“April White writes the kind of books I love to read: romantic but suspenseful, smart yet so consuming. And you’ll love this cast.” – Amy Harmon, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author
Code of Ethics, an all new enemies to lovers romantic suspense standalone in the Cipher Security series from April White, is available now!
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Code of Ethics by April WhiteSeries: Cipher Security #3
Published by Smartypants Romance on September 21, 2021
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 472
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Synopsis:
There are three things you need to know about Oliver:
1) He’s a fabulously wealthy playboy who incidentally happens to be a code-writing genius,
2) For maybe the first time in his life, he’s trying to do the right thing, and
3) Someone wants him dead.
Dallas is a close protection specialist at Cipher Security whose bodyguard skills have already saved Oliver’s life once. But when the assassin gets too close to her uncooperative client, Dallas takes the party boy away from the city where he’s the social king, to the Yukon wilderness where she’s a master of survival.
If Dallas has to put her life on the line for a self-absorbed guy she doesn’t respect, then Oliver has to take orders from the too-serious woman he can’t charm. But living wild brings out their true natures, and suddenly funny is hot, capable is dangerous, and trust is the strongest survival skill of all.
‘Code of Ethics’ is a full-length enemies-to-lovers romantic suspense and can be read as a standalone. Book #3 in the Cipher Security series, Seduction in the City world, Penny Reid Book Universe.
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Excerpt:
“Is there something else I can help you with, Mr. Curran?”
“Oliver,” I said automatically, my eyes still looking in the direction Quinn had gone.
“Excuse me?”
“My name is Oliver,” I said, my eyes finally meeting hers, and I dug for my nicest-guy-in-the-room default. “Yours is Dallas, right?”
“Correct.”
She started walking toward the elevators again, and I couldn’t think of a reason not to follow. I assumed it wouldn’t get me anywhere to go after Quinn, and Dallas seemed to be the only one who cared that I was still in the building.
“Proprietary tech is the only game in the marketplace right now. If my code leaks, my program turns into the equivalent of generic drugs—worth pennies instead of millions.”
We’d reached the elevators, and she turned to face me. I was surprised that she wasn’t taller, because her vibe was all ferocity and overbearing disapproval. “You didn’t ask for my opinion, but I’m going to give it to you anyway,” she said.
Of course she would. Women like her couldn’t help themselves. They had to be right—all the time—out loud. I sighed, too exhausted to bother to dig up more charm for her.
“Millions are just zeroes and ones in an account,” she continued. “This is your life, and I think the Russian will do a lot worse than try to knife you if he manages to catch you alone.”
I’d just hit the button, but I whipped around to face her. “The Russian? What are you, partners?”
The woman almost rolled her eyes at me, and I was glad to get a rise out of her. It was way more fun than panicking, which was my other option.
“I heard him swear in Russian,” she said in a voice that was back to ice queen inflection.
“You speak Russian,” I scoffed.
“Enough,” she said. The elevator doors opened behind me, and Dallas reached a hand past me to hold them.
“What did he say, then?” I asked. She took a step forward, crowding me back into the elevator.
“Ty moy, suchka.”
“Which means?” I asked, taking a step forward when I realized that she’d managed to make me move with just her body language.
She let go of the elevator doors. “You’re my bitch,” she said, and I had to jump back as the doors closed between us.
My Review:
So this is actually the first book in the Cipher Security series of the SmartyPants Romance books that I’ve read. The others sounded good, I just didn’t choose to try to fit them in before. I will definitely be going back to try to fit them in when I can though, because I ended up enjoying this one a lot, and would like to know more about the other characters that were obviously from those stories that we met in this one. Plus I hope to meet the author at Book Bonanza in 2022, as long as it doesn’t get canceled again thanks to COVID.
Besides the great thriller of a story we had with Russian agents and technology that was so advanced it was crazy, there were some really deep parts in this story as well. I loved the wolf pack tidbits, remembering when Penny Reid went and visited the wolves and then showed us a video of her doing that. And even more intense were the parts about how indigenous people in Canada were treated. Things that most people are only learning about now. It’s scary to hear how recent some of these things were still being done to people. I think it is so great that this was part of the book. Making it so much more than the romantic suspense that it would have been even without that.
The romance was definitely a slow-burn/slow-building type. But I loved Dallas’s family, especially her grandpa. And of course I adored that he had a dachshund named Squirrel! There was a part at the end that was something that irritates me but is often used in romance. When a character tells someone else something about the other character or how they feel that isn’t true, and isn’t something they would actually say if they knew the person was there. And then of course that person ends up being there and hearing it. But I liked how the apology happened, it was done perfectly. This was kind of a long book, so that is part of what made it a little slow for me too probably.
A great read though, and like I said, I look forward to finding time to go back and reading the first two in the series when I can.
About the Author:
** Vivian Award Nominee, 2021 **
APRIL WHITE has been a film producer, private investigator, bouncer, teacher and screenwriter. She has climbed in the Himalayas, survived a shipwreck, and lived on a gold mine in the Yukon. She and her husband share their home in Southern California with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books.
Her first novel, Marking Time is the 2016 winner of the Library Journal Indie E-Book Award for YA Literature, and all five books in the Immortal Descendants series are on the Amazon Top 100 lists in Time Travel Romance and Historical Fantasy. Code of Conduct was an RWA Vivian Award finalist for romantic suspense, a Next Generation Award finalist for romance, and RONE Award finalist for suspense. And Death’s Door is a Grand Prize winner of the Next Generation Award, and a Foreword Reviews Award finalist. More information and her blog can be found at www.aprilwhitebooks.com.
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