This story didn’t work for me. The constant back-and-forth between Damon and AJ made their relationship confusing, and their frequent arguments took away from the romance. The suspense was overshadowed by their conflicts, and I even found myself skimming parts of the book due to the slow pacing. The ending felt rushed and incomplete.

The writing was a bit unnecessarily verbose for me. I also didn't enjoy the pacing. I did find that the FMC and MMC were well written though. The intrigue was my favorite part.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for my ARC copy! This review contains my personal thoughts and opinions.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I didn't realize that this book was a part of a series. There was not any world-building. That may have occurred in earlier books, but because I went into this book blind, it was hard to picture anything. I was not a fan of the characters, especially the FMC. AJ seemed like a badass, but on the flip side, she was insufferable. She felt very whiny, which was not enjoyable, and it took a lot away from the story for me.

I may have felt different if I read the series from the beginning, but because I was unaware, Power of Persuasion fell flat for me.

Power of Persuasion is a taut suspense story that will keep you on your toes for sure. I think this is more suspense with a romance subplot. The romance didn’t feel really fleshed out to me, and it felt more like a romance of circumstance-with some insta-lust. However, the plot was great! Apparently this is a release of an older book that was in a series, but I didn’t know that when I was reading-it doesn’t feel like you are dropped into a series at all.

AJ is a brilliant woman who has created software that is very coveted. She is called to another country to aid in rooting out a terrorist plot. The king? Damon, the guy who ghosted her at a wedding. Clearly, with trying to stop a terror plot, there is a LOT of action going on. I’m not gonna lie-I had to look up some words. That’s rare for me, but there are some specific vocabulary words that I was unfamiliar with. AJ and Damon have a slow burn, and sometimes they were irritating in the way they would push each other away. However, as I said, this is really more suspense read with a romance subplot, so there is plenty to distract from their, at times, annoying romance.

Stacey Abrams is a brilliant author, but her writing style can be a little cumbersome at times. Stopping to look up vocabulary words excites me because I love learning new vocabulary, but it can tear you out of the story. Fans of romantic suspense will love Power of Persuasion!

I would have loiked to know that this was apparently part of a series. I managed to get past that but the constant bickering got so one-note I DNF, therefore will not review on line.

Power of persuasion let me say I have the paper copy of this novel and I started reading it in the airport I was asked four time if they could take a picture of the book I was only in three chapters before I zoned out this book is captivating and a real page turner by the end of my trip and layover I was knee deep into the book opting out of sleeping on the plane to read because I just couldn’t put it down

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I’m not sure if it was too much happening too soon within the story or if with all that’s going on in the world, I just didn’t have the mental capacity to focus on it now. I will try to get back to it, but for now it’s not for me.

AJ is an AI scientist. Damon is an art gallery owner turned King. They met at a wedding and had a moment but he left before anything could happen between them.
Then her cousin pulls her into a spy mission to help save Damon's new kingdom. When they encounter each other again, the sparks are still there.
These two have a constant tug of war. He doesn't want to pull her into his chaos. Then there is a trust issue. It takes them a minute to get it together. All the way to the very end.
I'm not a fan of AI so that part of the story was a miss for me. The suspense made up for it. I wanted to shake Damon because it seemed like he would not get his act together when it came to AJ's heart. All in all it was a good story.

Unfortunately DNF at 11%. I found the language too technical made it hard for me to enjoy continuing the book. I like to escape into my reads.

Power of Persuasion is a suspenseful, slow-burn romance with a cool tech twist! AJ Grayson is a smart, sexy, and strong lead, and I loved watching her and Damon try to navigate their chemistry while dealing with a dangerous conspiracy. The pace was great, though I could’ve used a bit more tension between the couple—Damon’s anger got a little old—but overall, it was an exciting read that kept me hooked!

Power of Persuasion by Selena Montgomery is an exciting, as well as a romantic story. We meet A.J. Grayson, who works with her cousin Adam, at his cutting-edge GCI technology firm, with her creating a successful groundbreaking artificial intelligence system. She is asked to use her high tech A.I. (Poppet) that she developed to thwart a plot against Jafir’s monarchy; trying to discover who is plotting to kill the king.

