✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Lexi Blake’s Delighted, a Masters and Mercenaries story in the 1,001 Dark Nights world ✍🏻

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

I want to tell you that Boomer and Daphne’s story in Lexi Blake’s Delighted is a revelation. It isn’t that it isn’t exciting and everything you love about Lexi Blake’s Masters and Mercenaries series. Even more, as a 1,001 Dark Nights, it’s a bite-sized bit of fun in this world. Make no mistake. I’m a HUGE fan of Brian “Boomer” Ward. In this book, there is talk about the simplicity of his character, or rather, his mind. However, for anyone who has been reading her Reloaded version of this world, there is nothing truly simple about Boomer. He is a devoted friend and oftentimes the levity in Blake’s stories. 

In Delighted, he’s a savior for Daphne. Not in any way that undermines her own authority or sense of self. Instead, through his care of her daughter, Lou, Boomer’s heroism shines as he’s compassionate and caring for her and Lou, especially as Daphne is served up the ire of her former in-laws. Unlike the other Masters and Mercenaries stories, we aren’t dealing with a huge external threat. There is the promise of it, but the threat is easily managed. Instead, the tension of this book is Daphne’s need for control in a lifetime that has seemed out of control. Boomer is incredibly supportive, but she pushes him away at times out of the fear of losing control. This push and pull doesn’t last long because Boomer’s perseverance and respect for her boundaries regarding Lou win her over. All of this is lovely and makes for an engaging read 

But the true “delight” of Delighted is Lou and the next-gen of the Masters and Mercenaries world. Blake mentions it in her Acknowledgments from the Author at the beginning of this book, but there is a promise of more stories from an engaging group of M&M youth. Lou is incredibly intelligent, having skipped two grades. And she’s different. This has not won over her schoolmates. When she meets the children of the Masters and Mercenaries, like her mother, and the stories prior to Delighted, she finds her found family. That message is strong in this book. It reminds you that, no matter your past or present experiences with your biological family, you can craft your own. We find Lou thriving as she has found her “home.” I finished Delighted with so much excitement and anticipation for future stories, and if you’re a dedicated Lexi Blake fan, I think you will too. Even if you’ve never read her stories, you can jump into Delighted today and find a family of characters.

In love and romance,

Professor A