First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley and Montlake publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book. This was my first book by Naima Simone and I can honestly say that I loved it.
The plot was entertaining and really well-written. I could feel with both main characters, they fit together like a pair of gloves. What I loved the most though were their thoughts, friendship, and Miriam´s sense of humor.
Through the words of this author, I could see Miriam´s drawn illustrations playing like a movie directly in front of my eyes and her graphical story "Ravaged land" also became alive. I have to admid that alhough I am not the biggest fan of animes I truly appreciated the graphical vision.
This book was definitely a page-turner with everything man loves in a book.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Miriam and Jordan. Miriam is a co owner of a company with her two siblings and also a graphic designer. Jordan is an NBA player. There is an attraction. They have a one night stand and decide to be friends. This works till the attraction breaks through and they become lovers. They have some issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

Miriam has been burned before and is not willing to put herself out there to let it happen again. She's sworn off athletes and relationships in general - and for good reason. Jordan is everything Miriam wants but refuses to let herself admit to needing. He's the definition of the man she's been trying to avoid since getting burned.... or is he? I absolutely loved both Miriam and Jordan - two people fighting against who they were taught to be growing up and who they both know they are now. This book will stay with me long after finishing the last page, that's for sure!

Jordan and Miriam had pretty amazing chemistry and the badass-ness of Miriam from the beginning to the end was great! I also loved the love life lessons that I learned from Jordan and the way that Miriam learned as time passed about love and life made reading the book more meaningful. It was a pretty quick read and I found some of the wordings kind of cliche yet it was a good book overall :)

Absolutely couldn't put it down. 3.5 hours later... bam! Love the spunk and chemistry between the characters. Plan to read more books by the author!

Friends to lovers is not usually my fave trop, but I demolished this book in like a day and maybe that's bc I'm a perv and wanted to get to the part where they do sexy times. Spoiler alert- it was worth it.

Miriam is a quirky Mensa member who was dicked over(literally and figuratively) by a football player in college. She now has a “no athletes“ dating policy. She is best friends with Jordan-a rugged, tattooed, pierced basketball star. During a weak moment the two have raging hot sex, which is followed by her telling him it was a mistake and banishing him to the friend zone. Jordan is super hot for Miriam but stays in the friend zone in which he has been imprisoned.

Despite her no athletes policy, Jordan sets Meriam up with one of his teammates and she agrees only because he’s a widow- apparently her "no athletes" policy has fine print about widowhood. Also, despite the oppressive friend zoning, these two spend most of the book internalizing their white hot lust for each other (lots of groin tingles and sexually tense fists) and acting like they are dating with a lot of hugging and emotionally nurturing each other. They wasted 75% of the book not boning.

I will say that this is the yearniest friends to lovers book that I’ve ever read. Hey chuckleheads- you both want each other JUST GET TOGETHER!! With any lesser author, I would have thrown this book across the room due to my frustration with these peoples weak sauce excuses for not being a couple. But Naima Simone is a goddamn queen ruling over her smutty romance kingdom. She is able to implant you into the characters' inner turmoil and drama and wrap you up in their past traumas so that you totally buy their nonsense and you believe all of their bullshit. And the way she writes lust and sexual tension is magic. She’s a must read author for me.

This is the second book of the series (book 1 review is pinned next to this). Def recommend for a lusty, panty burner read.

Smut- 3.23 stars
Romance- 4.54 stars
Story- 4.72 stars
That cover model looks like John Travolta- 5.18 stars

Stars: ☆☆☆
Steam: 🌶️🌶️

Friends to lovers, second chance, miscommunication, stubbornness, and insecurities. Duel POV.

Successful and sexy basketball star Jordan Ransom is secretly in love with his best friend Miriam Nelson except Miriam has friend-zoned him after an amazing night together. Miriam is part owner of BURNED a successful full-service break-up company and has an issue with dating athletes. They both have been secretly pining for each other, but events from their pasts have scarred them. They both need to find a way to break down their walls which are making intimacy and communication very difficult.

An enjoyable read. I just wish the unique idea with Miriam part owning a break-up company was explored more, but sadly that was not the case. Plus, the cover model not matching the way Jordan is frequently described was a bit distracting while trying to connect with the character. This is my honest option, freely given.