Damon Tuca met AJ months ago, at a wedding, and though he found her very attractive, he quickly left the wedding. Many months later, Damon is shocked when A.J. turns up in Jafir, reporting to the President, who has hired the GCI and the Extra Government Organization running counterterrorism. Damon, who is now the King of Jafir, and sees the woman who he ghosted many months ago. He is surprised that she is the person who is a whiz, having invented her A.I. intelligence program. AJ sets everything up using her AI Poppet, which does all research, collections, tying missions and suspects.

In a short time, both Damon and AJ begin to have strong feelings for each other. Though throughout the book, Damon doesn’t trust anyone, and he has a tendency to become angry, a lot of times; including AJ. He is falling in love with her, but also wants to protect her, with so many suspects that he can’t trust.

Damon knows that his brother, Nelson (currently locked up) is planning an attack, to take over as King of Jafir; but who else is helping Nelson. AJ and Damon try to find the clues as to who is helping, suspicious at first Mclord, and then President Robertsi, but the real person behind the scenes is truly evil.
When things get hot, AJ finds the clues to reveal those behind the scenes, and knowing that attack the will be very soon. Adam, Raleigh, Phillip, and Alex make plans to go to Jafir to help, bring their own group of people to stop Nelson, Zeben, Jubilee, etc.

My favorite person in this story is AJ, who was fantastic, as she was smart, strong, sexy; especially her Poppet AI, who was very cool, talking to her. I found Damon to be ok, except he was in love with her, but he was annoying constantly getting angry. What follows are many twists, turns, suspicions, and discovering the conspiracy. Power of Persuasion was an exciting, intense story that kept me glued to my kindle. Power of Persuasion was very well written by Selena Montgomery.

3/5 stars

Thank you Berkely Books for the advanced reading copy!

I liked this book overall, though there are some things I would change about it. First of all, Stacey Abrams has a beautiful writing style; lots of prose and eloquent language. This did, however, make the spicy scenes so awkward to me, as they are written in the classic almost "metaphorical smut" way -- with analogies and metaphors. My personal preference is just to come out and say it, so this didn't work for me.

This book was definitely intriguing from the beginning and pretty fast-paced, just like the last book I read by this author THE ART OF DESIRE. Similarly to that one, this jumps right into a world that has come from other books, in a way that makes the reader feel they're missing something. These are not listed on Goodreads as being part of a series, but I think they should be and that this would enhance the experience of the reader significantly, as many characters, organizations and plots cross over. I do, however, think the backstory is fairly well-explained, in a way that doesn't take too much time but makes you feel in-tune enough to keep up.

I liked our main character, AJ, and enjoy that these books are written in third person omniscient, so you get to hear into everyone's heads at times. I did, however, think that the conflict between AJ and her love interest, Damon, were soooo repetitive and got very boring after a while. Felt like the same argument over and over. That said, narration was phenomenal and there were enough twists and turns to keep me engaged the entire time!

This story just didn’t work for me. There was too much back-and-forth between Damon and AJ, which made the resolution of their relationship confusing. They fought constantly, leaving their romance feeling severely lacking. I nearly forgot that there was supposed to be a suspense element in the story because I was overwhelmed by their conflicts. The fact that I had to skim through parts of the book indicates that the pacing was poor. The ending felt rushed and incomplete. Overall, I have to say that "The Power of Persuasion" was my least favorite book in this series. I won’t be continuing with these books if the series goes on, and that's unfortunate. However, at times, we must let go of things that no longer serve us, and this book didn’t serve me at all.

5/5

I thought I’d like the Art of Desire (book 1) better but this was actually really good. Suspenseful. Ended perfectly.

Ok. I don't do romance novels. I do do thrillers, so I've read the first two entries of Stacey Abrams' Avery Keene novels and enjoyed the clever plotting and characters. But no. Not this. Not two immature, completely unbelievable characters who have intense attraction but he's now a king facing his coronation on some island country and she's a super brain scientist that maybe can help prevent attacks on an upcoming summit. So I got to the point where this was so repetitive I could predict the passionate magnetism and then one pisses the other off. I skipped a few chapters because I was so done with the repetition and did not miss anything important. It is my guess that this is a book a lot of people like. They kiss, they almost have sex, but first they fight so they don't. Someone's in danger. She has a chance to marry a king. blah blah blah. No thanks. But give me Avery Keene anytime.

