Denial- Lisa Renee Jones, Stop Playing With My Emotions!

The night of November 24th, I was wide awake (not really but half awake) and cooking MY Thanksgiving. As a retail robot  worker, I had to do my cooking overnight because I had to work on actual turkey day. So as I am slaving away prepping my 16 lbs gigantic bird of destruction, my phone lit up, buzzed,  and said your pre-order is now ready. I danced a merry jig across my kitchen, shot LRJ a happy Facebook message and dove in.

Now for those who don't know how I came upon this spin-off series, it's all because of my love for the original Inside Out books. I found the first one coincidentally as a Facebook suggestion, and ended up powering through the entire series over the course of 2 days. All of the main books except for the final one that had not been released at that point. And through those books, while I enjoyed all of the mystery and steamy scenes between Sara, Chris, and Max, I was left with one question: Where the hell is Ella?

Well now I have my answer and it was quite the read. Ella is in the middle of Italy with a heavy case of amnesia. She awakened in the hospital with a terrible concussion and no memory of how she got there. The only person she had in her immediate vicinity is a gorgeous man named Kayden Wilkens. Kayden has vowed not to leave Ella's side while she recovers. When it comes out that Ella's existence has been wiped out and that she is being actively hunted by Italy's biggest mob boss, and the only person that she should remotely trust is the same man that she is not certain that she can even believe in.

From the start Ella is your standard damsel in distress. She clings to Kayden due to his overwhelming sense of calm and control, but also goes through a large amount of inner turmoil surrounding the return of her fractured memories. Her memories give the impression that she may have done something truly terrible before the amnesia, but Kayden is not sure. In the end, Ella puts all of her trust in this man just to ultimately realize that he may not be the savior he puts on to be. Ending in the ever frustrating but satisfying LRJ cliff hanger. 

While as a reader you want to believe in the hot leader of a dangerous near criminal syndicate, the twists and turns that take Ella closer and closer to her truth makes you doubt the character as much as you want him and Ella to be together. 

The book does not disappoint in the hotness department, as there is a great buildup of lust and longing between the two that is almost palpable as a reader. The sex scenes are steamy, even managing to be suspenseful at some points which is a change of pace after the Inside Out series (a series based mostly upon a deep bdsm environment.) 

All in all, it was completely worth the wait to see Ella get the series she rightfully deserves. I cannot wait for the arrival of Demand in the spring. The only thing that I take some issue with is the giving of complete and absolute trust to someone you just met. Sure not having memories to go off of is fine and dandy if the person establishes familial ties,  but if the person has clearly stated that they found you on the ground after a mysterious assault, there is very little room for suspension of disbelief. At that point it becomes a mission for self preservation.

I am completely in love  with this book from start to finish and am once again stuck in the throes of a Lisa Renee Jones cliffhanger and hanging on for dear life at the start of what I know will be a phenomenal series. It does stand alone from the Inside Out books so it can be picked up and read without having to go through the initial 8 books. So if modern romance/suspense/erotica novels are more your style, this is definitely a great place to start!