Review of Awakening Allaire

Title: Awakening Allaire
Author: Margie Church
Publisher: Class Act Books
Rating: 4.75 of 5
Reviewed by: MarthaE

Buy Link: http://www.classactbooks.com/bkpgawakeningallaire.html
ISBN 978-1-935048-19-0 1-935048-19-8
Word Count: 85,168
Contemporary Romance - Explicit sexual content; some language.

Blurb: Allaire West threw away her marriage to Jeff West when she bedded the handsome and powerful Devon Mercer. Pregnant with Devon’s twins, she tries to pass them off as her husband’s, only to have the ugly truth end with a gunshot.
As Allie puts her life back together, she finally admits the man she loves and wants to spend the rest of her life with is Devon Mercer. Allie secretly attends Devon’s Halloween masquerade party and they share a sizzling reunion.
Her life is turned upside down again when she is kidnapped after the party and held for ransom by two drug-crazed, ex-convicts. Allaire endures starvation, isolation, and drug addiction. With time against him, Devon makes a deal with the devil to find his beloved.

Review: This is a wonderfully written, suspense packed, thriller. A great read. I have rated this just short of the 5 mark only to reflect my personal feelings about the sexual content, adultery issue and some language. However, the plot and writing rate a 5.

I must first say that I do not normally read erotic or sexually explicit books so this was on the edge of that cusp for me. But every sexual scene was done tastefully without unnecessary lewdness or crudeness. It was just more explicit than I am accustomed to and for me could have had fewer sexual scenes. However, the plot and action were strong enough that this was a story with explicit romantic scenes and not just sexual scenes with a weak story. Also, I do not normally read books that include adultery, which I do not favor, so that slipped by me when I agreed to review this. None the less, this story was so well written and so full of suspense that I was able to get past that issue to enjoy the rest of the story.

Allaire is a bright, energetic, passionate woman who longs to have children and definitely needs an outlet for her dedication and passion. She meets Devon Mercer in a town meeting addressing the future development of land. Devon is a strong, gorgeous, sexy and brilliant legal negotiator for the powerful Mercer organization. He is immediately attracted to Allaire, although she has resisted his brother and she initially attempts to resist him as well.

Allaire and Devon are put together to work out a compromise on the development project that will appease Allaire and the environmentalist groups. They develop a friendship that one night slips to more than friendship, resulting in the twins. Devon wants to be part of their lives when he realizes they are his children.

Devon soon steps in to provide a home for Allaire and the children after Jeff and Allaire separate. She is reluctant to have a relationship with him, however, largely due to the guilt she feels about betraying Jeff. Finally she decides she must see if they can be a family rather than allowing him to enter a serious relationship with another woman. They have a very successful reunion and are on the way to being a happy family when she is kidnapped!

Okay- that was only the first half of the book! The second half of the book is full of tense suspense as Allaire struggles being drugged and threatened by her kidnappers. It is also full of Devon’s efforts to locate her and get her home safely. Once she is rescued they have to cope with the traumas and fears left over from her ordeal.

I was extremely impressed at the excellent plot, character development and overall smooth writing style in this book. Actually I have found excellent quality of writing and presentation in the seven or so Class Act Books that I have read and I think this publishing group does a great job of putting out top quality books. Kudos to Class Act and Ms. Church for a job well done! If you like top notch romantic suspense and can handle a bit of explicit sexual content then you would truly enjoy this book!

Author website: http://site.romancewithsass.com/

Author blog: http://blog.romancewithsass.com/