Book Review: Diamond by Julia Erickson

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Title: Diamond

Author: Julia Erickson

Series: I.C.E. Agency #2

Genre: Contemporary Suspense/Romance

Audience: New Adult

ABOUT THE BOOK

Penny’s last love story ended tragically, so she hides among her paints and brushes while keeping a bubbly façade firmly in place. Could a dashing realtor with a sidesplitting sense of humor be the first step of her fresh start?

Blake has always lived in the shadow of his older brother, using jokes to mask his insecurities and uncertainty. Searching for purpose and direction, he runs into a red-headed stop sign, and wonders if she might be the key to open his locked doors.

When calamity hits Cara, Penny’s best friend, and Bryce, Blake’s brother, they’ll have to lean on each other and race to the rescue, and a bitter billionaire planning a major terrorist attack on America might turn out to be the smallest of their problems.

~ MY REVIEW ~

**4 stars**

Wow, I read this one way faster than I expected! Diamond by Julia Erickson perhaps wasn’t as all-around fabulous for me as the first book in the series; but as we were back with lovely characters such as Bryce, Cara, Penny, and Blake, I couldn’t help but enjoy it! And besides that, it’s another mad-dash of adventure, action, and bits of sweet romance! This book had some quite unexpected happenings, surprises, and shocking secrets revealed ...

So the story starts soon after where Ashburn left off. Dress shopping ... wedding preparations ... We still have Bryce and Cara as main characters, which is great! And then we have Cara’s best friend, Penny, and also Bryce’s younger brother Blake—who are the maid of honor and best man. All is going well, (except for Penny trying to deal with past trauma), until something happens that no one is prepared for.

Once again, I really liked the suspense/mystery part of the book. It didn’t feel quite the same as Ashburn, but was still adventurous, dangerous, and exciting! I just keep reading and reading, hardly able to turn away from this newest escapade! *grins* Julia Erickson really writes in a fresh way that keeps you turning pages.

It was really lovely to see how Bryce and Cara’s story continued; I’m so glad they didn’t just disappear in the shadows of new characters. Such romantic and beautiful stuff! ^__^ Their tale is just amazing and I loved every moment of it, in Ashburn and Diamond! Not to mention, their code names are so cool.

It was also so exciting to find out more about Penny! She’s such a wonderful character. I actually would have liked to spend more time with her and also Blake! But it was still nice as it was. Learning their backstories, and journeying with them as they went on adventures of their own!

Can't wait to see what's in store for all these characters in future books!

Some deeper themes are explored in this book. Sorrow. Trauma. Abandonment. Terrorism. Thankfully, none of it depressed me or freaked me out like some suspense books do, ha! Julia definitely does a great job with balancing seriousness and suspense with light-heartedness and good happenings. But yeah, there wasn’t as much humor in Diamond I feel. Which was totally okay! It’s just different than Ashburn that way.

So we have all kinds of crazy exploits—which are new and exciting from the first book. A new marriage and a budding romance ... Unknown enemies and old heroes. Devastating and also brilliant secrets. And then that perfect ending! ^_^ Love how sweet and wonderful both books in this series ended! Just fabulous.

Diamond is a lovely sequel to Ashburn, and I certainly am looking forward to the next book in this series; or just any book by Julia Erickson! Here’s a fresh, wonderful writer you definitely want to read from, fellow readers! *smiles*

I received a copy of Diamond from the author in exchange for my honest review.