated, there are some problems.

Vanessa. I hate to say it, but she's the root of most of the problems. Yeah, okay, her childhood sucked a little with the age gap between her and her brother, losing her parents and being raised by said older brother so she didn't end up in the system. Tragic backstories are FMC staples these days. It's her contradictory views on sex work - it's okay for her to be a cam girl, but heaven forbid if you're a stripper. She's a beauty influencer - something that I feel is quite dated nowadays. She seems to only be focused on money and the potential of retiring early. Whilst I understand this (coming from a profession where I'll literally be working until I die, especially in this financial climate), that should not be your entire focus. Yes, with the changes in the plot seeming to develop her character slightly, she still remains very one dimensional.
I also feel she's very shallow, in the sense that beauty does appear to be skin deep for her - she's 23, and had breast augmentation surgery because of her "bee sting A-cups". I could dive more into that, but that would take us on a whole new rant. And the throwaway comments of both MC's being bisexual? Just that. It was a plot device, not a character trait. Especially in regards to Vanessa's experimentation as a teen which started this "relationship".

Then Reed. I wanted to love him. He's the bad boy, ex-convict. Which again I feel was used more as a plot device to give reason for Vanessa and him to reconnect, rather than for character growth/development. The response from Vanessa when she finds out? Honestly, totally not realistic, no matter what you feel for someone. She was almost blasé about it all. If my fiance was to turn around tomorrow and tell me he did the same thing, I'd be walking away instantly.
Reed's ease at "flipping" his choices - especially when it comes to the cam-girl stuff - makes him feel a lot younger than his 30-odd year old self. I'm in the age bracket he is, and I can say that all the guys my age? They wouldn't make half the choices made, because they're mature. Reed is definitely thinking with his dick like an 18 year old.

And the fact that they were No one else think that was a major issue?

There are so many more issues that I've found within, but I honestly can't even cobble together the words for it.

This could have been an amazing story exploring the world of the taboo nature of cam-girls/paid sexual content (see Nyla K's Only For The Fans). But it just fell short on so many levels for me. I'm honestly surprised I finished the book.
Profile Image for Suzy.
32 reviews
October 10, 2023
I’ve been foaming at the mouth waiting for a new Lucia Franco book. This woman knows how to write a well written age gap, angsty, spicy book!

In this book we meet Vanessa who is a beauty influencer by day and a cam girl by night. This is a character I truly enjoyed. She was the whole package. Her brother has no idea about her cam gig and that she uses her family’s cabin for her cam girl videos. She heads up to the cabin and is surprised to find that Reed (her brother’s best friend who just happened to get released from prison) is staying at the cabin until he can get back on his feet.

You can only imagine what these two get into. It took me a bit to really feel the feelings between these two but once I did they were complete fireworks!

I totally recommend reading and finding out all that happens and how Vanessa’s brother (Noah) and Reeds best friend reacts to when he finds about Vanessa’s gig and their relationship!
Profile Image for Judy Portelles.
387 reviews49 followers
November 27, 2023
Tell Me What You Want is a forbidden romance, brother’s best friend, forced proximity and age gap. This was so much fun and the spice was delicious!! Lucia Franco never disappoints. Vanessa and Reed’s chemistry was omg so good, I loved them together. I also loved all the banter between Noah & Ivy so much fun.

I highly recommend the audio, Lidia Dornet and Sebastian York did an amazing job narrating this.
Profile Image for Mer.
202 reviews479 followers
November 8, 2023
3.5⭐️I enjoyed this book! I did the audio and the narrators were great!! A tad too long and the FMC was not my fav, but I still liked it. The spice was the hero of this book, Lucia is the queen of a spice scene and there were lots in this book🔥
Profile Image for sophie.
65 reviews93 followers
October 10, 2023
I went into this book with high expectations Lucia is one of my favorite authors. The book just felt way too rushed and fast-paced, I know this is a standalone but considering that this is a “forbidden” book it just all happened too fast. The “forbidden” aspects that I’m used to from Lucia had a downgrade. The whole “bad boy” talk gave me the ick so bad as well yikes.

Lucia hasn’t published a book since 2019 which you can tell. The writing isn’t her best, the story lacks creativity and quite frankly I was bored a lot while reading. What I can say though is that the smut scenes were top-notch. After all those years Lucia can still write a bomb sex scene that’s for sure👀

What I really enjoy in Lucia’s books are the close-knit female friendships. Vanessa and Ivy definitely got an upgrade if you know what I mean💋👀 I mean I can’t say no to a homoerotic friendship, can I? The plot though was just boring and we’ve seen it too much for it to be special. Vanessa's brother definitely was… special… let’s just say that punch was DESERVED! Reed was something new. Most time I felt like he was a wolf or something at some times because of the ways he was described we all got you were in jail please shave now… Anyway, the book was enjoyable just nothing special like I said.

This arc was provided to me by Lucia’s team
Profile Image for freyleyce.
435 reviews262 followers
November 7, 2023
Solid four stars. I lowkey thought they were a little shallow in the beginning I’m not gonna lie, but the last bit really stepped up with the lovey-dovey shit and the sex stepped down. Wouldn’t have minded one more scene at the end though…yknow
My biggest problem is how the fuck am I supposed to believe this man says oh my goodness? What the fuck
Displaying 1 - 29 of 283 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.