I wanted to love this book so much, but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it and had to Do Not Finish at about 40%.

I really wanted to love Miriam and Jordan’s story. But this story just wasn’t for me.
Miriam and Jordan are friends. Miriam doesn’t date athletes and really she just doesn’t like them. Yet, her best friend is one. She helps his teammates break up with whoever they are with. They have a one night stand and really neither of them can stop thinking about it.
I just couldn’t get into the story, these characters. I spent most of the time just kind of frustrated with how they were acting and wish they would just go for it instead of just taking their time.

Miriam’s character was interesting and complicated. She’s a certified genius who isn’t taken seriously or given the credit she deserves because she doesn’t fit the typical mold. She’s independent, a little outrageous, and very much herself. I adore her. Actually, I kind of want to be her when I grow up.

I loved the relationship between Miriam and Jordan. It’s easy but with the constant edge of lust they both ignore after their one-night hookup when Miriam firmly friend-zones the basketball player.

Jordan, a prime example of the rags to riches story, struggles still with feelings of inadequacy, with being alone, and honestly just with feelings in general. He’s spent a long time shoving everything down he isn’t very in touch with himself. As he’s benched for an injury he worries he’s letting the team down and that his position won’t be waiting for him when he returns. The only place he doesn’t lie to himself is admitting how much he wants Miriam but accepts that he would rather have her in his life than lose her by pushing for more after she friend-zoned him.

While I liked the cast of characters and their individual plots and developments, I did struggle with the dating plotline. Jordan’s teammate expresses interest in Miriam and instead of admitting the truth he feeds his friend Daniel details about Miriam and allows Daniel to pretend he’s what Miriam wants. While done with good, if idiotic, intentions, the whole thing felt kind of gross and manipulative. It was no surprise when it blew up in all of their faces.

Despite all of that, it was a fantastic story with excellent characters, great writing, and I immediately went to grab the first book in the series when I finished this one.

I love that this book involves characters that are real with real issues. Jordan and Miriam are friends who become more than friends. Who doesn't love a friends to lovers trope right? However, this novel fell short for me personally. This was more of a slow burn and if your a fan of that then this is right up your alley. Also Miriam was written as strong character but some of her choices made me think what is she doing. Overall it was not what I expected but this author is usually great so I will give further books a chance.

**thanks to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review**

I really wanted to like this book but I have to say that I was not a fan of Miriam. Written as a strong, smart character, there were too many internal monologues that made me question her strength as a female character.

I'm confused... Looking at the cover, I don't feel like that's the book I read.

In my head, Jordan was an African American basketball star... Just as I believed Miriam to be African American (all though - there were parts mentioning her blonde hair - In retrospect, perhaps I got it wrong)... But I guess that is not really a good thing, if I can't get the mental images right.

But, anyway, the story was a rather classic friends-to-lovers romance - nothing bad about that, but also nothing new.

This book upset me because they were really playing with my emotions the back and forth the lies and omissions of feelings. I felt exhausted by the time it was over. However, Naima always manages to keep me coming back, this story was captivating and we got to see more of Burned Inc which I love and I can't wait for more in the series!

I read the blurb for this book and thought it might satisfy my need for a hot romance. This is a first-time author for me. 

In Ravaged, Miriam has sworn off athletes, but she has one huge problem -- she's in love with her best friend, Jordan who happens to be a sexy, tatted up basketball player.  

And Jordan -- he's in love with his best friend, too. Easy - peasy!

From the first pages, it's clear this is going to be story of these two figuring out what is important to them. I think that was one of the problems I had with this story - there weren't any real surprises here.

When Jordan encourages Miriam to go out with his recently widowed teammate, I wasn't sure if it was misguided or downright mean for him to do this. In any case, it was guaranteed to cause the conflict in the story. 

There were some aspects outside of the love story that I enjoyed. Miriam has a secret life as a graphic novelist and that was an interesting part of the story. The family business she's involved with also could have had more page time as it was a unique aspect to the story.

Overall, Ravaged was a predictable romance. I had a bit of trouble connecting with Jordan, partly because the cover of this book was in conflict with how I envisioned the character. The couples do get very steamy which saved the story for me, so if that's what you are looking for, Ravaged could be a good fit for you.

