Devoted to Love by Shayla Black-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

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DEVOTED TO LOVE (Devoted Lovers #2) by Shayla Black-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway Tour

DEVOTED TO LOVE
Devoted Lovers #2
by Shayla Black
Release Date: July 2, 2019.
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic, romantic suspense

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

He was sent to guard her body… he didn’t expect her to steal his heart.

Her sister’s wedding was hardly the place to find a hook up, but after one look at friend-of-the-groom and special operative Josiah Grant, small-town Texas beauty Magnolia West immediately fell in lust. After a stunningly sensual night together, Maggie is prepared for the two of them to go their separate ways. After all, she’s not a happily-ever-after kind of girl. But Josiah—and danger—change her plans.

Josiah isn’t looking for love…but Maggie rouses his body and stirs his heart like no other woman. She’s got a rocky romantic past, and a smart man would steer clear. But when the murder quotient in Kendall County rises and all signs point to a mysterious group nearby who have been harassing Maggie’s family, he can’t leave her unprotected—especially when he realizes he’s fallen hard for her.

As tension mounts and the menace closes in, Josiah will do anything to prove to Maggie that their love is real…but can they stay alive long enough to share it?

•••••••••••••

REVIEW: DEVOTED TO LOVE is the second full-length instalment in Shayla Black’s contemporary, adult DEVOTED LOVERS erotic, romantic suspense series. This is former CIA agent and EM Security special operative Josiah Grant, and rancher Magnolia ‘Maggie’ West’s story line. DEVOTED TO LOVE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Maggie and Josiah) DEVOTED TO LOVE follows the building relationship between former CIA agent and EM Security special operative Josiah Grant, and rancher Magnolia ‘Maggie’ West. Josiah and Maggie met at the wedding of Maggie’s sister Shealyn West and Josiah’s friend Cutter Bryant. A one-night stand leads to something more when the suspicious murder of a neighbor leads to the investigation of a cult known as the Enlightenment Fields and its’ leader Adam Coleman. Enlightenment Fields is amassing land in and around Comfort, Texas, and the West Family ranch stands in their way. What ensues is the growing love and relationship between Maggie and Josiah, and the potential fall-out as Enlightenment Fields targets Josiah and Maggie, and Maggie’s family ranch.

Maggie West struggles to accept that Josiah wants anything beyond a one-night stand. Prickly, petulant, defensive and stubborn Maggie’s attitude reflects her fear of abandonment and never finding love. Josiah Grant doesn’t waste any time pushing all of Maggie’s buttons but our hero is determined to claim Maggie as his own. With the Enlightenment Fields cult threatening anyone who refuses to cede, Josiah and the security specialists from EM Security must take precautions to take down the people involved.

The relationship between Josiah and Maggie is one of immediate attraction but Maggie is headstrong and refuses to accept that their is a happily ever after in her future. Josiah Grant is a Dominant in the bedroom but Maggie refuses to give up control. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate, and erotic with some mild scenes of spanking and discipline.

There is a large ensemble case of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including Shealyn West and Cutter Bryant; EM Security co-owner Logan Edgington; security agents Zyron and Trees; Pierce ‘One-Mile’ Walker and Brea Bell; Maggie and Shealyn’s grandparents Glenda and Jim West; deputy Kane Preston; 911 operator Dixie Hill; ranch foreman Sawyer; and several members of the Enlightenment Fields including Mercy, Marcus, Michael and Adam Coleman.

DEVOTED TO LOVE is a story of family, friendship, betrayal and love. The fast paced premise is engaging, entertaining, and captivating; the characters are numerous, dynamic and determined; the romance is seductive and steamy. DEVOTED TO LOVE is a suspense filled that is sure to catch your attention.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Devoted to Pleasure
Devoted to Wicked
Devoted to Love

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

 

