đź’śCraved by You (Stark Security/ 1001 Dark Nights) by J. Kenner-review & excerpt tourđź’ś
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 17, 2024
Maxim Wilder is finally exactly where he needs to be in the Manhattan cell of Group Ultra, a deadly and lucrative arm of a major criminal organization. Everything is in place for him to pull off the biggest job of his career—until a woman he’s never been able to forget shows up and threatens to destroy all his hard work. So what choice does he have but to snatch her? To keep her hidden, safe from everyone. Except him.
Cami Green has more secrets than most. The terrible family she left behind. The boy who destroyed her when he walked away. Even her covert job at Stark Security. It’s a life that keeps her mind busy and her heart safe.
Then the job puts her face to face with him. Max Wilder. The boy who broke her heart. The dark and seductive man at the center of a dangerous conspiracy. The bastard she’s determined to take down. Too bad she didn’t count on being kidnapped. Locked up. The only way to get free is to play along and look for an opportunity. And as his touch draws out lost memories, all Cami can do is hope to keep her head, and not fall for the criminal she’s come to destroy.
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REVIEW:CRAVED BY YOU by J. Kenner is a contemporary, adult, romantic suspense instalment in the author’s STARK SECURITY series,-a spin off set in the author’s interconnected STARK worlds, and a part of the 1001 Dark Nights multi-authored series. This is Maxim Wilder and Stark Security Agent Cami Green’s story line. CRAVED BY YOU can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
Told from first person (Cami) and omniscient third person (Maxim) CRAVED BY YOU follows the second chance relationship between our story line couple. Maxim and Cami were childhood best friends-Cami came from an abusive and broken home, Maxim’s father disappeared early in his life. A perceived betrayal pushed Maxim out of Cami’s life, each of them entering into the world of international espionage and security. Fast forward to present day, Cami’s latest assignment with Stark Security finds her facing off against the man who broke her heart, a man who is now working for the other side but Cami’s assignment spirals out of control when she finds herself the prisoner of our story line hero, a prisoner who discovers not all is as it appears to be. What ensues is the quick rebuilding relationship between Cami and Maxim, and the potential fall-out as a madman is determined to destroy the world.
The world building focuses on the past and the present; betrayal and vengeance for sins of the past; and dysfunctional family dynamics that threaten to take down our story line couple.
The relationship between Cami and Maxim is one of second chances. Childhood friends whose lives imploded by secrets and lies, secrets that reveal betrayal by someone they knew. Determined to destroy the woman he once loved, research will reveal the truth about what happened and why. The $ex scenes are limited but intense.
The secondary and supporting characters are limited. We are introduced to madman Killion Lambert, as well as the return of Braxton and Samantha (Entwined With You 8), and Ryan Hunter (Stark International Series).
CRAVED BY YOU is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, forgiveness, acceptance and love. The fast paced, character driven premise is intriguing and suspenseful but the conflict resolution and any fallout is limited and off page-I also guessed the twist; the romance is hot and heavy; the characters are desperate and dynamic.
Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Shadows of You (1.5)
Shattered with You
Broken with You
Ruined With You
Wrecked with You
Destroyed with You
Memories of You (5.5)
Ravaged with You
Hidden With You
Charmed with You
Tangled With You
Entwined With You
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
We were one, he and I. Two halves of a whole.
That’s what he’d always said.
That’s what I’d always believed.
Together, our childhood days had been marked with laughter and sunshine. Our teenage nights with heat and hunger, the days with plans and promises, caresses and kisses.
We’d shared our dreams. Our hopes. Our bodies.
We discovered passion in each other’s arms. There was trust. There was love.
And there was betrayal.
That’s when my world tilted without warning. He was gone, with only a scribbled note as proof he’d existed at all. His absence like a wound upon my soul.
I thought I’d never see him again. The boy who’d once been mine. The man who’d disappeared, taking my broken heart with him.
But now he’s back, swathed in a cloud of danger and betrayal, tied up in a conspiracy that could destroy everything I hold dear. Cold where once he was warm. Hard where once he was soft.
Deceitful. Dangerous.
Desirable.
I want to hate him. I want to hurt him as he hurt me. And yet the bond we shared still tugs at my soul, and all I can do is hope that I have the strength to hold fast to my mission. To fight the man he has become…and not lose myself in the memories of the man I wish he was.
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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