ARC Book review: Mercy (Holton Woods, Book #1) by HelenKay Dimon

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After she infiltrated his business and betrayed his trust, a disavowed CIA agent must seek sanctuary in the bedroom of a man who will either help her, kill her, or bring her to her knees…
 
Becca Ford is on her own. Eight months after she headed up a sting operation to take down millionaire club owner Jarrett Holt, the other agents in her special ops team have been eliminated under odd circumstances, and she needs a place to hide.
 
Jarrett is a man who prefers darkness to light. He deals in the only truly valuable currency—information—and his supper club caters to an exclusive clientele. It was an uncharacteristic moment of weakness when he let a woman into his life. But it’s not luck that the criminal charges disappeared . . . as did the evidence.
 
When Becca returns to the club seeking his help, Jarrett doesn’t want to hear her story. But he does want her body, and demands that she give it to him. He’ll keep her safe—for now—but it’ll be in his bed and on his terms, until he says they’re done. 

First this is NOT a romantic suspense which HelenKay Dimon is known for this is a erotica with a little romantic suspense. I believe this is HelenKay Dimon first foray into erotica and she gets started right away in this book with a bang!  Jarrett Holt is a self made man. He had a crappy crappy childhood but brought himself up out of that to where he is now. Plenty of a money two solid friends who have his back when needed and his club among other things. Eight months ago he thought he was in pretty serious relationship with Becca Ford. It took a lot for Jarrett to trust her to the extent he did and then she betrayed him and lied to him. Becca Ford works for the CIA and Jarrett was a mission a job that is until she really did fall for him. Unfortunately it started to look like he was dealing drugs and when her mission got cut short and they decided to arrest Jarrett she was so mixed up by what she thought was going on and her feelings for him she was pretty much useless for a while. Jarrett gets himself out of prison and 8 months later Becca finds herself on the run when every person on her team back then ends up dead or attacked in some way. She crawls almost literally back to Jarrett because she needs his help to figure out what's going on. The whole of this book takes place at Jarrett's club which is kind of strange in a way but i honestly never thought a lot about it until someone else mentioned it. There is no opening for anyone to go anywhere though throughout the book.  Jarrett takes Becca in because no matter what she did to him he loves her but can't hardly admit that to himself in the beginning. They have to start over from scratch building trust and it's hard for either one to do that. Becca had a childhood about as bad as Jarrett's so and with her job trust and opening up is especially hard so the two of them bang heads and bodies lol alot in this story. There are some secondary characters in this book that are interesting major players still in this story and i'm wondering  what the author will do with them in future books. It's takes them all to figure out whose behind the killing of Becca's team. I wanted to hate Jarrett. I get why he was the way he was and as a reader i am privy to Becca's thoughts and he is not of course, but wow he was harsh. I love the way Becca stays tough and doesn't give up on him and how she gets her gumption back at the end and takes back her own sense of self and power. Jarrett comes through at the end in his own way and you have to love him for his sacrifices. An amazing intense story with hotter than hot sex scenes.  Great start to a series and awesome first official erotica for HelenKay Dimon. Book two is out later this fall.

Find out more about this book and author HelenKay Dimon here www.helenkaydimon.com