The Laws of Seduction (French Kiss, #3) by Gwen Jones ~ Review

Source:  Received an eBook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

When Rex Renaud, the COO of Mercier Shipping, is arrested for a crime he didn't commit, he knows he'll need a miracle to clear his name … and sassy lawyer Charlotte Andreko is the perfect woman for the job.

Charlotte has built her career defending pro bono clients against womanizers like Rex Renaud, and she'd much rather let him sweat it out in a jail cell than defend him in court. Yet Rex swears he's been set up, and when he offers her a shocking sum of money in exchange for her legal counsel, the financial security is too tempting to resist. The court dubs Rex a serious flight risk—how many people have their own jet?—and he's released on one condition: Charlotte's his new jailer, and he's stuck with her until his arraignment.

But when a bomb threat sends Rex and Charlotte on the run, neither is prepared for the explosive chemistry and red-hot passion that flare between them as they hunt for the truth about his arrest.

Review...

Lately, I've wanted more from my romance books than just romance.   I enjoy it more when it has some suspense, some humor or some mystery to go along with the romance.  This book delivers that.

Rex and Charlotte live in different worlds.  He's a French businessman accused of an assault he didn't' commit.  She's an activist attorney that defends women who have been wronged.  They don't go together.  I think that's the only reason I accepted their insta-love.  They fell in love in four days.  It's not unheard of but it's not common.  What made it work was the fact that they would normally never be in close enough proximity to even have a relationship.  But the crime Rex was charged with changed that.  And when they were forced to spend 24/7 together, they discovered they are exactly what the other needs.

I enjoyed the mystery and the political games that made this whole story work.  It was nice to have that to drive them together.  I do think I was a little more lost because I was coming in mid-series.  It stands alone but I might have had a better handle on what was happening if I had already known some of the players.  As it was, I had to rely on what Rex thought was happening and what clues he uncovered.  In the end, I had no idea.  It was a set of circumstances that I couldn't possible have pieced together having just read this one book alone.  But I enjoyed it just the same.  

I enjoyed all the French and was really glad I could translate with my iPad.  Though it was mostly clear, I still liked highlighting and finding out for sure.  I loved hearing Rex's accent in my head.  The little French I still remember from my high school classes made that clear in my head. 

Written in third person, I actually enjoyed the writing.  It's not my favorite writing style but this author does a good job of still writing from one characters POV at a time.  I never felt confused by who was thinking what.

This heat is high in this one.  Rex is definitely all French.  He knows how to please a women and when he's also invested with his feeling, it gets pretty warm.  I enjoyed watching him go from lust to love though.  It was interesting. 

This book will appeal to people who like more to romance books than romance.  Throw some bad politicians into the mix and you have a book that you don't want to put down. 

           

About the Author...

Gwen Jones, MFA, is an Assistant Professor of English at Mercer County College, in West Windsor, NJ and a mentor in Graduate Studies at Western Connecticut State University’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing program. She’s been married to her husband, Frank, for more years than she’d like to admit, is an unabashed born-and-bred native of Southern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore, and finds all things political the highest form of entertainment. When not civilly espousing a progressive agenda, she can be found trolling neighborhood streets and greenways, perched under an umbrella at several Jersey beaches, or haunting movie theaters or random tri-state live performance spaces. Associations that have admitted to accepting her are The Romance Writers of America, Liberty States Fiction Writers, and The Association of Writers and Writing Programs. When she’s not atop any given flat space reading trashy novels or the occasional liberal diatribe, she’s usually writing women’s fiction or romance, or essays the odd person has been known to call “humorous.” Her work has been featured in Writer’s Digest, The Kelsey Review, and The Connecticut River Review. Her novels in the “French Kiss” series from HarperCollins are Wanted: Wife, Kiss Me, Captain, and The Laws of Seduction.