This is the first book by this author that I've read. This is the first book in this series by this author. This is a steamy romance read. The characters were amazing and well written. This story has a suspense side to it too which will keep you reading long into the night. I can't wait to read more in this series and by this author in the future.
Highly recommended
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book

Great premise for the book, but I don't think it was well developed.

Famous writer who is dealing with a stalker needs protection so she and her assistant decide to hire security. After to many failed interviews, Jezebel makes her decision for her new body guard based on looks alone. She's so attracted to this guy that she decides to hire him on the spot without even waiting for his clearances to come back. Then when she runs into him outside of the interview, she invites him back to her apartment and gives him a tour where she starts coming on to him.

Here's my thing....wouldn't you want to wait to see if this person is tied in anyway to someone who could be your stalker? Wouldn't you wait for his clearances to come back before showing him where you live?

I never felt more than a physical connection between the characters; the "love" felt forced rather than something that develops naturally.

So, WOW! Right from the very first sentence, the first paragraph I was hooked! This fast-paced page turner is going to give the Fifty and Crossfire series a run for their money! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED IT IS HOTT & STEAMY! If you can’t take the heat stay far, far away from the kitchen that Jezebel and Blakely are occupying! Or any other room/vehicle/closet they might be near!

ONE DAY. I read the entire book in one day! In one sitting! I could not get enough! This could be one of my favorites for the year!

Jez is a very successful author of adult smut who lives in Manhattan. She lives off the grid as far as celebrity lifestyles go and is a very private person. Which has made her lonely and alienated from the outside world? Part of this comes from a tragedy in her life before she became successful. Cue stalker. How can one person shatter her entire sense of comfort and easy lifestyle in one fell swoop? He has found the real Jez that hides among the multitude of NYC and flaunts his presence in her life every time she lets her guard slip, for even a moment. Therefore, she is forced to hire a bodyguard and James Blakely is the man for the job. Which job she isn’t sure of -Lover, Bodyguard, Friend with Benefits, Protector, Personal Sex God. The possibilities are endless!

The Characters That Make the Book Delicious!
Enter the reason for the 4.5 stars that I gave the book. It was not that I did not love the book or that the character build was a left down that left me bereft. No, the reason was their weak backstories. A clear majority of the book is centered around two people trying to overcome a past that completely haunts them but when the mysterious circumstances are revealed they are more like a bad tabloid cover stories. I won’t give spoilers, but I did not see how the events that led these two to be so completely cut off from the world was any more devastating than the everyday things that most people go through.

Mr. Stalker is a weak character and I did not like his tie into Jez’s present world. It seemed too cheesy and random. (I must admit that the morbid spot in my heart thought for sure that he had killed Jez’s elderly neighbor and was living in the apartment under her, so he could be close to her. I mean why else would the author keep talking about how recluse the nameless neighbor is? And how the stalker so easily monitors Jez’s every move without being seen? But, alas my dark outlook on the world was just hoping for death and destruction in this Romance and it was not rewarded with any such wickedness!)

Jezebel lives in two different worlds with two different monikers. In one world she is the queen of steam and sex who burns up the pages with sass and depravity. On the flip side of her coin, she is a lonely recluse whose only real companionship comes from Mr. Dependable and his fresh supply of batteries. Jez has cut the world off and cannot relate to anyone new that she meets. The types of people that she meets only wants or thing or another from her. To see exactly how dirty, she can be outside the pages or they are appalled by what she does for a living. Something changes in her when she meets Blakely and he might be the only person who can see through her façade and help her learn to love herself. And hell, if she gets some hardcore action to boot? Why not!
I really connected with Jez as a character. I don’t like going out in the world or meeting new people and I wear a mask of fake happiness when I am forced into such situations. I am proud to say read/review/write daily, but I am also misunderstood as these are not the normal 9-5 job setting.

James Blakely is a sex god born in modern times and he knows the effect his presence has in a room when he enters. He is everything a book boyfriend should be! Sexy, pushy, secure in his masculinity, compassionate, broken in his own way, and completely engaged with his lady! There was more to Blakely than just his looks. He really starts to fall for the real Jez that she does not the world see. He wants to do more than just protect her and it scares him! Just like Jez, he has never been an open person and uses his job a crutch from the reality of the world and the darkness in his past. The same about of vulnerability that Jez sees in him is enough of a crack to let her wiggle her way into his heart.

Conclusion:
I really did love this steamy, passionate story. I believe that anyone who loves the Fifty and Gideon Cross novels will appreciate this reversal in roles! As Jez is the aggressive one and when she knows what she wants she goes after it!
There is an exuberantly large number of F-bombs dropped in this book, but it did not bother me because curse words are the second language in my life! Thanks for allowing the pleasure to read this book before it was published! I am already hoping that book 2, Truth We Bear (as it is called at the end of book 1), is going to be available as an early ARC so I can request it too! Truthfully! The Epilog in Blakely’s POV might have been one of my favorite parts! In the meantime, am going to buy Blood Books: The Complete Series so I can read more from the mind of this author!

I think I just became addicted to a new to me author. Danielle Rose blew me away with Lies We Keep. I didn't want to put this down. Seriously I need the next book in this series. Jezebel and James have off the charts chemistry from the beginning. First you think oh it's another one of those books where the client falls for body guard. But in reality it is so much more then that. James really tried to fight his attraction but with Jezebel there was no way he could stop falling for her. Jezebel is so much more then an author she is a survivor. I love that she wasn't afraid to get help in the end. She may have been shattered but she is slowly putting her demons behind her. James has his own demons he is suppressing and I really can't wait to see what is to come of these two. An amazing one click that's for sure.