Maggie was shocked to feel her hand tremble when she put her fingers in Josiah Grant’s massive palm. He’d been more than nice to look at, and she’d already entertained more than one fantasy about how hot he might look out of that sharp charcoal-gray suit. But now that she was actually going to touch him, her brain felt in eminent danger of short-circuiting. How the devil would she manage if he actually kissed her? Peeled off her clothes? Thrust his hard cock—which should be large, given the size of his hands—inside her?
She’d combust on the spot.
“Sure,” she managed to murmur while seeming somewhere between cool and detached. It was her signature move.
As they reached the dance floor, the party tune faded away, replaced by Ed Sheeran crooning that he’d love the woman in his arms until he was seventy. As Josiah pulled her close and began to sway to the slow beat, she peered up at him. Her lashes fluttered, along with her heart. She sucked in a breath. God, she had to stop being such a nervous idiot. He was a man. She was a woman. This would probably be nothing more than a fling she’d enjoy the hell out of.
But looking into his eyes, she wasn’t so sure. They weren’t blue or green or brown or even hazel. They were more unusual. They were a glinting gray with a thick fringe of lashes against tanned skin. That gaze, along with the buzz of his brown hair, made him look somewhere between exotic and dangerous. And he was staring right at her, looking entirely serious.
Mercy, what was it about this man?
He swallowed like maybe she got to him, too.
“So . . .” She searched for a conversational topic to cut her nerves.
“So . . .” He smirked in return.
“You actually can dance. I’m impressed.”
He let loose a laugh. “See? I’m a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”
Josiah glided them around the floor effortlessly, turning her under his arm, reeling her in closer, then settling his hot fingertips in the middle of her bare back before he caressed his way down her spine and placed his palm close to her ass.
Lord, he felt good. Maggie tried not to imagine how his fingers would feel skimming her whole body with that soft, unhurried stroke. “Tell me . . . Were you in the service, like Cutter?”
Josiah shook his head. “CIA.”
Wow. “That sounds dangerous.”
“The mortality rate was higher than, say, for an accountant.”
“Why do I get the feeling that’s an understatement?”
He simply shrugged. Okay, he didn’t want to talk about it. Or couldn’t. She respected that.
“How long have you worked for EM Security?”
“About a year. I signed on because I wanted to learn from the best. Then a few months later, Caleb Edgington retired. Thankfully, his sons have proven anything but amateur. What about you?”
Since he’d done important things like save the world, he would laugh a million times at what she’d chosen to do with her life. At least he’d never guess. It wasn’t as if a guy like him would ever read an Azalea North novel. In fact, no one had figured her secret out yet, not even her sister.
“I’m . . . on hold right now. Shealyn has this big life to lead, and now she’s married. My grandparents are needing more help as they get older. Papa fell last week. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt, but Granna can’t lift him. I barely can. And she can’t remember to take her medicine half the time. They’re little issues, at least right now. But they’re going to require more care in the coming years.”
“What about your mom? Can she help?”
Maggie bit back something pointless he wouldn’t understand and she’d probably regret. “She lives in Costa Rica with her husband and my ten-year-old half brother. Up until the last few months, she really hasn’t been in my life. We’re, um . . . getting to know each other.”
“You didn’t grow up with her?”
She shook her head. “Long story.”
Hopefully, he’d read between the lines. In her book, it was a closed subject. She still wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about her mom. A few conversations didn’t erase a whole childhood of resentment, but Maggie wasn’t the sort to hold on to hate. And it wasn’t as if her youth in Comfort had been terrible.
“What about your parents?” she said to fill what could become an awkward silence.
“Long story, as well.”
In other words, he had secrets he’d rather keep, too. Fine by her.
The silence she’d been trying to avoid fell between them. Surprisingly, it wasn’t awkward at all. But it was tight, full of awareness. She could feel herself yearning to be closer to him. But what blindsided her was his desire for her. It hung so thick in the air it was almost tangible. Like a blanket, it wrapped around her, warmed her from the January chill that blew in under the tent. It left her no doubt what he thought or wanted.
The song ended. Neither one of them moved, simply stared. Those wicked fingertips of his prowled their way up her bare back again, making her shiver, before gliding down in a barely there caress.
“Josiah?”
“How much longer do you have to stay at the reception?”
Half dazed, she scanned the room. Her sister was wrapped in her husband’s arms on the opposite corner of the dance floor. Granna and Papa had already retired. Brea, bless her, had finally managed to calm her stomach enough to enjoy the festivities. The rest of the guests had either left or kicked off their shoes, started their third drink, and gotten ready to party.
“Not another minute. Are you planning to take me to bed?”
He cupped her cheek, looking like he wanted to kiss her. Instead, he backed away, teeth gritted in restraint—for now. She had a feeling that moderation wouldn’t last.
Josiah took her hand. “Yes, I am.”


 

 

Shayla Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than forty novels. For over fifteen years, she’s written contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances via traditional, independent, foreign, and audio publishers. Her books have sold well over a million copies and been published in a dozen languages.

Raised an only child, Shayla occupied herself with lots of daydreaming, much to the chagrin of her teachers. In college, she found her love for reading and realized that she could have a career publishing the stories spinning in her imagination. Though she graduated with a degree in Marketing/Advertising and embarked on a stint in corporate America to pay the bills, her heart has always been with her characters. She’s thrilled that she’s been living her dream as a full-time author for the past seven years.

Shayla currently lives in North Texas with her wonderfully supportive husband, her teenage daughter, and a very spoiled cat. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, reading, and listening to an eclectic blend of music.

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The Reading Cafe and Penguin Random House are offering a paper copy of DEVOTED TO LOVE  by Shayla Black to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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32 thoughts on “Devoted to Love by Shayla Black-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway”

  19. Great review, TRC/Sandy! Shayla Black is an author I’d read some not her books before. Thanks for this opportunity! ?

    Please enter me for the giveaway.
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  22. This sounds good. Love reading Shayla Black’s books.
    I liked Shayla Black on Facebook.
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    *hugs* Kristine

  29. This one sounds fun. Please enter me in the giveaway.
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  30. I love Shayla’s books! Please enter me in the giveaway!

    I already follow Shayla Black on Facebook, like and get notifications on Facebook, like on Twitter, follow on Goodreads, and follow on Tumblr.

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