Jade Devereaux is the manager of an exclusive club called
Callahan's in California. The clientele were once the cream
of the crop, rich, connected, and debonair men who wanted
the company of a beautiful woman without the attachments.
Jade, and her harem of sultry employees fit the bill, but
there was nothing else on the table. Jade is neither a pimp,
a madam, or 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 worse, and Jade's comfort zone is challenged. See, Jade
is a woman who has everything that men want—brains, beauty,
and sex appeal—but because of something in her past, she
does not allow anyone to get close to her, let alone to let
a man touch her. When one of the nouveau riche new members
makes one pass too many, Jade threatens to cut his balls off
and shove them down his throats. And 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
brothel when he sees it. When he walks into Callahan's to
investigate a murder, he can just tell that the manager is
giving more than polite conversation to her customers, and
the very idea burns him up. He wants a sexy, alluring woman
like Jade, who exudes class and culture, to be more than
just a whore. But she's the number one suspect in his
investigation and he tries not to let his 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 when one member confronts her in the club,
calling her Ruby Leigh and demanding that she submit to him,
Jase knows that the woman has more layers than an artichoke,
and he's determined to peel through them all until he finds
the heart.
JADED is a combination of erotic romance, romantic suspense,
and mystery, and suffers from a lack of clear distinction
between the three genres. Jade, the heroine, is an anomaly
not just to the men who frequent her club, but to readers as
well. She exudes sex appeal, makes men want her with her
very walk, yet she fears attraction and is wary of getting
too close to anyone. Yet when she gets around Jase she's
like a cat in heat, eager to snuggle up to him despite her
fear. If the change had been more gradual, I might have been
more accepting. As it stands, I was unable to suspend
disbelief. And Jase isn't an easy hero to like. For most of
the book he's convinced that Jade is a hooker, the lowest
form of trash in his opinion, yet he's still willing to
sleep with her despite his misgivings. At the same time, he
knows she's a suspect in numerous murders and has a past
that she's not being honest about. It just didn't sit well
with me. Add that to the fact that their didn't seem to be
any romantic tension between them, and I wasn't waiting or
hoping for them to get together, and as a whole, I was
disappointed. Jase and Jade were separately very appealing.
I liked her caged sexuality and quick wit, and I loved his
alpha demeanor and protective nature, but I just didn't
think they worked well together. If you're a Tabke fan,
maybe you will enjoy this book, but I'm not likely to read
more from this series.
The author of Skin and Good Girl Gone Bad
pens another sizzling tale of sex, scandal, and high-stakes
corruption
when a hard-hitting cop investigates the sultry, secretive
hostess of
an upscale "gentlemen's club" in the wake of a brutal
murder...
It
takes more than a red-hot body and stunning sex appeal to
manage a club
like Callahan's successfully. Jade Devereaux hides
whip-sharp smarts
and cold calculation behind her sleek facade. She's come a
long way
from the frightened teenage girl who was once prey to a
brutal man.
Now, in the cat-and-mouse game of sexual escapades, Jade
makes sure
that the men are her prey.
When a wealthy businessman is
viciously murdered mere yards from Callahan's, cynical cop
Jase Vaughn
turns to the exclusive private club for answers. Luscious Jade
Devereaux sends his masculine desires into overdrive the
moment he sees
her, but he has plenty of experience with both women and crime
suspects, and he can tell Jade has secrets to hide --
secrets that are
somehow connected to this twisted killing.
Jase is
determined to
strip away the pretense and expose the real Jade Devereaux,
even if
that means getting closer to her than the
love-them-and-leave-them
playboy has ever been to a woman. If she's guilty, Jase has
sworn to
see her behind bars. If she's innocent, then she could be
the killer's
next victim. But whether Jade is guilty or innocent, Jase
realizes to
his dismay that they are both falling victim to something
neither has
ever known -- the power of love.
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