Gemma Wells came to Bliss, Colorado, after a scandal cost her everything. Utterly lost, the disgraced attorney built walls so high that she thinks no one can get through them. She’s given up on love, friendship, and all matters of the heart.
Jesse McCann and Cade Sinclair have floated through life, enjoying the world around them, but never allowing themselves to become a part of it. One look at … look at the pretty attorney and Jesse realizes he’s finally found a reason to stay put. Cade isn’t so sure. He’s crazy about her, but he also knows he doesn’t deserve her.
As they begin to find their way together, a dark secret from Gemma’s past threatens to wreck their futures. Her ex-fiancé is back, bringing danger with him, and their time is running out. Jesse and Cade have to melt this Ice Queen’s heart, or she might not leave Bliss alive.
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4.4 stars
This is the seventh book in the Nights of Bliss series and it is Gemma, Jesse and Cade’s story. Bliss the place where the norm is not conventional but that is what makes you fall hard. Gemma is a strong, powerful and dedicated attorney living in NY with her fiancé who is beneath her. All it takes one heck of an eye opener for her to realize it. However, living with the aftermath of her relationship has her returning to her mother’s hometown where she meets Jesse and Cade. Upon first meeting Gemma, Jesse knows that she is the one for him but he is a package deal with Cade. Cade has issues and does not believe that he is worthy of a woman like Gemma so he does everything he can to keep her away. When someone is threatening Gemma Cade steps up to help Jesse to protect her. Can they do it or will it be too late? Although it started a little slow for me, the heat and drama built with the turning of the pages. As an added bonus, readers have the chance to visit with the other characters that they love from the previous books.
I volunteered to read a copy of this book and all opinions are my own.
I loved it! I loved everything about this book! There was wit and humour, tension and suspense to keep me flipping the pages and good grief were those sexy scenes smoking HOTT!!! Jesse, Cade and Gemma were great characters and it was easy to fall for and with them. I’m a fan of Lexi Blake and clearly a fan ofher as Sophia Oak as well!!!
This was my first Sophie Oak/Lexi Blake read, but it won’t be my last! I will definitely be going back and reading the first six books to catch myself up in this series. This is the story of Gemma, Cade, and Jesse. Gemma has her whole life planned out and is climbing the lawyer ladder at her firm while being engaged to someone similar and like-minded as her within the firm. When she finds out something about her fiancé, her whole world is turned upside down and she retreats back to her hometown of Bliss to be with her mother and lick her wounds while she determines a new game plan. Jesse and Cade have returned to Bliss to act out justice for their foster mother in addition to having scars of their own. When the three meet, attraction flies but everyone is hesitant to act on those because they all are looking for different things. That all goes to the wayside when Gemma starts to get threats against her life. As the trio attempts to find out who is threatening her, Gemma’s past life starts to unravel in addition to her current life while they also navigate a relationship between the three of them. Overall, this was a great book with great world building.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
As I tend to prefer Lexi Blake’s urban fantasy, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Chasing Bliss, book 7 in the Nights in Bliss series. The characters had a nice depth to them and the people of Bliss kept me laughing out loud. And, of course, Blake’s trademark love scenes are present in all their ménage glory (which she does better than any other author I’ve read).
While I haven’t read the previous books in the series, it was easy to pick up what’s come before in Bliss. Gemma, Cade, and Jesse seem like typical characters for this town: a little lost and unique in their sexual appetites. Gemma and Cade, in particular, are struggling with their pasts and it takes finding Bliss to draw them into the future.
I enjoyed the dynamics between Gemma, Cade, and Jesse. Jesse’s a sweet natured Dom who has been best friends/foster brothers with Cade since they were in their early teens. After running down the man who responsible for the death of their foster mother, they stayed put in Bliss. Jesse wants to settle, but Cade’s perpetually restless, living with the guilt of his family’s deaths. Gemma walks into their auto shop and their hearts and all bets are off, even though Gemma’s determined to find her way back to the big city. She’s a big city lawyer who blew up her career in one beautiful meltdown and now she isn’t quite sure who she is.
Jesse is the fulcrum in the seesaw relationship that develops between him, Cade, and Gemma. And, there is a lot of back and forth. Cade is convinced he’s bad luck and, while he knows Gemma is the one for him, he won’t commit to her or Jesse. Raised by a hippy mom, Gemma is pretty much the anti-hippy. Uncomfortable with her emotional side, she blocks it out by working hard. I appreciated where both Cade and Gemma were, but after a while, the “will they or won’t they” got a little old. I would have liked a little more time seeing their relationship develop after they’d committed to each other.
There’s a little suspense in Chasing Bliss, as with the other books in the series (Bliss is well-known for being the murder capital of the country, per capita). It was actually a good little mystery. The people of Bliss are hilarious and reason enough to go back and read the first six books in the series. And, of course, the love scenes are off the charts.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for honest feedback.
3 stars for Chasing Bliss. Heat level: 5
Chasing Bliss was first published under the pseudonym Sophie Oak and re-released by Lexi Blake in April 2019 by DLZ Entertainment.
