WRECKED WITH YOU (Stark Security #4) by J. Kenner-Review & Excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 26, 2020
He never wanted a partner. And then she came along.
After more than a decade chasing shadows, Antonio Santos finally has a lead on the hiding place of The Serpent, the elusive villain who kidnapped him as a child and murdered his mother and uncle. But in order for Tony to get close, he’ll need access to an exclusive private island—where he can only enter with a woman on his arm.
Antonio goes to Stark Security to call in a debt … then walks out with Emma Tucker on his arm. A loner, Antonio isn’t interested in having a partner. He just needs a female. But the striking redhead’s skills soon impress him. More than that, her lush body and beguiling self-assurance tease his senses in unanticipated ways.
A long time operative with deadly skills, Emma resents being arm candy for someone else’s agenda. But the more she works with Antonio, the more she admires his razor sharp intelligence and formidable prowess. And when the island’s games push them over a sensual cliff, she can’t deny his talents in the bedroom, too.
As passion rises on this island playground full of lust and danger, they both fight the growing attraction between them. But with danger racing toward them from both on and off the island, they soon realize that more than their hearts are at stake. Because unless they can trust and rely on each other, they also risk losing their lives.
Charismatic. Dangerous. Sexy as hell.
Meet the elite team at Stark Security.
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REVIEW: WRECKED WITH YOU is the fourth instalment J.Kenner’s contemporary, adult STARK SECURITY erotic, romantic suspense series –a spin off from the author’s numerous STARK series. This is former Deliverance operative Antonio Santos, and former Sensitive Operations Command operator Emma Tucker’s story line. WRECKED WITH YOU can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary.
Told from first person perspective (Emma) and third person (Antonio) WRECKED WITH YOU follows Antonio Santos as he hunts for the man known only as The Serpent. Intel from the dark web directing Antonio to the excusive Debauchery Resort finds Antonio calling in a favor from Damien Stark, a favor that pairs him up with independent operative Emma Tucker, an agent whose current target is The Serpent as well. In order for Antonio to access the high-end sex club, he is going to need a female partner, and that partner is going to be Emma Tucker. What ensues is the building relationship and romance between Emma and Antonio, and the potential fall-out as Antonio gets some news that forces him to walk away from the woman with whom he is falling in love.
Antonio Santos doesn’t do relationships and he is currently all about taking down the man that destroyed his life. The Serpent’s true identity is unknown but to only a few, and with this Antonio is desperate to locate the man before he does any more harm. Emma Tucker’s earlier years were fraught with abuse and neglect. On the run with her younger sister for most of their lives, Emma did everything necessary to protect her sister from facing a future like Emma had endured.
The relationship between Emma and Antonio is one of immediate attraction but Emma refuses to work with a partner including Antonio Santos. Hoping to join the Stark Security Organization Emma believes she has blown her chance when she balks at a partnership with Antonio, telling Damien Stark to ‘go to hell’. Working together, as a couple, at the Debauchery Resort, Emma finds herself falling for Antonio Santos, a man who struggles with Emma’s true intent. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense. There are a few scenes of ‘foreplay’ using multiple partners and sexual situations.
The secondary and supporting characters include Emma’s sister Eliza and her mate Quincy Radcliffe (Shattered With You #1), and Denny and Mason (Broken with You #2), as well as the Stark Security Team including Ryan and Jamie Hunter, Cass Cunningham, and Nikki and Damien Stark. There are several couples and characters we meet at the Debauchery Club including Antonio’s informant The-Asst.
WRECKED WITH YOU is a story of betrayal, revenge, family and love; of desperation and retaliation; of erotic fun and ‘sexual debauchery’. The fast paced premise is engaging and captivating: the characters are colorful, energetic and animated; the romance is decadent and hot.
Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Shadows of You .5
Shattered with You
Broken with You
Ruined With You
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
NOTE: The excerpt is intended for mature readers only due to language and content
That was probably the first lesson I learned in life. A hard-taught lesson when he’d yell at me or slap me. Or worse.
He was supposed to love us. To protect us.
But “supposed to” is only the truth in a fairy tale world. We lived in the real world, my sister and me. And when it got to be too much—when there was nothing and no one we could turn to except each other—that’s when we ran.
I’ve done things I’m ashamed of. Things I had to in order to survive. To keep us safe.
And I learned a long time ago not to trust anyone but myself and my sister. Because the people who are supposed to protect you will fail you. And the people who are supposed to love you can just as easily be monsters.
But lately, things have started to shift. My world is opening, and people are surprising me. I’m letting down my guard; I’m letting people in.
It’s a mistake, and I know it. Because now he’s come into my life.
And though I know I need to keep my distance—though I know damn well that he’s going to hurt my heart—I can’t help but slide down that hill toward him, terrified all the while that he won’t be strong enough to catch me.
And even more scared that he will.
J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and #1 International bestselling author of over seventy novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.
Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, and paranormal mommy lit.
JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.” A five time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award, JK took home the first RITA trophy awarded in the category of erotic romance in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me (book 2 of her Stark Trilogy). Her Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series (as Julie Kenner) is currently in development with AwesomenessTV/Awestruck.
Her books have sold over three million copies and are published in over twenty languages.
In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
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Thanks for another wonderful review and excerpt.
Great review, loved the excerpt.
Looks great, thanks for the wonderful review.
Wonderful review, Sandy. Looks very good, and a great excerpt.
Great review, Sandy. Looks like another good story by Kenner.
great review, sandy. sounds good. thanks.
Terrific review, Sandy. Looks like another good one by Kenner.
Thanks for another great review and excerpt
Great review, Sandy. Sounds like a terrific story.
Great review and excerpt, thanks.