Title: Muse In Lingerie
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Createspace Publishing 4/3/18
Length:  298 pages
Series:  Lingerie #1

Overview

My brother got mixed up with a crime lord and lost everything he had, including his life.

And now I have to pay his debt.

All I have is twenty bucks in my pocket and the clothes on my back. The bank took the house, and my last living relative was murdered. Knuckles threatened to torture me if I ran. He’s counting down the days until he’ll claim me…making me treasure my final days of freedom.

But I’m not going to wait around. I’m running like hell.

To Milan.

The greatest lingerie designer in the world is looking for new talent for Barsetti Lingerie. I’m not exactly model material, but maybe I can get a job doing something…and get paid under the table.

But when I meet the infamous Conway Barsetti, he has other plans for me.

Did I just run away from one monster into the arms of another?

My Thoughts

I think this was a great segue into the next generation of Barsettis since we just spent so much time with both Crow and Cane. We know that they both had children and that means that the story continues. This introduction to this new series is around Conway at the beginning, Crow and Pearl’s eldest child. He’s chosen to carve his own path, not staying within the family business of the winery, which of course frustrates Crow, but instead, moving to Milan and creating his own empire. One that he’s been afraid to tell his family about, but one that they are insanely proud of. He’s the worlds most influential lingerie designer and that doesn’t shock us at all.

Enter Sapphire – a girl who’s on the wrong end of something that her brother did/didn’t do. We know that this is the way of crime organizations – no one is sacred and if someone doesn’t pay a debt, all family is collateral. Sapphire has to go into hiding, figure out how to pay off all the debts that have been wracked up and make a new life since hers has been completely derailed. When she sees a glimpse of Conway on the TV, seeing that he’s hosting a model search, she takes the last few dollars she has and flies to Milan in the quest to make a new life.

The story from here is expected, yet interesting. We know how Ms Sky, our amazing author writes these things – giving us the anxiety of organized crime that has no qualms about torture and pain, while also introducing a strong female who takes no crap from anyone and who will be the reason for the surly main man to change.

Where we know Crow/Pearl’s story was all about naughty intense heat, and Cane/Adelina had the sweet romance, this is a mix. Sapphire needs the romance and Conway has closed himself off to emotion.

The problem that arises though is that because Conway has the walls up and potentially a false sense of security that his wealth and celebrity have earned him, he’s putting himself directly in the path of danger after paying $100M to save Sapphire’s life. Carter, Cane’s son tries to talk reason into him, the way that we saw Crow and Cane do for each other, and where we are left at the end of this story is on the cusp of a war that’s brewing and we don’t fully know the capacity of the opponent.

This introduction to the Lingerie series shows us restraint, passion, drive and motivation, and gives us hope that there are people who will help put an end to the trafficking problem that was so prevalent in the other series. It comes at a cost though and we don’t yet know who’s going to pay for that with their life and well being. Enjoy!