Wicked Heat (Wicked Nights 4) by J. Kenner-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 10, 2024

From the moment he’d seen her at the home of his billionaire father, former race car driver and bad boy Ashton Stone craved Bree Bernstein, his half-siblings’ stunning nanny. He couldn’t have her though—not when his life was so entwined with secrets and scandal.

Then he’d seen her at the airport bar and instead of walking away, he’d bought her a drink. Then another. And when a storm grounded their flights, he’d made a mistake and tried to take her to bed. That’s when she’d bolted.

For years, Bree has hidden the truth of those nightmarish days when she’d been held captive, forced into despicable acts that, once rescued, she’d believed were in the past. Until the tapes.

Now, she’s being blackmailed, and if those tapes go public, it won’t be just her life that’s in tatters, but that of an innocent child caught in the crossfire.

Desperate, she goes to the only man who can help her pay the blackmailer and keep the secret—Ashton Stone. Now, her future is in his hands—but the price he demands is one she’s not certain she can pay—Her.

•••••

REVIEW:WICKED HEAT is the fourth instalment in J. Kenner’s contemporary, adult WICKED NIGHTS (formerly Stark World) erotic, romance series. This is former race car driver turned investor Ashton’ ‘Ash’ Stone, and former nanny turned romance author Bree Bernstein’s story line. Ash Stone is first introduced in ENCHANT ME. Bree Bernstein is scattered throughout the interconnected series but for back story I recommend reading LOST WITH ME.

If you have not read any of the previous story lines, there may be spoilers in my review.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from first person (Bree) and third person (Ash) WICKED HEAT follows four months after an almost one-night stand between our story line couple. Approximately six years earlier, Bree, and Nikki and Damien Stark’s daughter Anne were abducted, and Bree is struggling with the loss of memories and ongoing nightmares. Fat forward to present day, Bree is blackmailed with a video of her time in captivity, the only person that can help is the man that she continues to push away. Enter Ashton Stone, Damien Stark’s son from a previous relationship, and the man with whom Bree will fall in love. What ensues is the building but struggling relationship between Bree and Ash, and the potential fall-out as the betrayal against Bree, comes at a cost for our story line hero.

The world building reveals some of the childhood trauma endured by Ashton Stone, and the abuse suffered by our heroine that she is unable to remember. For a price, Ash is willing to pay Bree’s blackmailer, a price that may be too steep for our heroine’s heart.

The relationship between Bree and Ash is a friends to frenemies to lovers. Due to the past trauma, Bree struggles with any emotional attachment or the possibility of falling for a man who could destroy her heart. With issues of trust, and ongoing PTSD, Bree is willing to walk away before ever trusting again. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

The secondary and supporting characters included Noah Carter and Kiki Porter (Wicked Torture 3), as well as Bree’s friends Aria, producer Matthew Hold, and TV personality Maggie Bridge. Aria and Matthew’s story line is next in Wicked Fortune.

WICKED HEAT is a story of betrayal and greed, obsession and determination, acceptance and love. The premise is dramatic, captivating and emotional; the romance is seductive; the characters are desperate and broken.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Wicked Grind
Wicked Dirty
Wicked Torture

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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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