release me  claim me  complete me

Author:   J. Kenner

Books:
Release Me
Claim Me
Complete Me
Take Me (Stark Ever After novella)
Have Me (Stark Ever After novella)

Series: The Stark Trilogy 

tl;dr recommendation: It’s fucking fantastic. READ NOW.

Longer Review:

The fact that I haven’t shared my love publicly for this series yet is so so wrong. But I’ll take my punishment…especially if it involves Damien Stark tying me up or spanking me. ESPECIALLY THEN.

The Stark Trilogy is one of the best alpha male, billionaire trilogies I’ve ever read. No, screw that. It’s one of the best trilogies I’ve ever read, period.

Damien is closed off – he has his issues – he’s emotionally unavailable and a bit of a loner. He runs into Nikki at an art party where she has been cast by her boss as the perfect bait to reel in a meeting with Damien and his company. The electricity between them is INCREDIBLY HOT. The way they look at each other…the way that they’re pulled to one another….it’s exactly what you want and what you need. Nikki has issues of her own that she’s only started to begin handling and jumping into an affair with Damien goes against everything she thinks she knows and has worked so hard to overcome. But when he makes an offer that she can’t refuse….well, it all begins. AHHHHH! Just writing this is making me itch for a re-read.

I cannot tell you how many times I have used Nikki and her strength in my personal life. She’s gone through so much and yet she’s one of the strongest female lead characters I’ve ever read. I LOVE HER. She’s snarky, she speaks her mind, she stands up for herself and even at her weakest moments she is so strong. That girl is one of my favorite leading ladies. The fact that Damien’s involved too just escalates my love for this series to epic proportions. He is very convincing when he tries to get what he wants….

billowingred

Is now a good time to confess that I have a tattoo that contains the phrase ‘A is A’? Thanks J. Kenner for appreciating my litigator soul and combining laws of logic with smut. This combination plucks at my inner nerd and never fails to put a smile across my face. I’m not sure I could love this series much harder than I already do.

The Trilogy progresses partly in the way that you think, but there are a few surprises along the way too – there’s some back and forth between Nikki & Damien while secrets are slowly revealed. There’s lots and lots of sex. There’s exes and work issues and best friend jealousy. There’s danger and stalkers. There are also some incredibly well written plotlines relating to family issues; one being Nikki’s interaction with her mom who is an Uber Bitch. I loved watching Nikki gain strength in dealing with her mother. I wanted to bitchslap that woman so hard.

And Damien. oh, DAMIEN. he struggles with his own issues. He’s never let anyone in before so doing that with Nikki is a challenge, but a challenge he is willing to accept. He ADORES Nikki. He would do anything and everything for her – we’re talking Gideon Cross levels. And yes, i just compared Damien to my beloved Gideon. It’s THAT GOOD. He’s hot, he’s sexual, he will be your brand new Book Husband. If you prefer a strictly vanilla book then this is totally not for you – but if you want a little something…uhhhh….extra, GO FORTH AND READ. like now. like yesterday.

I was totally sucked into this series and I’m dying a little bit for more. I will snatch up anything Stark related – *GRABBY HANDS* – including J. Kenner’s new releases in 2015 that are part of the new Stark International Series. But until then, I think it may be time for a re-read….