The Darkest Hour by Lauren Smith – a Review

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / BAM / Book Depository

Description:
Royce Devereaux isn’t your average sexy professor. He has a lot of rules in his professional and personal life. He keeps both worlds separated. He has to. He’s somewhat of a public figure—and yes, he’s made enemies climbing to the top. Being a world-famous paleontology professor doesn’t mix well with his romantic life. He likes his sex rough, and a whole lot of naughty. Which means his students are 100% off limits.

One problem. His new graduate student assistant, Kenzie. She looks at him like a kid looks at birthday cake, and he doesn’t like it. Except, he does. He likes it too much. She’s feisty and smart—which only makes him want to tie her up and master her body. And her buttoned-up librarian look—it makes him want to strip her naked…slowly. He has to find a way to ignore her. It’s only one semester. Right?

But when an enemy decides to use Kenzie to force his hand, Royce has no choice but to keep her close. Very, very close. His two worlds have just collided. He just hopes he can let her go once the danger is over…

Review:

The Darkest Hour by Lauren Smith is the 4^th book in her Surrender series.  I have not read the earlier books, but this read very well as a standalone.

We meet our heroine, Mackenzie ( Kenzie) at the start, as she is working overtime on her job as a TA (assistant) to a paleontology professor.  Someone breaks into the building, and she is attacked and manages to escape.  Kenzie calls her professor for help, and he tells her to meet him at a club. 

Royce Devereaux, is Kenzie’s boss, and he is very hot and sexy; but Royce keeps his life separated by his job as professor, and his personal life, especially after hours. When Kenzie meets him at the club, she is shocked at the kind of private club it is, with lots of inhibited sex in every corner of the club.  Kenzie has always had a hidden crush on the handsome, sexy rich Royce, but he always treated her as hands off.  Royce finds out that the people who broke into his office were Russian Fossil smugglers, and he needed to get Kenzie to safety.

Royce is a Dom, in a world of sex and BDSM, which he lets no one know about.  He too has been attracted to Kenzie, but was determined to keep her away from his secret professional life.  As the danger escalates, Royce brings his friends to help him find the Russian smuggler who is after him, and at the same time protect Kenzie.

The romance between Royce and Kenzie begins fairly quickly, as she feels her attraction to him heating up, and also feels the sexual pull of a world she has never explored before.  What follows is a sexy, action filled and intense story that will hold our attention throughout.   Royce and Kenzie were great together, as their chemistry flew off the wall.  Royce loved his sex rough & naughty, and soon Kenzie wanted more and more of what Royce stood for.  I am not really a fan of BDSM, but Smith did a very good job of keeping it light and sexy, concentrating on their sizzling feelings for each other. 

The mystery puts both Kenzie and Royce in the center of danger, and had us holding our breaths, especially with the evil villians that Smith created. Besides the smuggling of fossils, the bad guys also were involved with human trafficking.  It was an exciting, edge of your seat, tense and intriguing race to the finish. 

The Darkest Hour had a bit of everything, including romance, great couple, suspense, sexual, and an excellent wild adventure.  Lauren Smith once again writes us an exciting, sexy story, and amazes us at how she can write so many different genres (Regency, Paranormal, Romance, etc) and do them so well. If you like a hot sexy romance, with a bit of mystery and intrigue, I suggest you read The Darkest Hour.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for review