Title: Behind Iron Lace
Author: Mercy Celeste
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel
Publisher: Silver Publishing (October 31, 2011)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts
Blurb: Darcy Butler is a fish out of water and is suffocating in the humid New Orleans heat. Dissatisfied with his career, his life, he is homesick and heartbroken. Above all Darcy is straight. Or so he believes until he meets the drop-dead gorgeous photographer he wants to revamp the art department of his e-magazine.
Caleb Mitchell, bad boy extraordinaire, lives life on the edge. He’s been around the world covering murder and mayhem. Back in New Orleans to tend his dying mother, Caleb is worn down by grief. He seeks the diversion of working at a local e-magazine to help keep him sane. He doesn’t expect the instant attraction to the bright-eyed editor/owner. That Darcy is probably straight doesn’t matter to Caleb. Because when Caleb wants something, nothing will stand in his way.
Not even Darcy.
Product Link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/new-release-c-1/behind-iron-lace-ebook-p-648
Reviewer: Portia
Review: I really didn’t think that there was a book good enough to distract me from National Novel Writing Month, better known by its acronym NaNoWriMo. In 30 days I, along with thousands of other crazy people, have committed to produce a 50,000 word novel. My plan for November was basically just publishing the reviews that were sent in my reviewers and doing just enough to keep MM Good Book Reviews running smoothly. Maybe read and review a book or two if I was on track with NaNoWriMo.
Then I made the mistake of starting Behind Iron Lace. I’m ashamed to admit that until I started it, I’d never even read the blurb. I just loved the cover art and knew from our online friendship that I loved Mercy Celeste twisted sense of humor.
From the very first paragraph I was hooked. Being a Yankee, who after 20 years, still dreads deep Southern summers, I could totally relate to poor Darcy’s first summer in New Orleans. Couple that with the fact that New Orleans is my favorite city in the world and Behind Iron Lace was off to a stellar beginning. Mercy does a fabulous job of bring N’awlins unique ambiance to life.
From moment one, the chemistry between Darcy and Caleb is intense. At first, they appear to be polar opposites; Darcy the straight-laced, Northern intellectual, Caleb the bad-boy Southern artist. But somehow it works. Which was really surprising as neither man is really out of the closet. Hell, Darcy doesn’t even realize that he is in one.
Truly, this is my favorite kind of MM romance. It moves along at a nice pace and you really get to know the characters and get to watch them fall in love. Watching each of the main characters drop their individual baggage, to get to the place where they could even entertain the possibility of a relationship, was a joy to read. *side note: Mercy, If you’d made poor Caleb wait any longer to get into Darcy’s pants, you and I were going to have a long talk about suspense vs. torture.*
So yeah…I’ll be up late tonight pecking away at my keyboard, because while I was supposed to be writing earlier, I was cuddling with my Kindle…and it was sooooo worth it.