Today we’re talking about the first two books in Measha’s Windy City series. They are standalone books, but they are all about a group of friends, so they are also going to be interconnected. The first book, Hidden Heart, is about Royce and Jessica, and the second book, Secured Heart, is about Kelly and Kendrick.
So, HH. Jessica is a paralegal. She has a group of friends that she meets with every Friday, Kelly, Alex, Erin, and Jonathan. Those last two are engaged to be married, one of these days. While she’s happy for them, she’s not planning on following their example any time soon. She’s BTDT with men, and she’s no longer looking for love. Which is, of course, when Royce walks in. Pretty much literally. He’s a friend of Alex’s, who brings him to the group dinner.
Royce is immediately drawn to Jessica, but she is really not interested in finding love, so she’s not into seeing him. But, Royce being the charming person that he is, manages to charm her into seeing him. As they get together, they both realize that a D/s relationship works really well for them, even though it scares Jessica spitless.
SH is Kelly and Kendrick. Kelly is pretty envious of Jessica, mostly because she kinda had her eyes on Royce before all his eyes turned to Jessica. But since they are best friends, it’s hard for her to stay really envious for long. But what she really wants is her own man, a husband and a family. She goes out regularly trying to find him, but so far, she’s just found losers. And tonight, she just found the biggest loser of all, Ted. He invites her to a party, and then ends up drugging her. Luckily, her savior is nigh at hand.
Kendrick runs a security company, and he was being the security at the party that Kelly is at. When he sees what’s happening, he comes to her rescue. Then he tells her about a safe club to go to, and when to go, because he’ll be there being security that day too. He doesn’t think that he’ll ever see her again, and he’ll try to scare her off if he does. She’s just a poor, wee innocent woman. Except, is she?
OK, so, in HH, I really like Jessica and Royce. I think that they work really well together. I think that maybe Royce moves a little fast sometimes and kind of runs over Jessica and her worries. Of course, that may be because I’m not a D-type. I think that Jessica keeps too much inside and jumps to conclusions a little too often. I think that she guards herself really well, and I understand why she does it, but that makes her judge Royce before she should.
In SH, wow, I mean, Kelly and Kendrick are hot from the very first second. I really like them because they really are quite well-matched, kink wise, they both want the same thing, basically. Kelly has some serious impulsivity issues and she thinks that she knows certain things and makes decisions based on those things. I think Kendrick, most of the time at least, keeps in mind that she’s a newbie and handles that situation well, but, of course, there are times when everything goes kerflooey.
In HH, I kinda guessed what would happen, I just didn’t know how it would play out.
In SH, I really hated all of Kelly’s friends for a couple of minutes. They were kinda rude. And there was a definite twist I didn’t expect.
OK, that’s all I have to say today. Go check them out! Happy reading!