Reviewed by Cindy
TITLE: Wicked Games
SERIES: Queen City Rogues Book 2
AUTHOR: Aimee Nicole Walker
PUBLISHER: Chasing Rainbows Press LLC
LENGTH: 243 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 11, 2019
BLURB:
Ryder Jameson and Lucien Clarke have a complicated past: Ryder conserves art; Lucien steals it. Their love-hate relationship spans six years and two continents and has endured multiple heists. Hoping to restore his tarnished reputation, Ryder returns home to Cincinnati to accept a position at an acclaimed museum. When Lucien suddenly reappears in Ryder’s life, the treasure seeker hopes to nab a priceless Shang Dynasty artifact and recapture Ryder’s jilted heart.
Something more sinister than stolen art is stirring in the Queen City. Ryder and Lucien must join forces to untangle a web of secrets, lies, and treachery bigger than either of them expected. Trust won’t come easy, but they’ll need to rely on each other because pulling the wrong thread could have deadly consequences.
Is it fate that keeps bringing Ryder and Lucien together, or are they merely pawns in someone’s wicked games? Will they play for keeps this time or become collateral damage?
Wicked Games is a second-chance romance filled with passion, humor, and intrigue. It’s the second book in the Queen City Rogues series but can be read on its own. Wicked Games contains mature sexual content intended for readers 18 and older.
REVIEW:
It’s not often I enjoy a sequel more than I did the original story but in this case, I really did!
Ryder and Lucien are two men who have been pulled together and pushed apart for years. Just as we thought Ryder was one person and turned out to be another in the first book of this series, Lucien is a character who becomes much the same.
I loved the intrigue in this story. I had fun trying to figure out the reasons and the whys of the character’s behaviors and it’s what kept me glued to my screen through the whole story. It’s a little “James Bond” meets Hallmark story of the week, but with enough kickass to balance out the sweetness that could become a little too much if left unchecked.
I also liked the relationships in this book, and not just the one between Ryder and Lucien. Ryder and his mother made me smile as they worked through their own issues while Ryder tries to figure out how to deal with Lucien.
Lucien and his friends made me laugh a lot and their humor went a long way to helping me learn to like Lucien.
The characters in this book are an interesting group who kept me on the edge of my seat as I tried to work my mind around what was going on.
I usually like to see the characters from the first book in a sequel, but there are only a few quick glimpses in this one, but I found that I was okay with it. They belong to a whole different world than the two debonair and worldly men that stole my heart here.
The sex in this book is smoking hot and they use it to fix their relationship a little more than I’d like, it’s appropriate to the story and definitely not a hardship to read.
The author makes full use of their quick wit to craft excellent dialogue that mostly had me laughing, although there’s enough angst to keep it from being a true comedy.
I can heartily recommend this book and I can’t help but wonder if there’s going to be any more in this series. (She says hopefully).
RATING: 
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