The Insiders by Tijan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Bailey is as normal as could be, with a genius IQ and a photographic memory. But still, normal for her. Then, things happen—a guy breaks into her house in the middle of the night to take her hostage. She finds out her father is actually billionaire tech genius Peter Francis, the same guy she’s idolized all her life. She learns all this when she meets dark, mysterious, and electrifying Kashton Colello. He’s an associate of her father’s, and he gives Bailey two choices—go with him and meet her father or survive on her own because those kidnappers are going to try again. It’s a no-brainer.
After this, three things become clear for Bailey:
1. She’s living at her father’s sprawling estate, complete with bodyguards and the best security that money can buy.
2. She’s no longer an only child. She has three siblings and has no idea what to do with them and vice versa.
3. She is being guarded by Kash himself. Personally guarded. And there is a lot of guarding going on there and some of it is going to drive her crazy.
A complete outsider in a world of wealth and decadence, Bailey has to find her way within a family that has more secrets than she could have imagined. One of these secrets could be deadly…
Terrific romance and love the supporting characters!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💚💙💜🖤❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📘📗📕📙📘
World building: 🌏🌏🌍🌏🌎
Character development: ☺️🤓🥸😎🙃
The Hero(s): Kashton Colello – his parents died when he was young and he came to live with the Francis family after that. Now he is some sort of security consultant for them and has a villa on the Francis Family estate.
The heroine(s): Bailey Hayes – when kidnappers break into her home, she finds out that her father is Peter Francis. Peter is a tech genius and billionaire who has a wife and three kids of his own.
The Love Story: Bailey is moved onto the Francis families most secure estate, but she is not introduced as Peter’s child, instead her cover is that of an old friend of Kashton’s. She stays with him in his villa on the estate.
This was an odd story. I liked Bailey a lot but felt bad for her since much of her new family acted like she didn’t exist and shouldn’t be included. I liked her brother Matt, but he was completely an elite rich kid who parties too much and uses people for his amusement. It is obvious he has some major issues. The two younger kids have issues as well and their mother Quinn is every bit as bad as Peter, if not worse.
Kash is so hot and he is good to Bailey but he has so much mystery. The more Bailey finds out about him, the less she knows. She can’t understand his position in the family and the way other people react to him, like they do to her brother Matt. It’s like people want to know them and girls want to be near even if it is to be used.
Bailey is pretty much a hacker genius and she just wants to have family. She sees how poorly her siblings are treated and feels for them. She has a good heart, which is what Kash is attracted to in her. There is some great chemistry between them. Tijan books have a bit of steam but not too much explicit eroticism, so the heat/steam level is lower than I generally like in books, but the romance is nice and I like the way Kash and Bailey are together.
I was a bit disappointed in the ending, I felt much of the book was leading up to something that barely happened. Though I know many people like endings like that. I felt sort of like I did in Sleepless in Seattle where the whole movie is about the relationship between two people, then at the end they meet and it is over. I guess I wanted to see more of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks together. Though it is a cliffhanger, I just checked and this is going to be a trilogy, so I can’t be too upset at being left hanging.
I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub
View all my reviews
Books Best Blog 