Before we move on to the book part of today’s blog, I do just want to gush a little over the fact that I got my car today. The nice transport man from Carvana stopped his car transporter at the top of my tiny country road, and then drove it down to my house. And then right past my house. But, he came back, and I remember how to drive a stick shift, even after 18 years.
But, enough of that, let’s talk books. Decadent is the fourth and probably last of the Devil’s Due books by Eva Charles. They are dark romances, heavy on the thriller/suspense, and loads of kink. They do deal with a lot of politics, especially the firsts 2 books, but that’s the world they are set in, so there’s that. There is less politics in this one and what is there is more foreign than domestic. It could be read as a standalone, since the Gray and Delilah’s story is complete in and of itself, well mostly, but there are spoilers for the first 3 books. Also, if you read the first books, you will have a better grasp on who everyone is and how they all fit together.
Delilah is a former CIA operative. She was trained to act undercover, but then her cover got blown in a big way, in front of a Congressional hearing kind of big. So, now she works for Smith, as part of his security firm. She used to work undercover at Wildflower, which is Gray’s club/sex club, but that got blown too. But she and Gray have been dancing around each other for a while now. But nothing has really co me of it. Until, that is, the day that Gray catches her doing something she probably shouldn’ta ought’a done, and extorts her to join a mission that he has. She’s the perfect person for it, so Gray wants her to do it. And, well, he just wants her in general.
Gray lives with a lot of regrets and a lot of guilt. He also has a whole lot of secrets. One of those secrets is that he works for the FBI in a super sekrit department, doing super sekrit things. For that department, he has a mission that is going to be dangerous, and he needs a beautiful woman who can be his arm candy but who can also hold her own. So, he of course thinks of Delilah. He does what he has to so that he can get her on his team, even though there were other ways that he could’ve gone about it, but eventually, she agrees to help him on his mission.
Gray is really confusing to me throughout the first parts of the book. He comes off as an asshole, with bits of compassion and caring coming through. Or, maybe it’s the other way around. I’m not even sure that Gray could tell on his own. Like I said, confusing. I think that he’s a good man, even when he has done some bad things, and he really has done some not good things. But, he does them from a place of honor and a place where he’s a good man who has to do things that he might not like. If that makes sense. It does to me. He really had to hide his emotions, and I think that he has hidden them from himself at times. It takes him some time to figure that out, I think.
I really like Delilah. I think that she has come really far from where she started out. But, I think that some of that has dug into her brain and doesn’t want to let go. Let’s just say that her mother has a lot to answer for. And so does her dead husband. But Delilah works really hard to stand on her own two feet. She’s strong, a fighter, talented, and smart. And she’s an asset to any team that she’s on, which is a part of why Gray wants her on his team. I think, mostly, that’s a convenient excuse for Gray, really. I think that he came up with this justification to get to her in a way that seemed to give him some emotional distance from the fact that he really just wants her as a woman. If she is part of his team, then they don’t have a real relationship, and he’s safe from her. Like I said, convenient excuse.
That prince. Ugh. He’s just scummy.
OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 