Review: Dagger's Edge

Dagger's Edge by Lora Leigh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Smoldering chemistry between a secretive femme fatale and a dangerous crime boss will pull a reader into this erotic tale. Ivan Resnova who first showed up in the Collision Point as the overbearing and protective father is now focused on the girl who is now a woman. Crimsyn "Syn" has been on the run from her family. She is at the wrong place at the wrong time when she is exposed to the true colours of the men in her life - fiance, father and grandfather. When she escapes them and goes on the run, the last thing she ever thought would happen, is to see her childhood crush, Ivan.

When these two cross paths again, their reaction is explosive. Ms. Leigh creates two strong characters with brutal pasts. I felt sorry for both Syn and Ivan. They survived their dysfunctional and abusive families. This survival instinct is fun to watch as they are drawn together and believe they are bad for each other. The sexual attraction between the two is well written and believable. The unresolved past conflict and childhood crush adds an erotic tension between older man and younger woman. Whilst the age difference is not a large gap, their experiences at the hands of terrible fathers makes all the difference in the world.

This spin off series can be read as a standalone. This second book in the series can also be read by itself. For those who have read the original series as well as the previous book, there world building will feel more complete. Ms. Leigh does a nice job of referencing and giving a bit of a backstory on characters from previous books. Still, for those who want a more layered experience and enjoy making all the connections, it is better to read the Elite Ops series and Collision Point first.

The conflict in this story is puzzling for me because it made no sense at first. Since the story is written in alternating 3rd person perspective, we see a little bit more than Syn. Still, it is not from an omnipresence point of view which is key, because it allows the reader to follow along with Syn and Ivan to figure out why Syn is being hunted. The loose threads all come together into a neat packaged bow by the end. The reveal whilst emotionally painful, is a surprisingly win-win scenario. I liked it.

The sex in this book is sensual and sweet. There is a hint of spice which kicks it into the erotic category for me. As a jaded erotic reader, the sex scenes were a bit too tame for me. Each reader's mileage may vary. This romantic suspense is recommended to readers who like childhood crush blooming into full on love themes.

*provided by Netgalley