At first glance, the cover of Denial felt more like a really dark novel with elements of erotica.  Strangely, when I first read the synopsis, I didn’t have this thought but then the book sat in my Kindle TBR list for a little while and I forgot what it was about.  I kept seeing the cover and thinking “It looks like a Kitty Thomas book” and started shying away.  

It got to a point where it was staring pointedly at me, saying “Read me!”  I opened it again and realized, Oops, it’s an erotic suspense.  I started reading and didn’t stop. I enjoyed the mystery of amnesia thrown in with an alpha male and some suspense elements.  Then the author note where she says “everything is a hint”.  I sometimes re-read passages to see if there were any clues.

It is a page-turner.  You’re in the mind of the heroine Ella, who can’t remember anything before waking up in a hospital.  Suddenly a hot alpha male is telling her that he found her being mugged in an alleyway and brought her to the hospital.  Then, he does his best to keep her safe, protected, while also trying to figure out what is going on.  Bit by bit memories are returning, but nothing solid for her to figure anything out.  Tattoos, drawings, suspicious/subtle sayings are being thrown around in the book.

The only thing that kept me groaning was her flip-flopping – does she trust him or doesn’t she?  Although a part of me doesn’t totally trust him either, I just wish she would pick a path and stick to it.  Run, don’t run, trust, don’t trust…But again, if it was me IRL, I would have just cried in a corner.

Then there was the cliffy.   Fortunately, it’s not an unnecessary one as this Part I is 300+ pages long.  I hate it when authors take a full-length novel and divide it up until you’ve spent $13 on a 300-page novel.  It makes more sense to have 1K+ pages and then break them up.

Anyways, highly recommended as a suspenseful hot alpha male book.  Demand (#2) comes out in a few days and Surrender (#3) is supposed to come out in December 2016.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Buy it on Amazon here.