"Love, Lies, and Louboutins" by Katie Oliver

It was a rocky journey to the altar but Gemma and Dominic Heath are finally settling into married life.  Or at least one of them is.  When Gemma sees a photo of her husband in the tabloids, getting on a private plane with the latest pop princess, she starts to think that maybe everyone was right - you just can’t tame a rock star.  

When her old flame Jack Hawkins pops back into her life, Gemma soon finds revenge on her mind.  But the whole reason Jack is back in town is something way above what Gemma can handle.  As an international arms dealer, Jack has dealt with his fair share of shady characters.  But when his niece is kidnapped, he has to deal with a blast from his past who can give dictators a run for their money.  And before she knows it, Gemma is all caught up in it as well.

Love, Lies, and Louboutins, by Katie Oliver, is the second book in the Marrying Mr. Darcy series, picking up right where the first book left off and taking readers on a wild ride.

While the book follows Gemma and Dominic and has brief appearances by Natalie and Rhys, characters we are familiar with from past books, there is the introduction of a few new characters who readers will fall for just as quick as the others.  This time around we meet Jools and Adesh, Jools being Jack’s niece and Adesh who is her friend.  It is their kidnapping that sets off the main storyline.  We also meet Christa, the pop sensation and Devon, the police detective who is helping Jack find Jools.  

One thing I really like about Katie Oliver’s books is that there is a large cast of characters and we keep meeting new characters with each book.  But, Katie doesn’t use every character in every book so we never feel overwhelmed by plot lines, nor do we get tired of the same characters.

This book is very different from the first book in the series, much in the same way as Oliver’s previous series, Dating Mr. Darcy.  There is a lot more fast-paced action, a bit of danger, intrigue, and mystery in the second book, while the first is more about the characters.  This is a book that will be difficult to put down (it was for me, I devoted my entire morning to the book, reading from first page to last.)

The only thing that really kept it from getting the full 5 stars from me, as many of Katie Oliver’s books have, is not because of the story but because of the format.  It is in e-book and I found there were many parts where the story switched to other characters but there wasn’t a page break to show that.  And many times I found myself taking pause while I figured out that the characters and place were changing, rather than just a new paragraph starting.  It just didn’t make for completely smooth reading so that would make this a 4.5 star book for me.  Which means it is another fantastic book from Katie Oliver. I absolutely love the Mr. Darcy series' and can’t wait for the next book, Manolos in Manhattan coming out this month!

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley.  The opinions expressed above are my own.