Joint Review: Glow by Beth Kery

From the New York Times bestselling author of Glimmer, Because You Are Mine, When I’m With You, and The Affair, the latest novel in the suspenseful and sensual new series about power, sex, and the secrets that can tear us apart, body and soul…

Alice Reed never dreamed she’d escape the stigma of her disturbing past. That’s why she was shocked when, out of the blue, she was recruited to join the elite Durand Enterprises by the enigmatic CEO himself, Dylan Fall. The erotic charge between them was fast and deliciously forbidden. But as Alice opened up to worlds she’d never known, everything changed once again with a stunning discovery: there’s much, much more concealed in the shadows of Alice’s troubling childhood, and her life is about to change forever.

Now, with another piece of the puzzle of Alice’s identity revealed, a mysterious adversary plots to destroy it all—and Dylan is determined to protect her. But as Alice’s sexual addiction to Dylan turns helplessly to love, she can’t help but wonder: how deeply can she really trust him? What were his true motives in drawing her close to him? And what other secrets does he know about her past that even she has yet to learn?

Lou: It was with super excitement when I downloaded Glow from Netgalley. Has and I adored Glimmer (click here to read the review), which will probably feature on my best reads list of 2015. Glow is the sequel to Glimmer, where Alice finally learned the secrecy of her past and how she was kidnapped and lost all memories from the incident as a child.

Alice and Dylan are just as deeply attracted to one another as ever. Their romance and sexual attraction has to be one of the best sensual romances I’ve read in a long while. There’s just something about them that oozes passion and major sex appeal. While I enjoyed Glow, I did have a problem with the book and that was the length. Holy moly the length was way too long. This book could have been 200 odd pages and been a top A read for me. But instead it dragged on needlessly in so many scenes with lots of talk and not a lot of action, which disappointed me. The romance is still great but the suspense was super slow.

Has: I was also excited to read the follow-up to Glimmer because I really enjoyed the book and it was one of the highlights I read this year. I have to agree with you that I was slightly disappointed with the sequel and that was due to the pacing, especially in the middle which kind of dragged. However, the romance and tension between Alice and Dylan was sizzling and fraught with sexual chemistry and I think that helped to save the lag that I felt with the pace.

However, despite the slow pace in the middle half of the book, I did enjoy the uncovering of the mystery behind Alice’s past and dealing with her newfound identity as the missing heiress to the Durand fortune. Even though she finds herself facing a new identity and a powerful new role, I liked that Alice still struggled with the person that she is now. I also loved how Dylan remained supportive and dedicated to keeping her safe and allowing her to come to terms to the truth of her past.

Lou: Yes! The romance was still brilliant and I don’t think I could ever tire of reading about Alice and Dylan. That’s how engaged I am with them. I think I said it in my previous review but Beth Kery totally had shades of Linda Howard early vibes in this duology, which I freaking adored. The darkly possessive hero in Dylan was perfect. Alice’s independence was still strong against a man such as Dylan, but she was so much more vulnerable and confused in Glow. It’s only in their sexual relationship that she felt solid and sure, especially when she was in the dark with her memories as Addie. I also thought it eerie but also understandable why Alice thought of Addie as a different person to herself–a defense mechanism. Not only did Alice have to deal with her new identity, but she was also worried about her position in the camp and her future within the Durand company, even though she was the heir.

I just wished that a lot of this book was tighter so there wasn’t so much dragging in the middle. I thought the suspense part of the book could have been tighter too because when the baddie was revealed, it wasn’t exactly a huge surprise. I was also surprised about the revelation about her mother, which I wasn’t expecting at all–not with the picture Dylan painted of her parents in the first book.

Has: I really liked the surprise twist with her mother and we really got more of an insight into her family and how things weren’t really perfect and that her parents had flaws. It made it more realistic. I also didn’t have an issue with the overall suspense plot, but I think the lack of momentum in the middle didn’t really build up tension with that element of the book while the romance was very strong. I also thought the subplot with Thad and his feelings for Alice was a bit off and it kind of fizzled out when the other plot threads emerged.

However the real strength of the book was the romance between Dylan and Alice. The emotional and sexual elements of their relationship was fantastic and the love scenes were smoking hot which added to their chemistry. I can’t stress enough that Beth Kery is one of the best writers who can really combine these factors to create fantastic erotic romance with real depth.

Lou: Yeah, the side-plot with Thad did sizzle out and while he turned out to be a big character towards the end, I think there was too much happening in Glow that became distracting. The love scenes were amazeballs. I really need to go back and read more of Beth Kery’s previous books because I have obviously been missing out on some great erotic romance. Alice and Dylan’s relationship was rocky in places because Alice was so wary in trusting people, and she was unsure of herself in the world that she couldn’t fully trust Dylan. I was a little mad at Dylan for being angry and frustrated with Alice in the end because the poor woman had gone through so much trauma that if she needed space, then dammit man, let her have the space she wanted. The ending was perfect for these two characters, and I loved the ending where Alice got to meet up with her kids again. It really was a satisfying conclusion to a wonderful erotic romance.

I give Glow a B

Has: I so agree with you about Dylan being upset at Alice at the end when she needed space to understand the new developments in her life, but then he wouldn’t be a possessive alpha hero heh. While Glow wasn’t as strong as Glimmer, it does conclude Alice and Dylan’s story in a great way and even though we had issues with the pacing, the romance and the erotic aspects of the book was fantastic. But then I don’t think Kery can write a flat romance because she has a brilliant gift in writing erotic romance.

I also give Glow a B

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