Jolie
Quinn is a woman in charge. Her no-nonsense attitude has made her a rising star
in the fashion world and her brand a household name among the Dallas elite.
Nothing will stop her from achieving her goals—not even the gorgeous British
security contractor who seems just as interested in seeing her personal assets
as he is in protecting her professional ones.
After
a tragedy left him broken, Heath Powell made a rule of staying unattached. But
Jolie challenges him in a way he can’t ignore, and he isn’t used to backing
down from a confrontation—especially when the reward for winning could feel so
good. As passion blazes between them, the stubborn, confident beauty arouses
more than his desire. She touches his heart.
When
a mysterious enemy threatens Jolie and her company, Heath is the only person
Jolie can trust to help. But working with him to save her business might put
her dangerously at risk of falling in love…
Release Date: February 7, 2017
Romantic Suspense
Berkley Publishing Group
Wicked Lovers series book #12
Review copy provided by the publisher
Nikki’s Review:
I have followed this series from the beginning. Shayla Black
took my breath away from the first page of Wicked
Ties (book #1 in the series) and has left me starry eyed ever since.
I'm just going to come out and say it...I had a wee bit of a
struggle getting into this one. Which was shocking, because in all the previous
novels, I devoured them in one sitting. It wasn't that it was bad or anything
like that, it was just slow moving. But you know, I could totally get over
that. It's not that big of a deal. What I can't get over is when the hero,
Heath, picks up a random woman at a bar, has sex with her in said bar, and then
later that very same night, has sex with the heroine! Gross! And the kicker,
the heroine, Jolie, knows that he hooked up at the bar because she saw him!
*shudders* At least Heath was enough of a gentleman to shower first *insert
sarcasm here*.
Ok, so I had to make a conscious decision to just move on from
that, because in all honesty, I wanted to put the book down. But I couldn't put
it down because it's Shayla Black for crying out loud! And she is pretty damn
awesome!
I liked, Jolie from the get go! She's strong, independent, and
wickedly sassy. She's jaded and shies away from emotional entanglements. But
there's something about Heath that gets to her. She wants him and that just
pisses her off.
Heath has never gotten over a tragedy that rocked his soul to
its core. He merely moves through life, not really living, but drowning himself
in his work and faceless women. Jolie is the first woman in a long time that
has made him crave more.
I really enjoyed watching Heath work for Jolie's heart. She was
an enigma to him. Women normally throw themselves at him, so this was new
territory. It was entertaining to say the least!
Once I got passed the bickering between them, the chemistry hit
me full force. There was no denying that the bed aerobics was going to be
sweaty and delicious! Shayla Black has never let me down in the sexy times
department in her books. Her heroes are always so wonderfully filthy. Heath was
certainly no exception!
Like all the other books in this series, there is a
mystery/suspense back story. It keeps things moving quickly (after the initial
slowness at the beginning ) and allowed me to put my super sleuthing to the
test, which apparently I'm awful at! I love a good romantic suspense novel as
long as it doesn't take over from the love story. The romance is first and
foremost for me. It was a good balance. I didn't feel pulled out of Jolie and
Heath's journey as a couple.
The writing is incredibly solid in this book. The attention paid
to detail is obvious and adds a lot to the overall plot. I often wonder
sometimes how Shayla keeps her books from all sounding the same. It would be
easy to follow a recipe and just change the characters names, but she doesn't
do that. Each book is a different journey with unique characters that draw me
in.
So, after a bit of a bumpy start, I was able to fully immerse
myself in Shayla's Wicked Lovers world. I'm glad I didn't let the icky bar
scene sour me, because I truly loved getting to know Jolie and Heath, and visit
with some of the characters from previous books. I'm really looking forward to
the next book! Shayla set up the epilogue so it left me wanting the next story
right now. But that's how it works with this author...I always want more! I
want to stay in her fictional world and go another journey.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (B)
