ARC Mini-Review: Indecent Secrets (Indecent Series)

Indecent Secrets (Indecent Series)

Erika Wilde

Blurb:

Bryce Rivers is gorgeous, arrogant, and nothing like I anticipated. That’s okay, because I’m not going to be what he expected, either.

Seducing him should have been a piece of cake, until I discover he’s hiding a few indecent secrets of his own.

 Secretly infiltrating myself into this land development company wasn’t about the money, it was about making a difference. When I heard that the head of the organization had died and his nephew had inherited the entire corporation, I thought I finally stood a chance to persuade him to my way of thinking.

The new guy wasn’t at all what I’d expected. For a reported “recluse”, he was surprisingly charming, intelligent, and had a rapier wit that matched my own. Our attraction was mutual and scorching hot, which made it incredibly easy to seduce my way into his life and hopefully use that influence to steer him to make changes.

The man knew how to set my sheets on fire, but he wasn’t easily swayed. This might have started out as something impersonal between us, but the more I got to know him, the harder I fell for him, which wasn’t the plan.

I could only hope that once I made my true motives known that I wouldn’t end up destroying something more valuable—us.

And then I discovered that I wasn’t the only one hiding secrets . . .

Themes:  

Rating: 3.5 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

Well I feel I should begin this review once again with a warning for readers that might not be familiar with this author’s work by saying this was a very different sort of story certainly than I am used to, with intensely difficult situations that most would consider taboo and might not be for everyone.  I went into this one knowing I didn’t love the first story in the series mostly for the same reasons, but I hoped I would warm up to book two, but sadly this one, while very sexy, was even more uncomfortable for me.  Bryce is posing as his newest client, who has recently inherited a job as owner and CEO of a huge business that he doesn’t want and doesn’t know how to handle.  Leigh is determined to do whatever it takes, including seducing the young hot new CEO in order to get his to disband the terrible company, but when she meets the gorgeous man she is immediately over her head.  Seduction becomes a game for them both, until they are faced with the secrets they have both been hiding, then they have to team up in order to find a killer that might very well be after Bryce’s client and willing to kill both Leigh and Bryce to get what he wants.  So Leigh was obvious a strong, smart, sensual woman but I was not a huge fan of her plans to use seduction to get what she wanted. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about a woman owning her sexuality and female power and doing whatever the hell she wants with her body, but I was seriously uncomfortable with the idea of Leigh essentially selling her body in order further her career—pretty much the textbook definition of a word that I don’t like to assign to women especially in romance novels.  Looking beyond that Bryce was also lying through his teeth (yes for noble-ish reasons) when he took a woman to his bed and then proceeded to use their sexual connection against her, which made me feel a certain way too.  When Bryce uncovered Leigh’s secrets, through some shady means, he realizes that he has feelings for her, but instead of coming right out and admitting them, he is an asshole to her, putting her in danger, so despite claiming to be a strong protective alpha (which is SEEMS he is) he comes off as a jerk instead.  In the end the story rounded out ok, but with those two glaring issues bugging the hell out of me, I just wasn’t ever able to connect and enjoy the story.  The passion and sexual chemistry between Leigh and Bryce was off-the-charts don’t get me wrong and the overall plot with the suspense and mystery piece was a fun addition, even though I figured it out pretty quick. All in all I can say that if I didn’t know the series was ending with the third novel, I’d walk away now, but since I know there’s just one more, I will give the last teammate a shot to prove he isn’t a creepy asshole when he finds love and here’s hoping that I’ll enjoy that story a lot more when it comes out.  I can’t say I hated the story by any means, because the writing was well done, the characters, while not to my tastes, were well researched and written to their “natures”, and the plot was well developed, but it definitely isn’t a story I will likely ever circle back to for a reread.  If you’re looking for something totally our of the box, with lots of sensual fun and definitely out of the mainstream, then you’ll eat this story right up, otherwise all I can caution is reader beware.

*eARC provided by author for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.