herding cats & burning soup: Quote-tastic/Review-- Big Easy Temptation by Shayla Black & Lexi Blake

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Woohoo! This series is so fun! It's contemporary romantic suspense-ish and has amazing characters. There's this group of guys who have been friends since they went to prep school together and now they're all grown up and crazy important people but that friendship is still there. Teasing and giving each other all kinds of hell. lol This is at a wedding and Mad's kind of a manwhore and spending time with the woman Dax is totally smitten with and, well, this happens. It just made me snort.

"Oooo, are we talking about who I think we are?" Maddox Crawford sauntered over with a smile. He'd already ditched his bow tie and looked as if he'd found the Scotch. He was carrying a crystal decanter of booze and several glasses. Mad was the very picture of decadence. "Because that girl is hot. That fine ass of hers nearly made the front seat of the Bentley smoke when I picked her up earlier."

Dax froze. "You picked her up?"

Mad flashed him a grin full of teeth. "She's my date."

Connor shook his head. "Yeah, we weren't going to tell him that."

Dax had never actually seen red before, but a dark swath of crimson coated his vision now.

"Uh, Dax, I was joking." Mad stepped back, his eyes wide. "She needed a ride. That's all. Joy wanted her here early, so Zack called me. Dude, you look like you're about to kill someone and I'm a little afraid it's me."

Dax took a deep breath. For a moment, he'd actually seen himself murdering one of his best friends over a woman, so maybe he had to accept that to him, she was more. "If you touch her..."

Mad nodded. "I'll die a really horrible death. Got it. You called dibs. I respect the dibs, man."

And then a whole lot of aw.

"I knew I was right to come to you, Holland. I knew you would be a safe haven. I might joke with you, but thank you. No one else is willing to listen to me. I knew you would."

"Because of that kiss?" Did he really think he had that much of a hold over her?

He shook his head. "No. Because I've always known you were the best woman I've ever met."

He slipped back into the apartment, and she was left with the beauty of the sun rising over the French Quarter and his words ringing in her ears.

Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)

Aaaaaaaaahhhh Dax! Gimme gimme! Big Easy Temptation... one hella sexy and intense read. Steamy and suspenseful. Plus a second chance romance? Gah! Yes, please! Blake and Black know how to write one seriously pulse pounding, can't-put-it-down romance. Loved it!

So the gist of it is that Dax and his friends have found themselves smack in the middle of a conspiracy and new info has him questioning an old family scandal that led to his father's suicide years earlier. Something just doesn't add up and needing help he lands on the door step of a woman he loved years earlier and who betrayed him and his family in the worst way while they were dealing with their family tragedy.

So the set up for this one is done in two sections.

1] Three years ago as Dax and Holland were falling in love (gah it's good!) and then things going all to hell

2] and then Present Day as he's shown up back in her life and they're dealing with seeing each other again, mending fences and trying to solve his father's case.

It's full of yummy sexy romantic goodness, heartbreak, thrilling suspense. All those fabulous things I look for in a romantic escape. So these two. Dax is a Naval officer and Holland an NCIS agent so that was pretty neat seeing them in such fields. I liked both of them as well. Holland is pretty badass and fierce (though I did hate her for just a little while over some things but we got past it lol) and Dax is just sexy and heartwrenching. Man I felt for him as he faced his family's darkest secrets. The man has determination and honor and is just a great guy (he can throw a mean barb though, whew!). I loved them together and ached for them when they were apart.

The suspense in this series is excellent. I wouldn't call it romantic suspense really but the mystery/conspiracy is exciting and keeps you guessing as this group of friends tries to figure out a danger threatening the President (one of the grop members). Mobs, murders, cover ups. It's fascinating and horrible. Each book is a full HEA but the conspiracy itself unravels a bit at a time with each book so best to read these in order for best experience I think.

The one issue I had is something I've mentioned before that bothers me. The hero said something assy which thoroughly pissed off the heroine and...she struck him. Followed by him thinking how he'd deserved it and then another woman saying "she should have punched you. Maybe she could have broken your jaw. An open handed slap reminds me of all those bitchy housewives on TV and that handprint shows. Real women punch. Or kick. You deserve a good kick in the gnads." Really? Meh. I hate seeing that in romance. That took half a star off this one.

All in all, though, other than that one quibble Big Easy Temptation hit all my good spots and left me eager for more from this group of friends. Addictive and simply captivating. Black & Blake are a smashing team and deliver time and time again.

Years ago, Naval officer Dax Spencer and NCIS agent Holland Kirk indulged in a steamy affair—until she betrayed him in the wake of his father’s death. Dax tried to put her behind him with a payback of his own. But he never forgot Holland…

Now, as Dax and his fellow Perfect Gentlemen unravel a web of lies, he discovers his family’s tragedy is part of a much larger conspiracy. Soon, all clues point him back to New Orleans…where Holland waits, protecting her deadly secret and holding a torch for the only man she’s ever loved.

Once reunited, they can’t fight the passion flaring hot and wild. But something sinister lurks around every corner, from the elegance of the Garden district to the beauty of the bayou. Dax and Holland may find their way back to each other—if they survive...