Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Price of Grace by Diana Muñoz Stewart


Who can you trust
When family, truth, and love are all on the line?


Gracie Parish knows the true cost of trust. Rescued as a child by the infamous Parish family, she became a member of their covert sisterhood of vigilantes. Gracie saw her most precious relationships destroyed by secrecy. She learned long ago to protect her heart as well as her family's secrets.

Special Agent Leif "Dusty" McAllister will do anything to uncover the truth about the Parish family's covert operations. Dusty knows Gracie is his ticket in. He'll use everything he's got—fair, unfair, and just plain wrong—to break through her defenses. But the more he gets to know Gracie and her family's mission, the harder he starts to fall. Neither one is sure they'll get out of this with their lives—or their hearts—intact.

Add to Goodreads –


Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo



Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader☆☆☆☆
3.5 stars
M/F Mystery, Romance
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

Gracie is trying to recover from a bad op in Mexico. The family member that was lost is a hole in her heart. But things need to get back to normal and after her mistake, she knows that she has to make up for what she did.

Dusty is still trying to figure out how to get to the mastermind behind Gracie's family of vigilantes. He knows that there is more to it but getting an invite into the inner circle is proving harder than he anticipated.

This is not as clear cut as the previous book. I found myself sometimes wondering where the characters were going. There was a lot to take in during this story and it wasn't always very clear.

I did like that there was a lot of mystery within the story, as well as the slow build of a relationship between the two main characters. Dusty had to work for it and Gracie had to learn to trust herself and those around her.

The next book is going to be even better with the answers coming. I am looking forward to seeing it pan out.


Sarah☆☆☆
3.5 stars

In the best possible way, this strange series gets even more odd with this second book. Gracie is another of the children adopted by Mukta Parish and trained to be a vigilante warrior fighting for oppressed women everywhere. Dusty is an FBI agent sent undercover to investigate the illegal aspects of Mukta’s vigilante empire. It’s a complicated relationship from the start and it’s further complicated when neither Gracie or Dusty’s identities are quite what they seem – and when both of them work with shades of grey rather than black and white.

While Gracie and Dusty both try to unravel the layers of her identity, someone who knows more about Gracie’s identity than she does herself is trying to kill her. The story is a game of cat and mouse with Gracie’s would be assassin employing cyber warfare alongside more conventional weapons. Dusty doesn’t know whether to protect Gracie or dig deeper into her family’s vigilante activity. I like the complexity of the storyline (though it is very complex and I found myself going back and re-reading passages to make sense of some of the plot twists) and I enjoyed the blurry morality surrounding Gracie’s family.

I’m still not sure I ever fully invested in the romance aspect of this story. As readers, we know Dusty is investigating Gracie and using her to get to her family from the start. Gracie knows this pretty quickly, but it isn’t easy to like or trust Dusty for most of the story. I liked the sexual chemistry between Dusty and Gracie but I’m not sure I completely bought into the romance or relationship.

After this second book, my reaction to the series is just as muddled as it was before. The morality in this book is strange. I agree with many of Mukta’s aims and principles, but I struggle with the idea of adopting and grooming an army of warrior women prepared to stop the exploitation of other women. It’s a violent solution to a violent problem and it doesn’t sit easily with me. I’ve always enjoyed living in more socialist societies and these books pose politically difficult ideas for me. The exploitation of women is an important leftist cause, but Mukta Parish’s solution is a uniquely violent, far-right American solution. I’m glad that both Gracie and Dusty wrestle with the complexity of these issues more than the characters in the first book did but I’m still not sure I quite understand where this series is going.


Also Available in the Black Ops Confidential Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our I Am Justice post.



Having earned her Master’s Degree (MFA) in Creative Writing, Diana Muñoz Stewart went on to write multiple novels garnering awards and recognition in paranormal, science fiction, and contemporary romance genres. A believer in the power of words to heal and connect, she blogs and provides web-content on health, writing, and social issues.

When not writing, Diana can be found outside her lakeside home gardening, kayaking, or hiking with her kids and the man who’s had her heart since they were teens.

Connect with Diana

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads


https://www.romancereads.com/


Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Price of Grace (Black Ops Confidential #2) by Diana Muñoz Stewart to read and review.

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