The Insiders: Volume 1

Tijan is one of my all time favorite authors. I typically devour all of her books and so I was thrilled when I read the synopsis of this novel. There were several elements of the book that I enjoyed and then some areas where I struggled. I positively love this author’s unique writing style. She has such a way of conveying the heroine’s thoughts that I feel like I am present in her mind. This was especially true with Bailey. The author’s characters are always interesting and this even includes the secondary characters. I also really enjoyed the premise of this book. However, I don’t think it was necessarily executed in the best way, but I’ll get to that later. As for Bailey, I found her endearing for the most part. She is exceptionally intelligent and a little quirky, which are the fun little personality traits that I love. Even with her entire world being flipped upside down, she takes it all in stride and I was definitely rooting for her. The elements of suspense was also exciting. These were interspersed throughout the book, but with the bulk of it during the last few chapters. The build up was well done, but it sort of fell a little short at the end. I want to say that I loved Kash, but I didn’t feel like I knew much about him. I do believe some of this was intentional. He is mysterious with a proactive streak. The author peels back a few of the layers, but his character was not well developed. I also think this is why I didn’t feel that connection between Kash and Bailey. The physical aspect of their relationship was pretty solid which I liked but I didn’t really see much beyond that. Again, I think this is because not much was revealed about his character. Maybe a connection between them will be more tangible in the next book. The book grabbed my attention immediately, but it felt like not too much happened until the very end. There were secrets revealed and moments of action which were perhaps my favorite parts of the book and yet the cliffhanger wasn’t overly shocking. Finally, the cover, while absolute stunning is a bit misleading. This isn’t a love triangle as it seems to suggest with two girls and a guy but I honestly have no idea who the blonde is. Even with the lack of connection between the main characters, I did enjoy this book. I especially liked Bailey as the heroine and I liked the underlying story. Yet, I am not certain how the author will get 2 more books out of this. Still, I am invested enough to see how it all plays out and will read the next book. Writing style : 5 stars Story/Plot: 4 stars Heroine Development: 5 stars Hero Development: 3 stars Romance: 3 stars

4.25 stars--THE INSIDERS is the first instalment in Tijan’s contemporary, adult THE INSIDERS romantic suspense series focusing on twenty-two year old computer hacker Bailey Hayes, and fixer Kashton ‘Kash’ Colello. Told from first person perspective (Bailey) THE INSIDERS follows in the aftermath of an attempted abduction of our story line heroine. Bailey Hayes has a genius IQ, and will come to learn she is the illegitimate daughter of billionaire Peter Francis, and as such, has a target on her back but to Bailey’s surprise, she has one of two options, and the lesser and safer of two evils is to move in with the Francis family where she will become the object of ridicule, the subject of gossip, and the lover of the Francis empire ‘fixer’ Kashton Colello. All is not well with the Francis family dynamics, and our heroine will be caught in a fire-storm of power and control, jealousy and revenge, hatred, betrayal, acceptance and love. What ensues is the building relationship and love between Kash and Bailey, and the fall-out as the enemy is closer than anyone could have ever imagined. Kashton Colello has some secrets of his own but his biggest secret is about to be exposed. Raised by the Francis family in the face of losing everyone he loved, Kash has more power and control over the day to day lives of the Francis family but he is about to lose the upper hand as the enemy comes from within. The relationship between Kash and Bailey begins as an assignment, a duty that Kash has appointed himself as sole authority and control. Bailey is immediately attracted to her savior and guardian but Kash battles between head and heart knowing his past is determined to take down and destroy everyone he loves. There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, energetic and broken secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to Bailey’s mother Chrissy, and her half-siblings: Matt, Seraphina and Cyclone; her father Peter Francis, and his wife Quinn, as well as an assortment of Matt’s friends, security personnel, and Kash’s ex Victoria. The requisite evil has many faces. THE INSIDERS is a story of secrets and lies, power and control, family, relationships, murder and money. The character driven premise is intriguing, engaging, heart breaking and dramatic; the romance is seductive and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text; the characters are damaged, spirited yet powerful and strong. THE INSIDERS ends on a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

This started right off throwing you into the action with Bailey escaping a kidnap attempt. I was immediately hooked and dawn into the story, and kept turning pages waiting to see what would happen next. Although this is a trilogy and ends in a somewhat cliffhanger, it wasn't the kind that has me frustrated and annoyed, and that's difficult to explain without spoiling the story. This was definitely a bit of a slow burn- Kash and Bailey sort of dance around each other and their attraction for the first half of the book, and I'm looking forward to seeing how their relationship progresses in the next installment to the series. The thing that kept this from being a five star read for me was that in the beginning with the kidnapping(this happens in the first few pages so not spoiling anything here) one of her kidnappers seems to be trying to help her. I spent a long time in the book waiting for him to reappear, or to understand what that was about, and he never reappears. It may be he comes up in the other two books, but it was frustrating because you assume it has some meaning to the story but if it wasn't going to be mentioned again in the book, it was incredibly frustrating to have it so in your face in the beginning. But this is definitely worth reading because I was hooked from page one and couldn't put this down until the end because I desperately wanted to read what would happen next! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the Advanced Reader Copy. I voluntarily left an honest review.