I got caught up reading so many books on my tbr that I forgot about putting this series on the back-burner. I really liked this second book - these de Vincent's are DRAMARAMA. I really enjoyed the slow-burn mystery elements of the book. Looking forward to the final book in the series and more family drama :) ( )

ehhhhhhhh ( )

The de Vincent brothers are back—and so is the intrigue that surrounds them.

Nicolette Bresson never thought she’d return to the de Vincents’ bayou compound. It’s where her parents work, where Nikki grew up … and where she got her heart broken by Gabriel de Vincent himself. Yet here she is, filling in for her sick mother. Avoiding Gabe should be easy, especially when so much of Nikki’s time is spent trying not to be stabbed in the back by the malicious hangers-on who frequent the mansion. But escaping memories of Gabe, much less his smoking-hot presence, is harder than expected—especially since he seems determined to be in Nikki’s space as much as possible.

Gabriel spent years beating himself up over his last encounter with Nikki. He’d wanted her then, but for reasons that were bad for both of them. Things have now changed. Gabe sees more than a girl he’s known forever; he sees a smart, talented, and heartbreakingly beautiful woman … one who’s being stalked from the shadows. Now, Gabe will do anything to keep Nikki safe—and to stop the de Vincent curse from striking again.

This was a great read with lots of suspense. I think I’m getting close to knowing the mystery, and this was an amazing furtherance of the story. Still happy to see a HEA with Gabe and Nic considering everything happening around them. On to Dev’s story—can’t wait to see how he’s redeemed. ( )

I'm so torn about how to rate this book!

Moonlight Seduction follows on the heels of Moonlight Sins and stars the middle de Vincent sibling, Gabe, and Nikki, the daughter of two of the de Vincent's most loyal employees. After discovering her mother has cancer, Nikki, who has been away the last four years at college, returns to the de Vincent mansion to take over her mother's role as manager of the house. This, in turn, sparks a dangerous romance between Nikki and the most approachable of the de Vincent brothers.

A decade younger than Gabe, Nikki spent the latter part of her teenage years crushing on Gabe and getting no where in the process despite sharing something with him the night before she left for school. Now that she's back, Nikki and Gabe begin a delicate dance around one another to avoid the underlying chemistry neither of them wants to admit is there. Not only is their love forbidden, but Gabe has just been handed some shocking news about a former love.

Much like with the first book, I wanted to like it more than I did. The same mysterious/creepy element that was present in the first book was carried through in this one and the number of unstable people in the de Vincent's acquaintance seems to be ever-growing. The romance between Nikki and Gabe was another slow burn and I had an inkling about what the plot twist would be before it was revealed. Despite the overall intriguing premise of the series, I think that ultimately I'm struggling to connect with the characters. They're supposed to be kind of gruff and dangerous (not to mention cocky), but I think in creating them that way, they also became a little harder to like since they're constantly being jerks.

The book felt simultaneously too short and too long. I would have liked to see a little more background. It almost feels like each of the de Vincent brothers needs their own short series to really develop them as characters and see their storylines evolve. I definitely feel invested enough in the series to see it through until the end. There are some loose threads that need to be tied up and some hunches that I need confirmed. ( )