Review: Great Start to Sexy Contemporary Romance Series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 31, 2013
I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review.  I rated the book 4.5 out of 5 Stars.While we’ve all heard or read the phrase that “revenge is a dish best served cold”, the reality is that revenge is seldom clean and emotionless, something the characters in Nadia Lee’s Vengeful in Love learn firsthand.  Filled with well-developed characters, good dialogue and an intriguing corporate mystery, Ms. Lee grabbed my attention from the first page and kept it throughout her story.  A contemporary romance, set in both Washington D.C. and Hong Kong, Ms. Lee’s new series, Hearts on the Line, is off to a really good start with Vengeful in Love.A self-made billionaire, Alexander Damon has learned a lot of lessons on the way to success; the most important lessons being those dealing with trust.  Determined to take revenge against Emily Rodale, the woman he holds responsible for his father’s failures, Alex has planned the perfect revenge.  Seduce Natalie Hall, Ms. Rodale’s goddaughter, and use everything he has to destroy anyone who stands in his way.The adopted daughter of a U.S. Senator, Natalie Hall has learned that when it comes to business and love, it’s better to keep the two things separate.  When her boss at DDE, a defense contractor, is fired and she gets an unexpected promotion, Natalie is surprised and a little bit leery about having to work up close and personal with Alex Damon, the company’s owner.  Determined to ignore her intense attraction to the man, Natalie finds herself between a rock and a hard place when Alex makes it clear he’s deeply attracted to her too.  Even though she knows she shouldn’t give in, she can’t help what her heart and body both want.The scenes between Alex and Natalie are well written and enjoyable; they have great verbal and physical chemistry.  While Alex and Natalie both are determined to keep things only “physical” in their “non-relationship”, it soon became apparent to me that they were emotionally involved from the start.  While both Natalie and Alex are well educated, they both had difficult experiences in their childhoods which have left emotional scars.  Natalie has never felt loved by her adopted family, even though they saw to it she was educated and brought up in the best environments, and Alex had to deal with his father’s business failure and emotional problems on top of his mother’s abandonment when their lives changed .  As if the emotional issues they are both dealing with weren’t enough, there’s the added situation that someone at DDE is giving privileged information to the Rodale Company and Natalie is suspected of being a corporate spy.Ms. Lee does a wonderful job dealing with the characters ongoing physical attraction, while at the same time developing an emotional connection between them.  Natalie is determined to be loved for who she is and not her social or business connections and Alex is determined to keep his emotional involvement light.  While I was really drawn to Natalie’s character right away, and thought Alex was hot and smart, I do have to warn you that Alex is not your typical hero; his calculated seduction of Natalie, his determination to use Natalie to get revenge and his occasional lack of communication make him difficult to like at times.  In fact there’s a scene where I think I would personally would have assaulted him because of his behavior (no, I’m not giving spoilers – I’ll just say it’s a doozy!).The secondary characters, from Natalie’s adopted family to Emily Rodale and her son, Charlie, are well written and contribute a lot to the story.  At first it’s easy to dislike them all, and their behavior towards Natalie when things really start to hit the fan, but Ms. Lee shows that there is always more to the story than everyone thinks they knows.  It’s also clear that none of them really know Natalie and Alex, and that they need to learn that honesty, integrity and loyalty are more than just mere words.  I especially liked Alex and Natalie’s best friends, Ethan Lloyd and Kerri Wilson, who will be the main characters in Reunited in Love, Ms. Lee’s next book in this series.Will Alex realize he loves Natalie and that she’s the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with before it’s too late?  Will Natalie forgive Alex for what he’s done?  You’ll have to read Vengeful in Love to find out.  I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next book in this series.