I am always happy when Lexi Blake releases a new book. I know I am in for an incredible reading experience. The Nights in Bliss series is romantic suspense at its best with a cast of quirky characters that keep you smiling at their antics in the less serios moments. Lexi’s humor is offbeat and will produce anything from a smile to an outright guffaw. This time around we have three characters who each carry a lot of baggage from their pasts. It’s a real struggle for two of them, Genna and Cade, to trust that they can have love and an HEA while Jesse fights with everything that’s in him to hold the trio together.
Every trip we get to take into the quirky town of Bliss, CO makes me so happy. I love this town and all the people who live there.
Lexi Blake always manages to treat us to memorable characters, some laughs to keep the crazy going and a bit of suspense to keep it all interesting!
When Gemma finds herself in this town to help out her mom, she realizes that the people are a bit different, even a bit weird, but it is those differences that make the town special. When she meets Jesse and Cade, the two sexy mechanics, she likes the ‘sweet one’ but the ‘bare chested ape’, not so much. First impressions can be deceiving and the more she thinks about that bare chest and the hot, sweet one, she realizes that she is attracted to them both. In turn both Jesse and Cade find that they like the sassy, yet sweet Gemma and they realize they both want her too! And in Bliss these threesome relationships seem the norm so now they all need to decide if they want to put their pasts behind them and find their happily ever after together!
I just love Bliss and its inhabitants. And I especially love it when there’s a bit of crossover with the Texas Sirens gang! I liked that we met Gemma in such a way that explained her prickliness so that we don’t hold it against her as the story goes along. I also really enjoyed the progression of her relationship with Jesse and Cade – with so many menages in one series it would be easy for them to become formulaic and though they are to a certain extent (one partner feels unworthy of love and happiness, one partner is in full hog with no questions, and one partner vacillates between being down for the cause and uncertainty over its success), Gemma, Jesse, and Cade’s story felt fresh and new. I really liked how the importance of friendship is also highlighted. I’m hoping that there are many more stories in Bliss to come: I need Naomi to get her own men, as well as HEAs for Mike, Sawyer, Ty, and Lucy. Maybe we can get a spinoff series based in Creede – Winters in Creede has a nice ring to it if you ask me! 4 out of 5 wine glasses.
Another thoroughly enjoyable read from Lexi Blake, I couldn’t put it down. I love this series and Chasing Bliss didn’t let me down. A good storyline where two gorgeous men chase the woman they are determined to partner in conquering.
Chasing Bliss is full of steamy chemistry, accompanied by so many characters from earlier books in the series, along with yet another murder attempt. Is not the murder capital for no reason.
This is Gemma, Jesse and Cade’s story. A shamed lawyer and the motor mechanics they will help her discover she is more than the Ice Princess she sees herself as.
Hot, delicious ménage that will light your kindle on fire.
This book is something you Want to read. Suspense Romance steaminess . Gemma is the woman you long to be. Strong ; resilient ; head strong female. But, she learns that it’s ok to give up control when two amazing, sexy men come into her life. I loved how they were insecure and real. This book was refreshing. It helps you see you can overcome your past and find what you’ve wanted all along
When you let go of control, sometimes you find the perfect place to be.
This is a highly entertaining, emotionally thrilling and action packed romantic journey that had me glued to my e-reader for hours from beginning to end… this was a great read that was both exciting and engaging adventure. Great reading!!
4 STARS FOR CHASING BLISS!! Wow….another great story in the Bliss series. Get ready for a sexy crazy ride with fantastic characters. This series keeps you on your toes.
**Sigh** I am so in love with every book in this series! Amazing heroes, great heroines, and storylines that are just perfect! Can I move to Bliss, please?? Lexi Blake manages to right the perfect menage stories – they are more than the sexy times. There is always the perfect amount of drama to keep the story flowing, but not so much my blood pressure goes through the roof. Gemma, Jesse, and Cade are my newest favorite couple in my favorite town! FIVE STARS!!
I’m telling you now, if you have not experienced Bliss, Colorado, you are sorely missing out. Filled with action, love, laughter and a whole lot of wicked romance; Bliss takes you out of reality and into a fantasy where you don’t want to leave.
Can Jesse McCann and Cade Sinclair break down Gemma Wells’ walls and barriers to make her love, care and see the color, finer details of life? Make her succumb to her desires, to feel the need to submit, not only to her needs but to theirs?
“Oh, if it looks like a Dom and quacks like a Dom, it’s a Dom, and that man would look good naked. both of them, actually.”
Lexi is an empowering author when she portrays her words, describing her characters and bringing you into the scenes. Ever since I began reading romance and picked up my first book from her and Shayla Black, my love for her work has blossomed. Lexi’s novels keep getting better and better and I am happy that she is going back and rebranding the Nights in Bliss series, making them even better.
I was given a copy of ‘Chasing Bliss’ as an ARC, and it is the seventh book in the ‘Nights In Bliss’ series by Sophie Oak.
