Shelly Reynolds
"My time with Jasper was a fantasy. I know that now. I know the truth. Everybody leaves. Everybody disappoints. And I'm better off just staying alone." I want to start off by saying there is no better ultimate book boyfriend than Damien Stark. I have followed this story line from the very beginning and I love the Stark Security Series. However, compared to the other books, this one just fell a little flat for me. I found Zelda (an odd name for a twenty-something girl) to be annoying. She's pushy and seems to be a little entitled. I liken her to Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka - "I want it now!" And, while she was supposed to be the target of a death threat, she didn't seem overly concerned about it. All she wanted to to get Jasper in to bed, despite his objections. Then there's Jasper - I had no love for him. He's at Stark solely for self-serving purposes and doesn't really seem to have anyone's back but his own. He's supposed to be guarding Zelda but he takes her out in public more than once, and the rest of the time he's pawing at her and rolling around in the sheets. The plot itself wasn't bad. It was just under-developed. She gets a death threat letter in the mail, with no address, and none of the cameras around her property, or at the gate pick up anything? Then there's nothing else for more than half the book. It really wasn't difficult to figure out where this was going and that somehow, Zelda and Jasper would have a common thread. Despite the above, I didn't hate the book. I wished there was more "meat" to the plot and that I would have had more of reason to be invested in these characters. I also would have liked a little more drama. The suspense level in this one was ho-hum in my opinion. But, it's a Stark book, so I'll always read it. Plus, there is a hint of what's to come and I can't wait for the next books!
Sandy S.
HIDDEN WITH YOU is the seventh instalment in J. Kenner’s contemporary, adult STARK SECURITY erotic, romantic suspense series-a part of the author’s Stark World. This is forty-four year old, former MI6 agent Jasper Kent, and twenty-three year old, author/heiress Zelda Clayton’s story line. HIDDEN WITH YOU can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Told from first person (Zelda) and third person (Jasper) perspectives HIDDEN WITH YOU follows the building but acrimonious relationship between forty-four year old, former MI6 agent Jasper Kent, and twenty-three year old, author/heiress Zelda Clayton. Years earlier former MI6 agent Jasper Kent lost his daughter Bonnie, and his wife Sandra, to a killer. Having searched for the person(s) responsible but to no avail, Jasper has moved to America where he begins working for the Stark Security organization in the hopes of using their resources to uncover the truth but Jasper never expected to come face to face with twenty-three year old author Zelda Clayton, a woman who stirs something deep within our story line hero, something Jasper had thought he lost a long time ago. From the outset, Jasper struggles with his attraction to a woman who is not his beloved wife, but a message from a stranger pits Jasper’s need for revenge, against the building love he feels for our story line heroine, a message that places Zelda in the direct line of fire. Enter author/heiress Zelda Clayton, and the woman with whom Jasper will fall in love. What ensues is the insta-lust to love relationship between Jasper and Zelda, and the potential fall-out as our heroine is targeted, and Jasper isn’t the only assassin hired for the job. Zelda Clayton does not have a close relationship with her mother, in the years since her father’s death, and her mother’s remarriage to former CIA operative Carter Malloy but the estrangement has never stopped Zelda from becoming her own woman, a woman who is now the target of an unknown assassin. Zelda’s attraction to Jasper was immediate but Jasper’s less than warm reception left Zelda, once again, reeling at another rejection from the men in her life. Jasper Kent’s only path in life is to discover the truth about the murder of his wife and child but when a message come through, promising to reveal the who, how and why, Jasper battles between head and heart knowing that to finally feel peace means to destroy the woman with whom he is falling in love. The relationhip between Jasper and Zelda is an age-gap romance; one of immediate attraction but when Zelda becomes the ‘aggressor’ Jasper struggles with the memories of his wife, the grief, and his inability to move forward. Zelda knows that a permanent relationship with Jasper is never going to happen as Zelda is unable to compete with memory of the past, a ghost Jasper is unable to let go. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate but I dislike the use of a certain four-letter word (although only used once) in my romance story lines. There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and familiar secondary and supporting characters, most of whom we have met in previous story lines including Nikki and Damien, Jamie and Ryan, Evelyn, Ollie and Trevor. We are introduced to Stark Security’s new Research and Analysis specialist Owen Porter, as well Leah Ramirez, Zelda’s friend Camille, and Zelda’s mother Amelia and step father Carter Malloy. HIDDEN WITH YOU is a story of power and greed, betrayal and vengeance, acceptance and moving forward. The fast paced premise is captivating and engaging; the romance is seductive and steamy; the characters are dynamic and broken.
