Pages

Tuesday, February 07, 2017

HOLDING ON TIGHTER (WICKED LOVERS #12)

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)





No comments:

Post a Comment