I struggled with this book. I wanted to like it, but it never pulled me in. Sadly it was a miss for me

I have worked in IT my entire professional career yet the term artificial intelligence is still more of a pie in the sky concept. It is truly next level intelligence on the part of the programmer and reading about how A.J.'s program worked impressed me and filled me with a sense of this is my type book. Years ago, watching Bones, I remember a line "I find intelligence soothing." I do too so reading about a super smart person using her tech for such lofty goals as helping to avert more terror was totally in my wheel house of books.
I, like our characters, was caught from the first. For A.J. and Damon it was insta-lust but for me, it was great setup for the FMC and MMC in the story. Shortly after sharing a lusty kiss in the wine cellar Damon is spirited away to be King of Jafir and A.J. relegates him to a memory. Her program and political intrigue bring them back to each other. A.J.'s program is not longer being used to read and predict shopping trends. Instead it can be used by the alphabet agencies to predict how treaty. From there we have a story rife with intrigue as A.J. learns to navigate the unfamiliar. Of course, we couldn't call it a romance unless A.J and Damon' s story moves past the insta-lust in the beginning.
This was a good book and introduced me to the world of a new alphabet agency and the characters who fill it. I plan to go back and reread the other books since Adam also works for the same tech company as A.J. As I final note, I love the program name. IT and acronyms go together like peanut butter and chocolate and I love how the acronym Poppet tied back to the title.
Overall, I would recommend this book.

More of spy thriller than I was expecting but blending a cat & mouse adventure suspense with romance made for a fun read. There was clearly a lot of research done to make sure the science felt authentic which I appreciated even if I did get lost a few times. Keep a dictionary nearby to keep up!

Full disclosure: Power of Persuasion is book three in a trilogy that was originally published back in the early aughts with the series being re-released recently. However, it was easy to understand the basic history of the characters and read it as a standalone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. Publication date Jan 21 2025
*3.5 stars

Power of Persuasion starts with lust at first sight between A.J. and Damon underneath the stars at a wedding before Damon leaves A.J. to slide away ambiguously into the night with no explanation whatsoever. A.J. is a computer whiz who invented an advanced artificial intelligence program during the rise of tech that helps assess risk for several agencies. A.J. is dispatched on a secret mission to Jafir to aid the monarchy in uncovering a terrorist plot using her highly sought after technology. And surprise surprise.. the King of Jafir, Damon Toca, sees that it is the beautiful woman he ghosted at a wedding months prior. What follows are the twists, turns, and suspicions that come along with uncovering the truth of a political conspiracy,

I have read Our Time is Now by Stacey Abrams, but this is the first romance I’ve read by her. I always thought it was so cool how she did both. I was very thankful to read this on Kindle because I put my dictionary feature to WORK. She keeps the pace of excitement going really well. I can say that it kept my interest the whole way through even if the romance wasn’t my favorite part. To me personally the romance aspect of this book had a kind of period romance vibe with the expansive vocabulary and the setting in a King’s palace. I enjoyed the suspense aspect more than the romance part. Maybe that’s just because I loved A.J. way more than I loved Damon. But if you like your romances where the main guy love interest is a walking red flag then this is the one for you.

This is my first Stacey Abrams book. It is classified as fiction romance . There is a slow burning romance building between tech professional A.J. Grayson and King Damon Toca, however, this was definitely more of a spy/thriller. A.J. has been sent to use high tech A.I. to find out who is plotting to kill the king. It was definitely a game of cat and mouse as there were many possible suspects , including the kings own brother. This story kept me on my toes as things heated up between A.J. and Damon so did their distrust and suspicion of each other . I liked A.J.’ character as a strong,sexy, smart woman.
It did take me awhile to get used to Abram’s writing style as I found myself looking up the meaning of words more than usual. 3.5