Darcy is the 5th book in the Guarded Heart series by Nia and Claire, and I have to say that I have a lot of feelings about Darcy. Complicated feelings. This series is not a standalone series, it has an overarching storyline and you ahve to have read the previous books to understand where we are. Each book is a complete story, so you don’t have a cliffhanger, and each trio has their HEA by the end of the book.
So, Darcy has pulled up at her new job. She’s at a boys’ school and she’s going to teach the boys martial arts and give therapeutic massages. But that’s not the only reason that she’s there. That’s just her public job. She’s also undercover. She’s looking for someone who has done some bad things, and her team suspect that the man is at this school, and may be up to his old tricks. But until she can shut him down, Darcy is left in enemy territory. And I’m really not being hyperbolic here. She doesn’t have a friend here, anywhere. The man who hired her isn’t here, but the headmaster, a Russian, is, along with his two thugs. He doesn’t like her from te very beginning, and he has no problems at all in making sure that she knows it. Trust me, he’s not a nice guy.
For Darcy, the only redeeming anything at the moment is the fact that Dr. Liu Chan is at the school. She’s been looking for him. He’s her old lover, but that’s not why she was trying to find him. You see, he likes to experiment. And he’s not all that ethical. Darcy would know.
Meanwhile, at the Citadel, we have Zana and Lukus. They are partners and they are pretty sure that Darcy is their fated mate. But, there are problems. One is that they don’t know where she is. Another is that she is permanently banned from the Citadel. A third is that no one knows what she is up to and if she can be trusted. So, you know, just a couple of issues. None of that stops Zana and Lukus from wanting her. When Darcy contacts her cousin, Raven, and suggests that they meet up, Zana tags along and manages to kiss Darcy, which lets him know that yup, she’s theirs.
When we first met Darcy, back in Raven’s book. I really liked her. I thought that she was tough, strong, caring, and loyal. She was going to do everything she could to protect her cousin Raven and Raven’s daughter Willow. Then, we got to meet her again in Riley, and my feelings changed a lot about her. She made some choices that were… harmful to many people. She was judgy mcjudgerson, and was determined to believe the absolute worst about the guys in the Citadel. So, Claire and Nia had a struggle to go to get her to a point where I might like her at the beginning of this book. They did succeed. But, I have to admit it took some time, and I didn’t want to completely trust her until more than 1/2 way through the book.
Zana and Lukus are both really good men who really just want to find their fated mate, have babies, and live a happy life. They also want to make sure that their mate, and all the mates of their brothers, are safe, and right now, that’s ain’t so much true. There is a whole bevy of enemies out there, and no one knows what’s going to happen or how to avoid it.
There are things afoot, evil sneaky things, and I want to know all the answers, RIGHT NOW.
I want to know whose eyes are being used. It wasn’t the person I thought it was at first, but now I just don’t know. I have suspiscions.
OK, that’s all for this one. Go check out the whole series! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 