Dirtiest Secret

February 22, 2016
Kenner (Unwrap Me), who also writes mainstream romance as Julie Kenner, takes readers on an erotic thrill ride with this high-octane contemporary, the first in her new Stark International Novel (S.I.N.) trilogy, linked to her California-centered Stark novels. Teen adoptive siblings Jane Sykes Martin and Dallas Sykes don’t share a drop of blood, but legally, they are brother and sister—forcing them to ignore the simmering passion between them. After they are kidnapped and tortured (by villains whose identities have not yet been revealed to readers), they find mutual comfort in a budding sexual relationship that’s cut off when they are rescued. A decade later, Dallas is trying to assuage his pain by becoming a devil-may-care playboy billionaire, while Jane tries to process hers by reinventing herself as a writer. They both want to pretend their sexual encounters never happened, but they can’t stay away from each other. The story’s frequent transitions between Jane’s first-person narration and Dallas’s third-person sections can be jarring, but Kenner skillfully builds a top-notch thriller. The tale ends on a tantalizing and frustrating cliffhanger. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary.

April 1, 2016

Dallas Sykes, the playboy billionaire who first made a splash in Kenner's "Stark International" trilogy, is the leading man in this fast-paced erotic thriller. Dallas has a "sex god" reputation that he's worked hard to maintain, but his series of sexcapades with interchangeable women are only a temporary balm for the sorrows of his painful past. No one knows the extent of his trauma, except for Jane, the one woman he loves--and can't have. The two are bound by a horrific experience that has shaped each in drastically different ways. A raucous bad boy in public, Dallas privately heads Deliverance, a covert special ops team of MI6 that rescues kidnapped children. Jane is a burgeoning author who transforms her trauma into fiction while investigating vigilante rescue missions. When the two are drawn together by the promise of finding their childhood captor, they're unable to ignore the passion that their physical distance has kept at bay. Yet looming secrets threaten to destroy their life together, forever. Kenner's tight storytelling and relentless pace make for action-packed scenes both in and out of the bedroom. VERDICT Strong writing propels an exciting tale of longing, danger, and forbidden desire. The ending's twist will leave readers eager for the next installment.

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