SWEETEST TABOO (S.I.N. #3) by J.Kenner-Review and Book Tour
SWEETEST TABOO
S.I.N. #3
by J. Kenner
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic, romantic suspense
Release Date: October 4, 2016
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / ibooks / Google Play /
About the book: Release Date October 4, 2016
All eyes are on us . . . and there’s nowhere to run.
Everyone has their own ideas about Dallas Sykes: He’s a reckless billionaire, a devilish playboy, a man who gets whatever he wants the minute he wants it. But I know the real Dallas behind the money, bravado, and power—and he’s completely, blissfully mine.
We carefully guarded our secrets, and in each other’s arms we sought refuge from our dark past. Our pain became our pleasure, our control within the chaos. But we could only hide from the truth for so long.
Now we’ve let loose our inhibitions and are ready to face the future. And no matter what people think or say, coming clean is its own sweet reward.
••••••••••••••
REVIEW: SWEETEST TABOO is the third and final installment in J. Kenner’s contemporary, adult S.I.N. erotic, romance series focusing on adopted siblings Dallas Sykes and Jane Martin. Dallas is the heir to a billion dollar enterprise, and Jane is a child advocate, and author. The S.I.N. series is a spin off from J.Kenner’s STARK series. SWEETEST TABOO should not be read as a stand alone as the story line continues upon the events of the first two books, and picks up immediately after book two.
SOME BACKGROUND: Seventeen years earlier, Dallas and Jane were victims of a brutal kidnapping that left our couple emotionally and psychologically scarred but none more so than Dallas Sykes. In the hopes of capturing the people responsible, Dallas and his former SEAL buddies are the founding members of a vigilante organization known as Deliverance that uses alternative measures to exact revenge, and all information points to someone close.
Told from first person point of view (Jane) and third person perspective (Dallas) SWEETEST TABOO follows in the aftermath of Dallas’s reveal of who he believes was responsible for the abduction and torture seventeen years earlier. As Jane and Dallas begin to piece together all of the information leading to the same conclusion, threats of another nature target Jane in the hopes of destroying her relationship with the man that she loves.
Once again, SWEETEST TABOO and the S.I.N. series continues to be a sexually graphic story line about a taboo relationship between adopted siblings. The psychological and emotional damage inflicted upon on our story line couple continues to perpetuate through threats and the knowledge that their kidnapper and abuser is someone they know. The media and paparazzi hassle the couple taking aim at their ongoing relationship. The $ex scenes are numerous, graphic and erotic, although our hero is no longer in the same, dark place he once was because of the love he shares with the woman of his heart. Sadly, many of the $ex scenes felt like filler-I was more interested in the actual story and found myself skimming to get on with the plot. I was hoping for a little more meat to the story and in the end it felt like a rush to the finish.
For me, the person(s) responsible for the kidnapping was easily deduced (and predictable) from book one but for others the revelation may not be as obvious. The taboo of adopted siblings in a sexual relationship may be difficult for some readers but they are not blood relatives- only two people raised together due to tragic circumstances.
SWEETEST TABOO is the culmination of two people struggling with their love for one another under the public and private scrutiny of taboo relationships and forbidden love. The premise is suspense filled and entertaining but oft times melodramatic; the characters are passionate and memorable; the romance is heartbreaking and emotional; a struggle towards a happily ever after.
Reading Order and previous reviews
Dirtiest Secret
Hottest Mess
Sweetest Taboo
Copy supplied by Netgalley for review
Reviewed by Sandy
She stood before him, breathing hard. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
He frowned. “I hurt you.”
“No. No, I’m fine.” She shook her head, but he knew better. “Dallas, please. I don’t want—”
“What?”
“Distance.” She dragged her teeth over her lower lip as if she was unsure about how he felt.
“Oh, baby. No. Never.” He held out his hand. “Come here.”
She cocked her head, then narrowed her eyes. “Where?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
The speed of her reply sang in his heart. “Then let me take care of you.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “If you’re thinking about putting me to bed, you can just stop that nonsense right now. I’ve been in a hospital for almost two days. Between boredom and sedatives, I’m all caught up on my sleep.”
“I promise, sleep is the last thing on my mind.”
That was a little bit of a lie. She’d protest, he knew, but she needed more sleep. Good sleep, not with nurses popping in and out and a sterile bed with the scent of hospital disinfectant permeating the room.
She’d sleep, all right. But he intended to make sure she was ready for it. That she would drift under, safe and warm and content in his arms.
Gently, he drew her into the bathroom, her favorite room in the apartment. The previous owners had knocked out a wall, turned the small second bedroom into a closet, and used part of that space to make room for a steam shower and an oversize whirlpool tub. The day they’d moved in, Jane had told him this bathroom was a little slice of heaven.
He turned the water on, cranking up the heat the way he knew she liked it, then he stood her on the dense, white rug that filled most of the space.
“Are you tending me?” Her voice was as teasing as her expression, and it was all he could do not to gather her close and sigh with contentment. Yes, he knew she was still aching and sore. No, they didn’t know who her attacker was. Yes, her birth father was locked in a cell, and Dallas was the one keeping him there.
But none of that mattered. Not then. All he cared about—all he could hold in his head—was Jane. That she was alive. That she was his.
That she’d come back to him.
“Damn right I’m tending you. Now put your hands up,” he added with mock sternness.
She complied, and he peeled off her scrub top, delighted to find that she wore nothing beneath it. Her breasts were perfect, round and firm, and as he watched, her nipples tightened and her areolae puckered. He wanted to roll her nipples between his fingers. He wanted to taste her breasts and feel her arch back and moan, her tits hard and hot in his hands as he licked and sucked, taking her so far that she came in his arms simply from the pressure of the desire building between her legs.
Not now. Not yet.
Instead, he met her eyes. Then he lowered his gaze to her chest, watching it rise and fall as her desire heightened to match his. Her pulse quickened in her throat, another spot that he wanted to lick and tease.
Slowly, he reached for the drawstring of her pants. His fingers brushed her abdomen as he did, the touch so light it was almost negligible. It was enough, though, and he felt the shock of that connection all the way down to his cock. He was rock hard and straining against his jeans. And when her pants slid over her hips to the floor—when she stood before him completely naked—he had to fight the battle of his life not to step forward, slide his hand between her thighs, and feel the creamy heat of her arousal.
Instead, he simply stood and stared and wanted, his gaze caressing her. Reviewing every curve, every nuance. He knew her body as well as he knew his own, and the bruises he saw on her thighs and hips started a slow burn inside him.
He was going to kill whoever did this. No doubt. No question.
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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