Jaded [Paperback]

Jade Devereaux is the manager of the exclusive club Callahan's. The clientele were once the cream of the crop--rich, connected, debonair men who wanted to enjoy the company of a beautiful woman without any romantic entanglements. Jade, and her harem of sultry employees fit the bill, but there was nothing else on the table but conversation and some helpless flirting. Jade is neither a madam nor a prostitute--much to the chagrin of her clientele. When Callahan's is purchased by a less discriminating proprietor, the membership takes a turn for the worst, and Jade's comfort zone is challenged by the gritty, low class gropers who are now given free reign in her club. Jade has everything that men want--brains, beauty, and sex appeal--but she doesn't let any man get close to her--let alone sleep with her. When one of the new members won't take no for an answer, Jade threatens to cut off his baby-makers and shove them down his throat. Accordingly, she's the first suspect when he's murdered in that exact manner.

Jase Vaughn is a hardened cop who is smart enough to know a dirty establishment when he sees it. When he walks into Callahan's to investigate the murder, he knows the manager is giving up more than polite conversation to her customers, and the very idea makes him angry. He wants a sexy, alluring woman like Jade, who exudes class and culture, to be more than just a prostitute. But she's the number one suspect in his investigation and he refuses to let personal attraction get in the way of doing his job. The more time he spends at Callahan's--and in the company of the lovely Miss Devereaux--the more he begins to suspect that she's not what she seems. And as new murders keep occurring, all killed in the same manner, and all members of Callahan's who rubbed Jade the wrong way, Jase is determined to get to the bottom of things.

Jaded is romantic suspense with a bit of erotic romance. It was also a bit tedious to read and almost a waste of my time. Jade is a walking contradiction--a woman who oozes sex appeal yet is cold as ice, yet turns into a warm puddle in the vicinity of the hero. There was no slow build to the melting of her icy exterior, and it comes back up when convenient, which was difficult to tolerate. I liked her in theory. What's not to like about a strong heroine who knows that men want her, knows that she's sexy, and isn't afraid to use it to her advantage? It's the fact that she lacked a spine at some times and was so rigid at others that I found hard to tolerate. Then there's Jase. (I won't even get into how annoying it is that the hero and heroine's names are only one letter apart, which makes for some confusing reading to say the least). Again, in theory I liked him. I like alpha heroes. I like his protective nature. But I don't buy that any cop worth his salt who thinks that a woman is a prostitute--and abhors her for it, thinks she is the lowest of low creatures--would then turn around and sleep with the same woman, no matter how smoking hot she is. I just can't suspend disbelief that way. And the fact that he tells her that he thinks she's doing this vile, disgusting thing, and she takes it and hooks up with him anyway was a problem for me. I liked each of these characters separately. Together, they didn't do it for me.

If you want spicy romantic suspense where the hero and heroine work well together, check out something by Lisa Marie Rice or Cynthia Eden if you're into paranormals. But this book had too many problems for me to forgive, and it took a lot of effort to make myself finish it.

i LOVE THIS BOOK!
It's so engaging and suspensful! I couldn't put it down, this author is so amazing. I must say though, after having read her other books, A good girl gone bad and skin. Some of the sexual stuff seemed like it was too similar to the other books. Dont get me wrong, doing it in the living room and the table was different. And admiring his toes was nice, but the moves and descriptions were the same as the others.
Still I love the hot cops. Ordered book #4 last week.

Fantastic characters, hot love scenes and a story that had me from the 1st page. I loved Jaded; it has now been added to my book collection.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars