Review: 'It's in His Kiss' by Eve Devon (2016)

Who do you turn to when things go wrong?
Your best friend. Obviously.
Sephy King’s worked flat-out to make her new lingerie business a success, only there’s a tiny snag – the marketing photos for the launch party are a disaster.
Luke Jackson will help her, won’t he? They just need to strip off, model gorgeous, sexy underwear together and take more photos! So what if the stunning body he’s been hiding makes Sephy’s eyes pop out? And when he holds her, she suddenly wishes they were in her bedroom…alone? He’s her best friend.
Then Luke asks Sephy for a return favour: to pose as his fake fiancée to get his parents temporarily off his back. It’s a risky strategy – but she’s sure she can pull it off.
Until he kisses her…
It's been quite a while since I've had the pleasure of reading a new Harper Impulse read! I'm a big fan of the publisher and always love checking out their reads (such as Debbie Johnson's 'Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Jumper', click here to read my review), so when I was approved for a review copy of Eve Devon's 'It's in His Kiss', which was released on April 21st, via NetGalley, I was really excited to once again have the chance to discover a (to me) new author's writing. The lovely pastel colours of the cover and the book description already definitely managed to grab my attention, so it was fingers crossed, hoping I'd also end up enjoying the story itself!
Twenty-something Sephy King doesn't shy away from a bit of hard work. She has been working on her new lingerie business non-stop, making sure it will be a success so she can keep on taking good care of her young daughter Daisy. However, Sephy knows she needs something to boost her marketing campaign if she really wants her line to make an impression, and that something is a man, particularly her best friend Luke. In return for his modelling services, Luke asks one thing from Sephy: to pretend to be his fake fiancee when his parents come to visit him. It seems like a good deal for the both of them, but when sparks start to fly and things are getting hotter and hotter, Sephy comes to realise there is a lot more between her and Luke than she initially thought.
When I started this novel I had absolutely no idea it is actually the third part of a series by Eve Devon. Her novels 'The Love List' and 'Her Best Laid Plans' focus on two other female characters that both come back in this book as well and the three stories are all connected to one another. While you can certainly read 'It's in His Kiss' as a stand-alone, I personally definitely felt as if I was missing out on important background details and think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read the other two parts first. This doesn't take away the fact that I liked both Sephy and Luke's tale (the chemistry between these two almost literally sparked off the pages!) and Eve Devon's writing style, which fit the romance genre really well and was comfortable to read.
The novel's first chapter straight away dives into the middle of Sephy and Luke's friendship, and this remains the main focus of the book. While the sexual tension between them is really well done, I did feel that the story dragged a bit, with not too much going on. I wouldn't have minded it if another storyline had been added, perhaps something involving Sephy's incredibly cute daughter Daisy. There's also an important role for Sephy's family in the story, but I thought they really weren't very likeable character, unfortunately. On the whole, 'It's in His Kiss' is an enjoyable romance read with a lot of chemistry and heat between its main characters, but I do recommend reading the other parts of this series first in order to enjoy the book the most.

Rating:7,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.