Last year I read the first of the Heirs of Damon series by
Noelle Adams. Businessman Cyrus Damon has no children himself but he has four
nephews. Brothers Harrison and Andrew Damon have their stories told in books 1
and 2, Seducing the Enemy and Playing the Playboy. Their cousin Jonathan is the
hero of book 3, Engaging the Boss and there is another cousin Benjamin Damon,
who I believe will be the hero of book 4, due out in summer 2014. I read books 2 and 3 of the series back to back, which worked really well actually, as some events in book 3 follow on from book 2. Here are my thoughts on the series so far.
Please note,
for those who prefer to avoid them, that all these books contain sex scenes.
Seducing the
Enemy begins with Marietta, who has an interesting
back-story, having spent a number of years in a wheelchair after being involved
in a car crash as a child. Following several surgeries she has now recovered,
and after so many years she wants to live her life to the full, and has come to
a club to see if she can attract a man...
Harrison is checking the facilities at a club his family
owns when a sexy blonde catches his eye. He really shouldn't let himself get
distracted, as he'll need to keep his wits about him for the following day,
when he'll be meeting to try and agree a settlement for a long-running legal
battle with his uncle's former business partner for a long-ago car crash...
Marietta is sweet, genuine, and amusing, although a bit too
nice. Harrison is a bit too alpha-male some of the time for my taste, but he
seemed nice enough when he wasn't being an arse, either generally, or
specifically towards Marietta because of his misinterpretation of her motives.
Marietta doesn't appear to hold a grudge at all and she forgives him much more
readily than he deserves!
There were a number of instances of behaviour that I didn't
really feel was plausible and although the author provides explanation I still
didn't see some things as being likely to happen. Also, I'd have liked there to
be more of a basis for their feelings for each other, aside from their chemistry,
to see their relationship develop, as I felt that it happens too quickly. Aside
from these quibbles, I found this book to be an enjoyable quick read.
In Playing the
Playboy we meet Laurel who is in a bad situation; she is a widow who didn’t
have the best upbringing, and was managing the bar in a seedy strip joint when
she met an older man who she fell in love with. After they married he gave her
a hotel in Greece. This was about the only good thing he did for her – over the
time of their marriage she lost one illusion after another about him and he
ended up bankrupt after his debts caught up with him. Now he is dead and the
Damons are saying that her hotel belongs to them. Since Cyrus Damon isn’t
speaking to his blue eyed boy Harrison, he’s sent Andrew Damon, a notorious
playboy, in his brother’s stead to try and sort out the dispute amicably.
Laurel has done her homework on Andrew and, desperate not to lose her home and
her livelihood, she has decided on a dishonourable course of action, which is
to seduce Andrew, get it caught on CCTV and blackmail him with the evidence.
I really wondered if I could like Laurel at all after an
introduction like that but it really is desperation that has brought her to
this point and she isn’t anywhere near as heartless as her plan suggests.
Andrew ends up staying at the hotel and it brings Laurel some conflict because
she keeps feeling like she should be manipulating the situation to her
advantage but she genuinely likes Andrew and is very strongly attracted to him.
Andrew is similarly conflicted – he really wants to prove his mettle to his
uncle and close out this situation advantageously for the company while on the
other hand he finds himself believing that Laurel may have been dealt a bad
hand here and feeling sympathetic towards her.
Both Andrew and Laurel are likeable protagonists and they
fit together very nicely. Both of them feel unworthy to an extent, her because
of her background (although she has done nothing wrong, just tried to make the
best of the hand that life has dealt her) and him because he doesn’t knuckle
down to anything and doesn’t feel respected. She is very bad at allowing people
to help her, but she is forced to accept his help on more than one occasion
which is good for them both, as she comes to see that she doesn’t need to only
rely on herself, and he finds himself in the novel position of having somebody
trust in him. This story is set largely
on a Greek island and I thought a few times while I read it that it would make
an excellent holiday sun-lounger read. It’s a very easy to read romance and I
enjoyed it very much. This is book 2 in
the Heirs of Damon series and though Harrison and Marietta from Seducing the
Enemy play a part in this story you could read this one as stand alone.
