I received this book for free from Berkley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Devoted to Love by Shayla Black Series: Devoted Lovers #2
Published by Berkley on July 2, 2019
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Berkley Publishing Group
He was sent to guard her body… he didn’t expect her to steal his heart.
Her sister’s wedding was hardly the place to find a hook up, but after one look at friend-of-the-groom and special operative Josiah Grant, small-town Texas beauty Magnolia West immediately fell in lust. After a stunningly sensual night together, Maggie is prepared for the two of them to go their separate ways. After all, she’s not a happily-ever-after kind of girl. But Josiah—and danger—change her plans.
Josiah isn’t looking for love…but Maggie rouses his body and stirs his heart like no other woman. She’s got a rocky romantic past, and a smart man would steer clear. But when the murder quotient in Kendall County rises and all signs point to a mysterious group nearby who have been harassing Maggie’s family, he can’t leave her unprotected—especially when he realizes he’s fallen hard for her.
As tension mounts and the menace closes in, Josiah will do anything to prove to Maggie that their love is real…but can they stay alive long enough to share it?
Devoted To Love is the second book in this new series of Shayla Black’s and boy I actually haven’t read this author on her own. I, of course, have read other books where she has co-authored novels, however, this is the first time I took a chance and picked her up on her own and I was very IMPRESSED. This isn’t a perfect book by any means but instant love connections don’t really work for me that well to be honest. Sometimes they do, but in the contemporary setting’s it’s not always my favorite.
In Devoted To Love Josiah has come for a wedding and meets Maggie who he has insta lust for and they pretty much have the best sex and really click physically. At first it’s clear that its just casual sex, no strings attached. But when there is a danger to Maggie and her family, Josiah stays behind to look into the matter and before he knows it he is caught in and windstorm of danger and he knows that there is more going on than meets the eye with a crazy cult fanatics who are trying to buy the land from Maggie’s family. There is also the matter of falling in love with a woman who may never be able to love him back….
Sure, whenever he was with her, he wanted to take her, be one with her. This…was different. Today he wanted to claim her–and not just temporarily.
Devoted To Love was simply a fun and thrilling read and I had so much fun with this one. I first want to start off with the issues that I had with the story. The first is the fling set up, to be honest, this is what really prevented me from really feeling the emotion and connection between them. There was too much rush from just casual sex to love you like crazy. I know it happens, but it didn’t seem as realistic as I was hoping for. Now the second issue I had….the heroine. Now I try to be as accepting as I possibly can be however, there was something about her past that really rubbed me the wrong way and I just couldn’t let it go and it might have altered how I looked at this book.
Now for what I truly adored about this book here? Well here is the low down, we have the plot of the story which is as intense as you can get. We have a crazy religious cult and boy this really added into the intensity of the story. I really liked how it developed though and seeing the danger escalate throughout the story. What impressed me most was seeing how the relationship and the suspense plot didn’t detract from one another. I was fully invested in both and the author here really found a great balance. The characters that come into play are a unique match. They are both strong-willed and there is some control bedroom play here. I wouldn’t call it full BDSM or anything like that, but our hero is a natural DOM, so he does like to control things in the bedroom. So I always love that in my stories and Shayla Black surely knows how to write a steamy sex scene, it can get pretty intense and dramatic but I was all for it.
The vixen had played him. She’d wrapped herself around him, dug under his skin, turned him inside out at the same time she’d scrambled his brain and wormed her way into his heart.
Overall I found Devoted To Love to be a sesnation, highly provacative, intense filled story that will keep you on your toes from beginning to end!
About Shayla Black
Shayla Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than sixty novels. For twenty years, she’s written contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances via traditional, independent, foreign, and audio publishers. Her books have sold millions of copies and been published in a dozen languages.
Raised an only child, Shayla occupied herself with lots of daydreaming, much to the chagrin of her teachers. In college, she found her love for reading and realized that she could have a career publishing the stories spinning in her imagination. Though she graduated with a degree in Marketing/Advertising and embarked on a stint in corporate America to pay the bills, her heart has always been with her characters. She’s thrilled that she’s been living her dream as a full-time author for the past eight years.
Shayla currently lives in North Texas with her wonderfully supportive husband, her daughter, and two spoiled tabbies. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, reading, and listening to an eclectic blend of music.
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