Release
As Genevieve “Genny” Bujold stands at the elevator entrance to her late husband’s private sector intelligence company, “Sauren-Kennedy Solutions”, she reflects back on the last time she entered the company's penthouse. It was 3 years previously after a lovely evening celebrating New Year’s Eve when she shared a night of passion with her husband Max Sauren and his then Chief Operating Officer, Sean Kennedy. What happened that night was her ‘dirty little secret’. Five days later, Max was found murdered in his car and the murder weapon, his own gun, was never found. Genevieve was horrified. Genevieve is a designer and entrepreneur who operates a small high end fashion boutique and design studio on Chicago’s Oak Street. Genevieve had been married to Max for 4 years. He was a handsome, debonair man 24 years her senior, a former CIA operative who through trading secrets and careful investigative work had built a successful company in “Sauren Solutions”. Max and Genny lived in an estate home in the suburbs where they often entertained his high profile clients and company staff. It was at one of these events that Genevieve met Sean.
Sean is a war hero with a history working in Army Intelligence. I don’t know how to describe Sean effectively, I could say he is totally hot and that would be true, but his is more than that. He is passionate, charismatic, ruggedly handsome with a New Orleans drawl, has cultivated impeccable manners, and he possesses a sensual aura that as a reader I found was literally palpable. Under a seeming somber, contained exterior, however he is ruthless and has does have a temper, a volatile side. Sean knows the world of espionage, and in his world, “knowledge is the essence of power.”
Sean is the only person on the planet that calls Genevieve “Genny”, and made it sound natural. In the months leading up to that fated New Year’s Eve, they spent innocent time together which was condoned by Max. During that time the sexual tension increased between them to the point that you would need a machete to cut through it. They fell head over heels in love, and Genny’s husband knew it, which lead to the night in the penthouse.
“She’d been another man’s wife and he’d never so much as kissed her. But somehow, it hadn’t been Max who had allowed Sean to make love to his wife that night. It'd been Sean who had permitted another man to touch her in his presence.”
Release © Beth Kery
Following Max’s murder Genny refuses to see Sean, and for 3 years he yearns for his ‘soul mate.’ To Sean, Genny isn’t just outwardly lovely, she has an inner beauty and sensuality that consumes him. Genny is also a vulnerable woman who thanks to her husband’s mechanizations needs protection from an insidious threat, unknown to her Sean has provided that protection.
Which brings us back to the elevator and the Sauren penthouse. After Max dies, Genny inherits co-ownership of the company and when her house burns to the ground, she has no where else to go but the penthouse. There Genny finds Sean with another woman who he quite swiftly sends on her way. A major blizzard has the city in it’s grip and Genny agrees to stay with Sean on her terms, while he knows there are significant issues between them that need to be discussed he burns for her so badly, he reluctantly agrees. Genny felt like an empty shell until Sean comes back into her life, she can no longer resist him. You will have to read the book to understand the passion that is shared between these two people, it flames and literally blazes as they explore the depths of each other’s desire.
Festering in the background of their reacquainted love, Sean suspects Genny could have been Max’s murderer. Genny believes without question that Sean murdered her husband. In addition, Sean knows in his bones that Genny is in danger. He suspects who may be the threat, but Max had gathered his associates and enemies private skeletons, keeping them secreted away in a high security briefcase that was never found after his death. Essentially it could be one of many who was after and willing to kill Genevieve Buojold, to get the briefcase. However, a former business associate is Sean’s prime suspect.
As the storm outside ebbs and the threat to Genny moves closer, Sean works against time to keep her safe. Then Genny learns startling secrets about Max and his mechanizations that send her reeling and running from Sean again.
I found “Release”, to not only be a well crafted, emotional, erotic romance, IMHO it is also a riveting suspense packed full of exciting plot twists and surprises.
