Devil's Kiss series - Book 4 | Add to Goodreads
It's been a year since Kayla Sutton walked away from Gage Channing, the man who blackmailed her into sexual slavery. Now he's back, and so is Ian Kaplan, Kayla's one-time lover from her college days. Both men want her, but only one holds the power to make her submit—to her own dark desires and to the truth she still denies, even to herself.
But Gage's jealousy is his worst enemy, and when he thinks Kayla has chosen Ian, he sets in motion a drastic plan to claim what's his. Only Kayla never expects him to infiltrate her heart so effortlessly; and she never dreamed there would come a day when he wouldn't want her—when the mere sight of her turns him away in disgust.
He believes she’s committed the ultimate sin, but will she use his mistake to finally escape the cage of his obsession? Or will she do whatever it takes to make him see he can entrust his heart to her...just as she's already lost the core of her being to him?
My breath grew shallow, from arousal, from fear. Gage was good at that—eliciting strong emotions that contrasted so sharply, they knocked a person on their ass in total confusion. I shouldn’t want him. I should scream at him to get the hell out of my house and never come back. I should get a freaking restraining order.
As if the turmoil inside me didn’t exist, I set our omelets on the table and calmly took a seat across from him. “What did you mean by boundaries?” I stabbed a bite and shoved it in my mouth. Raising my eyes to his turned out to be a mistake. His hypnotic stare paralyzed me; I couldn’t look away if my life depended on it. I fell into the ocean of his gaze and almost missed the satisfied quirk of his lips. Almost.
“You know by now that a relationship with me won’t be your standard variety. You’ll have rules that govern your behavior.”
“My behavior?”
“Yes. I expect you to obey me.” He set his fork down and winced. “But last year I was cruel to you and that’s not how I normally treat a woman. Not even when they beg me to hurt them beyond what I’m comfortable with.”
“Then why?” I choked out. Everything he’d done hit me square in the chest, and his admission that he’d been exceptionally cruel hurt more than it should.
“I wanted to destroy what was his.” He lowered his head with a frown. At least he had the grace to look ashamed.
“Congratulations.” I let my fork drop, satisfied with the clatter it made. “You succeeded.”
“No, I didn’t. Your strength is both my frustration and my undoing. There’s nothing more irritating or sexier on a woman.” He took a bite, and his gaze veered up to mine. “And to clarify on what I mean by boundaries, we’ll set limits this time. You’ll have a safe word.”
“You’re talking as if we’re going to be together.”
“I’m not leaving here without you, Kayla.”
For this fourth installment, I feel like James uses this book as an opportunity to make Gage less of an a**hole and create a better understanding of his nasty motivations. At this point Gage is still whipping back and forth between caring nice guy and overbearing d*ckwad. We were left with Gage re-entering Kayla's life but no real reason why. I actually hated him throughout the first three books because of how horrible he was acting towards Kayla. Unfortunately in this book despite getting some of his past, Gage is STILL being horrible towards Kayla and possibly even more so than before! He keeps pushing Kayla to trust him with herself yet I totally understand why she doesn't. He has done nothing to earn that trust and on top of that their relationship started with blackmail... not the most conducive of situations no?
Kayla is probably just as annoying because she knows that at this point in the story Gage hasn't changed and yet because she's addicted to their sexy time she continues to return to him - bringing her daughter in their twisted romance no less. Kayla comes across as a protective mother and yet continues to make a selfish decision to stay with Gage despite being unsure whether he daughter would be wholly safe - not okay Kayla! Their relationship made me cringe because while I admit their chemistry is smoking hot, they were not in a point in their lives where they should have pursued or strong armed each other into doing. Ian, the absolute darling, is right in recognizing abusive behaviour because I struggle to see the love in their Dom/sub relationship...
Despite all of this I did enjoy reading the books because James writes really well! The sexy time scenes are explosive but the characters and how the book feels slightly rushed to get to some kind of "conclusion" stops Devil's Salvation from more than three stars. Give it a shot and let me know what you think - maybe I've just had enough of the misunderstood arrogant billionaire? Argh maybe.
The Devil's Kiss Trilogy (The first book)
Gemma James (a pseudonym for Christina Jean Michaels) loves to explore the darker side of sex in her fiction. She's morbidly curious about anything dark and edgy and enjoys exploring the deviant side of human nature. Her stories have been described as being "not for the faint of heart."
She lives with her husband and their four children--three rambunctious UFC/wrestling-loving boys and one girl who steals everyone's attention.
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Thank you for the review! :)
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