The Cost of Honor by Diana Muñoz Stewart (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"He gave up everything to escape his family

The only male to be adopted into the notorious Parish family, Tony Parish always did right by his vigilante sisters. But when an attempt to protect one of them went horribly wrong, he had to fake his own death to escape his fanatical family. Tony set sail and ended up in Dominica—face to face with the woman of his dreams...

Now he must give up Honor to save her

After the death of her mother, Honor Silva moved to Dominica, where her family could help her heal and move on. But her activist mother left her more than money, she left her proof that could take down one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

Tony gave up everything he thought he knew when he fled his family. But when a threat too dangerous for Tony and Honor to fight on their own closes in, he has no choice but to go to them for help. Problem is, they'll demand something in return—something that could cost Tony not just Honor, but also the love that changed him forever."

My Thoughts:

I am officially hooked on this series!  A few months ago I read (and really enjoyed) the second book in this series The Price of Grace.  It left me completely excited about this book and happily it was just as good as I had hoped!  What a page turner this book was!  I swear I was 100 pages into this one and then all of a sudden I hit this point and knew that I wasn't going to be able to stop reading until I finished.  It was just that good and I HAD to see how everything was going to turn out.  One of the things that I really liked about this book was that there were two separate threats that Tony and Honor are facing.  One is an unknown threat to Honor's business that Tony is attempting to help her with.  The second one is the threat that Tony's family will find him and wipe his memories. These two things added a lot of suspense and tension to this book.  It also helped for me to really understand and get behind the relationship that developed between these two.  I'm not usually one for relationships that develop super fast - I prefer the building up of a relationship the majority of the time.  Not in this case though because I was completely behind their relationship and the why's that they were diving into it so fast.  They knew that there time was limited together so they weren't going to waste one second of the time that they did have.  They had the perfect blend of chemistry and heat which had me rooting for their happy ever after the entire time.  I really, really liked this book so I'm eager to see if there are going to be more books in this series.  In the meantime, I need to go back and finally read that first book that started this series.  I do recommend reading these books in order if possible.  I didn't feel like it hurt my enjoyment in the second book at all (not having read the first) but by the time that you get to this one, I'm sure there are too many spoilers otherwise.  Also, things that happened in that second book definitely carry over into this one so that's another reason to read them in order if at all possible.  Plus, the two that I've read were so good so definitely worth your time!

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book and this series in general so far.  I'm really, really hoping that we get more books featuring the Parish family because I'm not ready for it to be done.  This book had the perfect blend of heat and suspense - this is romantic suspense at its best in my opinion!  I would recommend this book and series to fans of romantic suspense, romance, and even suspense readers in general.  Read it in order if you can or start with The Price of Grace like I did!  An easy book to recommend!

Bottom Line:  The perfect blend of romance and suspense - what more do you need?

Disclosure:   I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher as part of a TLC book tour.  Honest thoughts are my own.

The Price of Grace by Diana Muñoz Stewart (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Gracie Parish knows the true cost of trust. Rescued as a child by the infamous Parish family, she became a member of their covert sisterhood of vigilantes. Gracie saw her most precious relationships destroyed by secrecy. She learned long ago to protect her heart as well as her family's secrets.

Special Agent Leif "Dusty" McAllister will do anything to uncover the truth about the Parish family's covert operations. Dusty knows Gracie is his ticket in. He'll use everything he's got—fair, unfair, and just plain wrong—to break through her defenses. But the more he gets to know Gracie and her family's mission, the harder he starts to fall. Neither one is sure they'll get out of this with their lives—or their hearts—intact."

My Thoughts:

This is the kind of romantic suspense read that I could not help but enjoy!  It was fast paced and unexpected throughout the entire book which I couldn't help but love!  This is actually the second book in the series but I decided to start with it first (and now will soon be going back to the first book to catch up on what I've missed).  One of the main things that made this book stand out for me was Gracie's family and the things that she has given up to protect her family.  I don't want to spoil anything for readers so I'll just leave it at that.  As the book goes along, we get to see that she is struggling with the things she has given up and is wanting to make changes to her life.  At the same time, she is dealing with Dusty's arrival back into her life after other certain events.  Grace knows that Dusty is investigating her family for the FBI but she just can't seem to keep away from him herself.  The chemistry between these two is definitely hot!  Before I go any further, I have to tell you my one small gripe with this book.  It starts off when these two first meet and there was such a huge case of insta-lust that I was immediately thrown off especially with the dangerous situation that they were in.  I'm only telling you this because I think that there are other readers like myself that aren't quite as huge fans of insta-love or lust and might feel similarly.  I'm super glad that those opening scenes didn't stop me from continuing because the rest of the book wasn't like that at all.  Yes, they are still attracted to each other from the beginning but they both understand why a relationship between the two of them is a bad idea and probably wouldn't work.  Gracie fights her attraction to Dusty which just made the moments when they finally came together (not a spoiler - this IS a romance) that much sweeter.  I actually really adored both of their characters so I was rooting for them to find their happy ever after. The suspense portion was very well done and was why I just couldn't seem to set this book down!  The way this book ended left me very curious to see what will happen next in book three.  To make the wait seem shorter though, I definitely plan on going back to the first book I Am Justice!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and flew through the pages of it!  One of the things that I'm most excited about with reading more books in this series is learning more about Gracie's family.  They have me so intrigued so I can't wait to read more about them all.  This book was also another really great reminder of why I enjoy romantic suspense so much!  There is just something about a book with a romance and a mystery mixed together that I can't get enough of!  It's like the best of both worlds when it is done right and this book definitely was!  I would recommend this book to readers of romance and romantic suspense easily!  You definitely don't have to read this series in order (I didn't).  I didn't feel like I was missing out whatsoever.  That being said, this book and series has me wanting to go back to that first book which should tell you all that you need to know!

Bottom Line:  A romantic suspense that reminded me exactly why I love this genre so much!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher as part of a TLC book tour.  Honest thoughts are my own.