Engaging the Boss
is book 3 in the Heirs of Damon series and tells the story of Harrison and Andrew’s
cousin, Jonathan Damon, who is a genetic scientist. His uncle, Cyrus, has
funded Jonathan’s research lab, which has been of huge advantage to Jonathan,
meaning that he’s been able to do the research purely independently rather than
having to worry about commercial bias and keeping the sponsors happy. However,
Cyrus has decided that Jonathan needs to settle down and the lab is taking too
much of his focus, so he makes the despotic decision to cut the funding unless
Jonathan pays more attention to his personal life. Panicked, Jonathan blurts
out that he has recently become engaged. He is overheard in this phonecall by his
assistant Sarah, who is devastated by this news because she’s been madly in
love with him for some time. Jonathan confesses his lie to Sarah, and she
offers to pose as his fiancée for a week-long visit to his family and to attend
his cousin Harrison’s wedding.
I love, love, love the fake fiancée trope, it’s a guilty
pleasure of mine, and I really enjoyed this book; it’s probably my favourite of
this series so far. Of course we know from the outset what is likely to happen
between the protagonists, but the fun is in the journey. Sarah is a really nice
heroine. She has worked closely with Jonathan for the past few years, but she
knows that somebody that gorgeous couldn’t be interested in her because she
doesn’t feel that she’s attractive enough to tempt him. She also doesn’t want
to endanger her job, which she loves. Jonathan was such a loveable male lead,
most definitely not the alpha male type, but a sweet geek who doesn’t believe
that people will love him as he is, but that he has to earn their love. His
parents were very disinterested in him, and he found the only way he could get
positive attention from them was through achieving well in school. His parents
died when he was still a child and he was put under the guardianship of Cyrus.
He never felt like he fitted in with his cousins and uncle, and feels like he
doesn’t matter to his family.
Jonathan is very much the type of person who shows his love
rather than expresses it, for example he does thoughtful things for Sarah such
as keeps her desk stocked with mints he knows she likes and fixing her chair
after hours without expecting thanks.
However when he tries to express things with words he just clams up:
“You look...” She was
the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He swallowed. “Fine.”
Sarah obviously finds this very frustrating!
She wanted to hit him
and take care of him both. It was a very disorienting feeling.
I could completely understand where she was coming from. To
secure his lady Jonathan must first understand that he wants her, that he is
worthy of her love, and be willing to get out of his comfort zone to make sure
she knows it before it’s too late.
This is book 3 of the series and although the couples from
books 1 and 2, Seducing the Enemy and Playing the Playboy appear, the story is
stand alone. I think you’d probably get more from it if you’ve read the others
too, but you wouldn’t be lost by any means if you just read this one. We have a
very interesting introduction to the other heir of Damon, the black sheep of
the family, Benjamin Damon, who I think will have his story told in the next
book, due out in summer 2014, and I’m certainly intrigued to read it.
Hi Ceri, I read Engaging the Boss after I saw your review I enjoyed it although I thought some of the adult scenes were a little contrived and should I say daring (the garden) however that aside it was a good read. Might go for Playing the playboy next as you gave that four stars also :0
ReplyDeleteI was a little shocked at the garden scene to be honest, I was sure they would get caught! There are al fresco scenes in Playing the Playboy too, these Damons are quite adventurous!
DeleteThis type of book isn't the most deep or life-changing read but they are good for some light entertainment, and I tend to enjoy this author's work, which is nice as for a quite a few years I wasn't reading much contemporary romance at all, every time I tried something I didn't like it, I don't really get on with chick-lit or anything with miserable themes but now there seems to be so much out there that I can get on and enjoy, I feel like a kid in a sweet shop! Are there any contemporary books that you'd recommend, Tamara?
Yes but a lot can be quite depressing if you catch my drift sort of awe inspiring true life stories or self help books!. However I do like books by Terry Macmillian, Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou but it depends by what you mean by contemporary (not regency lol) it's only recently I have got into lighter reading. I am taking my cues from you my lovely, I just got my sister in law to read a negotiated marriage, she loved it! Thank you for all your recommendations. (just realised I wasn't getting your posts because you had changed address, all sorted now!)
ReplyDeleteI don't think it helps that I can't really define it myself! All I know is that every time I tried a book somebody suggested I wouldn't enjoy it, like I tried chick lit a few times and very rarely enjoyed it, then some Cecelia Ahern and I just bawled all the way through it, I really can't get on board with miserable reading, real life can be sad enough so I found it safer to stick to Regency/classics.
DeleteI am so glad your sister in law enjoyed a Negotiated Marriage! I haven't tried those authors you suggested, I will take a look.