Behind Iron Lace, Mercy Celeste

Mercy Celeste writes an erotic, passionate story with cajun heat and soul.

- Review by Kazza K

Okay, there’s going to be an abuse of the word love in this review because I bloody well loved this book! No actual review just my drooling words.

I loved the two MC's, Darcy and Caleb, from the get-go. The secondary characters were excellent, even bitch-face Bailey was so perfectly true of the manipulative mind.

I loved the Cajun and French dialect/language that were used. I come from a country where there is no regional dialect and I love hearing distinct dialect or reading it when well done, as it is here. Do not mistake the lack of my own country's regional dialects as not knowing different dialects and variances within same.

I personally don’t see this book as insta-love. To qualify that further - while there's initial attraction, they did build and share personal feelings on top of that. I loved that build-up between the guys and they didn’t have sex right off the bat.

Darcy was always trying to do the right thing - follow Bailey, make her happy, not disappoint his staff, do the right thing by his readers, never let his mum and dad down, be straight. That’s the right thing to do, isn’t it? Not when you aren’t straight. Not when you’re hiding who you are. When Bailey had a snitty moment with Darcy –

"I thought better of you, Darcy, you’re a nice man –“  “I’m a man, Bailey. I have needs that include sex. I don’t want to be a nice man. I’m tired of being nice, I’m tired of doing the right thing, the responsible thing. I’m twenty-nine fucking years old and I’ve never done anything I want to do. I’ve always done what other people expect of me. My parents, teachers, and then you."

I also do not see this book as a GFY either. I read it as a man who put himself last and had learned to hide his true feelings and identity to the point of becoming asexual. This is then supported by a conversation Darcy had with Amber, an employee and confidant, about his room filled with posters and none of them women, no girly magazines (when growing up) and it was always Bailey who initiated sex when, and after, they got together.

I loved Darcy, he was a nice guy caught up in right and wrong, and loving hot-man-sex when he finally put up the green light. Thank you for that green fucking light.

I loved Caleb - with his dark past, his overt sexiness. Loved his dirty talk. He had lost a lot of important people in his life. He was good at appearing confident, but he was scarred and scared and it made him an interesting character.

Was the book perfect, perhaps no, but I don’t care, because it was full of emotion, hot sex, there was

an age difference, and three dimensional MC’s, whom I adored and were infused with such life and soul. It was also ramped up by the sheer passion that Darcy and Caleb could set free around one another. I am an unabashed Mercy Celeste fan. She mixes her writing up and she never fails the face- melting, window fogging, holy shit! sex I love. However, that’s only part of it, sex without a strong storyline and good characters is meaningless, and I'm never let down by one of Ms Celeste's books on any front. 

What can I say? I love, love, love this book. Once again....love it. It reminds me of Cameron Dane’s writing style, and I have a huge woman crush on Cameron Dane, so....If you haven’t read Behind Iron Lace I’d say grab a copy asap,  I can’t recommend it highly enough.