Review: It's here!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2014
Oh, how long I’ve waited for this book to come out! I am a huge fan of Missy Johnson and once I read the synopsis I was thrilled. It promised to be so different from Missy’s other works and with my current weakness for dark romance March 17th surely could not come fast enough!PROVOKE is a book full of surprises. It’s one you either love or hate. I’m on the loving team for sure! Surprise number one was to discover that Leeta and Mace are a couple right from page one. The getting to know each other is one of the parts of a romance which is essential for me – I love to read about how they experience the first reaction to one another and how they cope with it. So I was a bit sad at first, assuming that this was taken away from me – but it wasn’t: At some point Leeta tells how the two of them met and, yes, their first encounter was special and I loved it!But not only their first encounter is different – Leeta and Mace are as mismatched as a couple can be: While Leeta is a prosecutor who comes from a good family, Mace is a tattooed bad boy who  owns a biker garage and has an infamous criminal family. Unlike most people, Leeta sees the man behind his family connections and is rewarded with a boyfriend who treats her like a princess – and you definitely would not expect that by Mace’ exterior! The two of them share such a passionate and sexy, yet sweet and tender relationship that left me breathless.Then, after you got to love their relationship, it suddenly threatens to shatter into a million pieces when Leeta discovers Mace’ huge secret – a secret I would never have expected. And I am not going to lie; I was shocked beyond belief, angry – disgusted – torn – and not sure if I liked Mace anymore.Thankfully, Leeta is a strong, resilient and loyal character and was not willing to give up the man she loves so easily. She WANTS to find a reason that somewhat justifies his action – that proves that he is not the bad guy everyone expects him to be.Both Leeta and Mace have to deal with a pretty messed up situation, but reading the book from both point of views helps to understand Mace’ intentions and to kind of overcome his almost unforgivable deeds. In the end, I found myself swooning over Mace all over again.PROVOKE is an untypical shade of dark; it deals with disturbing matters, yet I would not describe it as a “dark” dark romance. It is fast-paced, full of action and draws you in from the very beginning and does not let go until you finished it. Although this one is an absolute 5-star-read for me, I found the end a bit too abrupt, I would have loved an epilogue sometime after all that had happened. The ending is still satisfying, but I somehow wished it would have been… MORE.As of today, this book is a standalone, but I still hope to get another glimpse into Leeta’s and Mace’ relationship in a possible second book that maybe centers around Cash, Mace’ brother who just got released from prison, or around Ben, Leeta’s ex-fiancée who has a twisted and dark side himself. But for now, I’ll get my paperback copy – did I mention I love that swoon-worthy hot cover?! – and put PROVOKE on my to-be-read-again-shelf.Thank you for an amazing twisted story, Missy! Highly recommended!