Disarm (The Dumonts #2) by Karina Halle

Disarm

(The Dumonts #2)

by Karina Halle

Kindle Edition

Expected publication: November 19th 2019 by Montlake Romance

Goodreads synopsis:

Karina Halle, the New York Times bestselling author of Discretion, lifts the veil off a privileged family dynasty to reveal a wealth of secrets and dangerous obsessions.

Seraphine Dumont seems to have it all: she’s gorgeous, brilliant, and part of one of France’s most illustrious dynasties. But underneath the facade, Seraphine struggles to hold it all together. Besides grieving her adoptive father’s suspicious and sudden death, she also shares a tenuous role in the family business with Blaise, her in-name-only cousin. As tumultuous as their history is, he may be the only member of the deceptive Dumont family she can trust.

Seraphine is a temptation Blaise can’t resist. The torch he’s carried for years still burns. It’s his secret—a quiet obsession just out of reach. Until his brother demands that he spy on the increasingly cagey Seraphine, whom their father considers a dispensable Dumont outlier. But the more Blaise watches her and the closer he gets, the more he sees Seraphine may have every right to be suspicious. And she could be the next one in danger—from his own family.

As blood runs hot and hearts give in, Seraphine and Blaise have only each other. But can their love survive the secrets they’re about to uncover?

***

4.5 Stars

This is the second book in the Dumonts series by Karina Halle.

In the beginning of this we get the much needed (and not realized) backstory of the confident designer Seraphine. She is the sister of Olivier from book one (DISCRETION) in the series. I appreciated this bit of history since it gave us such insight into who she was before she changed her name and became the adopted daughter in such a powerful French family.

The death of Seraphine’s father happened in book one and a lot of the mistrust of Blaise’s father is accounted for in book one. So if you are curious and want to know more about this particular backstory, go back and read Discretion. It is totally worth it and such a good read as well.

Seraphine doesn’t trust her father’s brother and fears he had something to do with his death months earlier. We jump back and forth in time in this book quite a bit since Blaise and Seraphine have known each other for such a long time. Deemed cousins but are really not related at all.  You get a much better idea of who Blaise is in this book compared to book one. Originally, I thought he was quite the butt head. Glad to be put in my place and discover who he really was behind the thick mask and family drama.

This book is just as exciting as book one. It takes us on quite a ride making this sophomore book such a worthy investment in your time. I think the author’s writing just gets better and better. I guess I would call this romantic suspense since it is more chase and getting away from bad guys than any actual romance. And I would add the moniker hate-to-love since that definition fits this as well.

I adore the stories Karina Halle tells and would recommend them to anyone. Definitely check this book out and give it a try. You won’t be disappointed. Fall down the rabbit hole as you discover the plethora of books by Halle. Not a bad one in the bunch as far as I can tell.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.