ARC Review: Shades of Desire by Virna DePaul

I will be honest, this was my first romantic suspense book I was actually able to get through. I normally don't read too many books in the suspense genre but I am a big fan of Virna's paranormal series so I figured I'd give this one a try. While it wasn't my cup of tea, I still really enjoyed it. In fact I finished the book pretty much in one sitting. I love the chemistry between Mac and Natalie. The sparks between them were electric and I found myself quickly turning the pages to see how everything was going to go down.

Natalie Jones was once a world famous photojournalist. She has been all over the world on assignments and she isn't afraid to take risks. At least that was true until she began loosing her sight. Natalie has an degenerative eye disease that is quickly eating away at her sight. Because of this, Natalie has become a home body and doesn't really like to go out in public anymore. But when Natalie is brutally attacked in her home and barely survives, she is terrified.

Liam "Mac" McKenzie is an agent and leader of the SIG unit. A special investigations group that works all over the state solving horrific cases. When he hears of the attack on Natalie Jones, he quickly rushes to question her. He needs Natalie's help identifying the criminal. Only Mac isn't aware that Natalie is on the verge of going blind and actually wasn't able to see the criminal a piece of information that Natalie omitted from her initial interview with local police officers.

From the first meeting both Mac and Natalie feel an instant attraction towards the other. The chemistry is there but they both seem to continuously but heads. Natalie is convinced she is fine and doesn't not need anyone else's help. While Mac is convinced that something bad is going to happen with Natalie and he doesn't want to see that happen. Neither can explain why they are so attracted to the other but neither really acts upon their attraction. Both seem to dance around it for awhile. Mac because he takes his job seriously and he doesn't want anything serious with anyone. And Natalie because she is afraid of relying on others. Both characters are flawed and working on issues in themselves.

I rather liked that Mac and Natalie didn't hop into bed with each other in the first few chapters and that there was a build up between them. I rather liked watching them both interact with one another. The heat between them was there from the beginning and I just liked watching it smolder. I also felt like the progression between them just felt for real and organic.

Like I said previously, this was my first romantic suspense and it was at times a bit much for me. It was a little too real at times, especially when we see the villains pov. The villain is quite crazy and for me it was a bit too much. I didn't not like where his thought process would venture at times. Did I like it, no but I completely understand that this is where the author need to go to make it a convincing suspense. I did like that the author was able to blend both the romantic elements with the suspenseful elements together and weave a believable story. I might not have liked all the book, but there was definitely a lot I did like. So much so that I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series.

**ARC copy provided by NetGalley/Author**

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