Code of Honor by April White

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Title: Code of Honor
Author: April White
Series: Cipher Security #2
Published by: Smartypants Romance
Release Date: March 24, 2020
Format: eARC
Pages: 337
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Romantic Suspense
Source: Smartypants Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

A painting, a panic room, a thief, and her lover … whose job is to catch her.

There are three things you need to know about Anna.
1) She’s a bounty hunter with adrenaline junkie habits,
2) She’s the “awkward” twin, and
3) She’s a thief – kind of.

Darius designs security systems for Cipher Security, and the strange and remarkable woman he met the night the painting was stolen is as intriguing a mystery as his hunt for the thief is.

But the lady has no filter, and she knows she can’t lie to the man who looks like a Disney Prince and kisses like fairytales are true, so she runs from the one person who may actually see her as the heroine of her own story.

My Review:

I received a free copy through Smartypants Romance in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

5 stars — AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!  I have the BIGGEST GIRL CRUSH IN HISTORY!!!!  I remember Code of Conduct being my favourite book (that I read) from Smartypants Romance Launch #1, and Ms. White was a new author to me at that time.  So I had high hopes for this story, but anything can happen, you know?  Well fear not.  I’m pretty sure this is going to be my favourite book from launch #2.  I actually loved it EVEN MORE than book 1, and I adored that our characters were quite different, and the situation was quite different from the previous book.  Different but just as intriguing.  I think that’s hella hard to do, you know?

Anyways, so why was this book such a hit out of the park for me?  Characters, characters, characters.  Anna. Was. AMAZING.  I mean, I honest to fucking god had to hold myself back from highlighting the whole goddamn book.  I kept reading bits out loud to my hubby (who probably just thinks I’m crazy).  She’s seriously crazy.  Her imagination was just delightful.  I LOVE quirky people like that, I seriously do.  She was so innocent, and authentic, and I just loved her.  I want to be her friend.  I loved that she had so many dimensions too — that she loved herself, but also felt like she was in her sister’s shadow.  That we got to see how she became the woman she became.

Which is not to say that Darius wasn’t an absolute gem, because he was!  I almost feel bad for the guy, because he was super delightful, but I was so entrenched in my girl crush that he’s not going to get the level of gushing he deserves.  I found that the Darius we meet RIGHT at the beginning didn’t quite feel like he fit with the Darius in the rest of the book…I’m still working through that.  I think a reread is necessary.  Darn.  I loved how unique Darius was in the book boy world — basically my favourite.  He was 100% unapologetically himself as well.  And I found his background fascinating — I loved the things he had to work through to grow.  It was very satisfying (and heartwrenching at times).

And DUDES!  The two of them together??  They just meshed so well…well, except for where they had to learn to grow towards one another, but they got there eventually.  But the chemistry between them was just fantastic.  I loved watching them interact, and I LOVED the first sexy times (it was so real and happiness inducing).  I just loved them.  Together and apart.

The mystery was fascinating!  I always learn so much when I read a book by Ms. White!  I had to look up a few things all on my own.  History is not something that interests me in general, but I love the way this author weaves it into her books and then occasionally hijacks it for her plot.  Fascinating.

The other thing that I loved about the first book, and that I loved about this book, is the prominence of some fabulous secondary characters.  I LOVE that we get actual face time with characters from the KITC series, but we also got to see characters I met and fell in love with in Code of Conduct.  You 100% can read this one completely as a standalone, but I love that it has extra fun goodness for fans!

So yeah.  There you go.  Gushing review.  I don’t know, this one just made me so happy.  I’m going to be in major book hangover now, I can just FEEL IT.