I don't like to give less than stellar reviews for a book. I HATE it in fact. I respect authors waaaay too much to do that, but still I want to be honest and true to myself and my opinion. 
 *sigh* I wanted to LOVE this book. Did I like it? I'm not sure. I'm lingering somewhere between "Okay" and "No". 
 First, I would like to say that my problem is NOT with Ms. Malpa's writing. The book is written well, and I enjoyed her writing style. My issues are solely with the story itself, and the fact that I didn't like any of the characters which made loving the book difficult overall. 
 I honestly adore the possessive, but loyal, alpha men craze that has permeated romance, but no matter how much I tried to like Jesse. I just couldn't. He's not appealing to me, at all. :( 
 He is so controlling that it was actually exhausting. He would blow up her cell with persistent and incessant phone calls, destroyed her clothes if he didn't like what she was wearing, and was constantly telling her to watch her mouth if she used a curse word. Yet, of course, he could curse up a storm if he wanted to. I understand that some men might want their women to be ladies on the street, (but freaks in bed) but I think he took it too far. It's a shame too, because there were some very sexy lines he used in the book that I would have in other circumstances found incredibly alluring. But since I couldn't like him, it didn't work for me. 
 Ava.... I don't even know what to say about this girl. She has some funny internal monologues, but she is so spineless that I found myself shaking my head almost the entire time. Hey, I'm human... I can relate to finding a man incredibly hot, and deliciously magnetic. I think many women, as much as it pains us to admit it, have let guys we think are sexy manipulate us into doing things because of our strong attraction to them. But at some point the fog clears... we start thinking with our brains INSTEAD of our v's and realize the guy is absolutely BANANAS!! Although Ava figures this out, her brain never seems to be able to take the wheel. She can't resist Jesse's sexual prowess at all. I believe the intent is to come off romantic, like a woman addicted to her man's love -- but it doesn't. It comes off desperate and pathetic. :( 
 Now, I am far from a prude as one can possibly be. I read erotica. I LOVE erotica. So sex scenes are not offensive to me. But in this book there are so many of them... Too many of them. Are they well written? Yes. Sensual? Most of them were. But there's just so much sex, that it made it virtually impossible for me to believe these two people are in love. Lust? Definitely! But love? C'mon. You have to talk a little more, show me a relationship outside of the bedroom to convince me there is more to this connection than just the physical for me to buy that. 
 So I've established that I don't particularly like Jesse or Ava, but who I really can't stand is Kate, Ava's best friend. She is the absolute worst best friend in the world! Does she support Ava? Be the voice of reason? No, not at all. She enables Jesse at every turn, and is basically his partner in crime in keeping Ava "in line". I was starting to wonder whose best friend she was supposed to be. 
 After reading my review, you might be thinking that I wouldn't recommend "This Man". I think if you like alpha dominating man who are very stalkeresque, you should definitely pick this up. Even though I didn't really love this story, I am interested to see how their journey ends so I do plan to finish the trilogy, and since I like Ms. Malpa's writing style I would definitely read more of her books. I just hope that in the future I find her characters more likable.