RAVAGED is the second instalment in Naima Simone’s contemporary, adult BURNED, INC erotic, romance series. This is twenty-seven year old, BURNED executive and graphic artist Miriam Nelson, and thirty year old, NBA star Jordan Ransom’s story line. RAVAGED can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty.Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Jordan and Miriam) RAVAGED follows the friends to lovers relationship between twenty-seven year old, BURNED executive and graphic artist Miriam Nelson, and thirty year old, NBA star Jordan Ransom. Miriam Nelson and her siblings Levi and Zora own BURNED, Inc, (Breaking Up, Reversing Nuptials, Evading Disasters), a professional break up service that does the ‘breaking up’ for their clients but Miriam is tired of the business, and wants to commit to working full-time on her secret career. Needless to say, no one knows about Miriam’s professional persona as a graphic designer, an anime artist with her own set of graphic comics but it is Miriam’s attraction to her best friend Jordan that fuels the fires of most of her stories, stories in which she and Jordan are the leading stars. Jordan Ransom is an all-star NBA player who has been sidelined with an injury, giving Jordan time to consider what and who he wants in his life. Having fallen in love with his best friend Miriam, Jordan knows Miriam doesn’t do relationships, and their one and only one-night stand left a small tear in Jordan’s heart. When Jordan’s teammate and widower Daniel Granger expresses an interest in Miriam Nelson, Jordan steps aside, only to realize he may have made the biggest mistake of his life. What ensues is the ongoing but struggling friendship between Miriam and Jordan, and the potential fall-out when both Miriam and Jordan refuse to admit they have feelings for one another.

The relationship between Miriam and Jordan is a best friends to lovers romance in which Jordan watches from the sidelines as his fellow teammate and NBA star Daniel Granger makes a play for our story line heroine. Miriam knows that hurting Daniel is the last thing she ever wanted to do but Miriam loves somebody else, somebody she knows better than anyone else. The $ex scenes are limited but intimate and seductive without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are reintroduced to Miriam’s siblings: Levi, Zora, and Zora’s boyfriend / attorney Cyrus (Heated #1), as well as their parents Reginald and Monica Nelson; Jordan’s mother Grace , his estranged father Michael, and fellow NBA teammate/widower Daniel Granger.

RAVAGED is a story of family and friendships, honesty and heart break, acceptance and love. The premise is impassioned and engrossing but predictable ; the characters are animated, sassy and spirited; the romance is passionate.


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I enjoyed this book. I warn you; it's going to have you feeling plenty of feels and lots of emotions. Miriam and Jordan were quite a pair of characters. I found myself going from shipping them so hard to desperately wanting to shake them. Still, I thought they made a wonderful couple, and I really wanted them to be together because it really felt like they were meant to be. It is a process though, and a journey with many ups and downs. All I've got to say is the struggle is real.

Very steamy read! Loved every minute! I enjoyed the character interaction and story line. First book I have read from this author and will be reading more in the future.

We met Miriam and Jordan in the first book, where her sister and his best friend got together. Miriam is the sassy sister, and I loved that this book focused less on their business (BURNED, where their team does the breaking up for clients). Jordan is a professional basketball player, and he's struggling with an injury. Miriam enjoys being part of the business with her siblings, but she has a secret side career that is really her passion.
Miriam feels like no one in her family really sees her, and Jordan struggles with abandonment issues stemming from his upbringing. Most of the book is both of them being desperately in love with the other, while sticking to being just friends after they had one night together. They struggle, and they had some conversations where you just wanted to yell at them to go for it.
I enjoyed this book more than the first. I wanted them to realize how good they could be together and stop being so afraid.

Ravaged (Burned Inc. Book 2) by Naima Simone is the second book in the Burned, Inc. series, but it can be read as a standalone. It is always nice to catch up with previous couples; Cyrus and Zora appear to be doing well! The same cannot be said about Miriam and Jordan; after a one-night stand, Miriam firmly and concisely placed Jordan in the best friend zone where he has reluctantly languished since. Due to a dysfunctional childhood and emotional trauma, Jordan has difficulty expressing his feelings and has abandonment issues. He has created a small support group but longs for Miriam to really SEE him. Miriam also has problems related to her upbringing and is commitment phobic. How will two people bridge the barriers to their love story? As usual Ms. Simone gives us an angsty story with plenty of heat and generous helping of romance.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC for an honest opinion!