I’ve chosen to read this series in a bit of a mish mash order, but I always believe that if a writer is good enough, you will still understand the going’s on of their creative world, and this was definitely the case for the small town of Bliss. I may have been missing some tension and build up from the main characters past, but it did not take anything away from my reading of this book.
I really enjoyed Oak’s very ‘down-to-earth’ writing style, as it enabled me to be easily immersed in this fictional world. Gemma as a character, is sassy, bolshy and some of her retorts had me laughing out loud.
The book begins with Gemma discovering her very rigidly bland fiancé cheating on her with an office bimbo she calls ‘big tits’. In a fit of rage Gemma lands herself in hot water, saying goodbye to a life she had known as a successful lawyer, to welcome the small town life of Bliss where she is forced to reside with her mother.
After feeling like she was close to ‘making it’, the change in events has Gemma feeling like she couldn’t hit any lower, and that she has met her rock bottom. She is reluctant to view Bliss as her home, but lands herself a job working for the towns Sheriff.
You are introduced to Jesse McCann and Cade Sinclair as two brothers who are mechanics. They have their own sordid past and secrets, and have a thing for falling for the same women. This isn’t usually the type of book I’d read but as the characters are contrasting, it made it easier to separate their relationships with Gemma. Cade is standoffish, when Jesse is more my type of hero wanting to make Gemma stay and get through the barriers that she has put up. But when her ex-fiancé turns up, everything becomes threatened.
I enjoyed Oak’s writing style and feel that this is very much a series I could become fully immersed in. After one book I’m intrigued to see where it goes, but it has a very ‘Wisteria Lane’ type of feel to me, whereby everyone in the town has a role, looks out for one another and overall adds a certain charm to the story.
I can see why some readers have had mixed opinions about this book as some parts did feel disjointed, but I felt there was a really good plot at the heart of the book which I enjoyed, the writing style was relatable and funny and overall I love the town that is Bliss.
It always feels like coming home when Lexi Blake releases another story that takes place in Bliss, Colorado; because even though the main characters change, the small town inhabitants are still their quirky and entertaining selves, adding the perfect amount of comic relief to the mix of steam, suspense, and action that readers have come to expect when new people move to Bliss in order to start over but who and what they left behind aren’t quite finished with them.
In Chasing Bliss, Gemma Wells leaves her old life behind, giving up on love after being burned by her ex and destroying her professional life because she lost focus on what’s most important to her, not just the man who she thought would be her everything. What I found most interesting about Gemma is that her ‘ice princess’ moniker didn’t really seem to fit her…at least not who she is in Bliss.
Readers who read Pure Bliss are familiar with Jesse McCann and Cade Sinclair. Their reasons for coming to Bliss may have been about revenge more than anything else, but they’ve remained here and now call it their home. These two men are the best of friends and both want a relationship with a woman that includes the other. But this is where things get a bit messy and complicated because as much as they’re both attracted to Gemma and want her to complete their threesome, Cade doesn’t know how to let go of his past and move forward, which is a huge road block for making things work amongst the three of them, and Cade’s behavior while understandable made me extremely frustrated with him almost to the point that I wanted Gemma and Jesse to leave Cade behind if he couldn’t get his act together.
Catching up with previous heroes and heroines is another aspect of this series that I love. Even just a small check-in with them allows readers to see how these characters have grown and how they’re still living their best lives with the ones they love.
Gemma, Jesse, and Cade’s journey definitely has its ups and downs, partly due to their individual issues and concerns and partly due to Gemma’s past coming back to wreak even more havoc than it already has. But despite what these three are up against, it’s clear that the feelings they have for one another is strong enough to endure anything, even their own self-sabotaging ways.
4 Poison Apples
Separately, Gemma Wells, Cade Sinclair, and Jesse McCann are all a little bit broken. They all have some rough edges, some ‘quirks,’ some things that just don’t fit out in the world. But Bliss, Colorado, is a magical sort of place, a place that people can be who they really are, once they strip away the shells that they’ve cultivated to ‘make it’ outside. And, like it or not, these three are just what’s needed for each of them to discover who they really are and where they belong.
In Bliss, author Lexi Blake has created a place away from rules, a place where Gemma, Cade, and Jesse can discover that three really is the perfect number, at least here. That their three pieces make the perfect whole, and free them in ways that each needed but never really knew. Lexi does a wonderful job of marrying humor, suspense, and steaminess to create stories and characters that are enjoyable and endearing, and painting a picture of a place that, while seemingly odd to those on the outside, couldn’t be more perfect for the people that live there.
CHASING BLISS is the next perfect chapter in this series. The characters may live their lives in a way that seems foreign to a lot of us, but the common denominator is love, and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.
Cade and Jesse are ride and die brothers. While not technically related, they ARE each other’s family. They have each other’s backs. Jesse is the kind of man who knows what he wants and is up front and honest. Cade had a harder life and has a harder time trusting people. But Jesse helps him see what’s right in front of him. He may think he doesn’t deserve anyone, but as we’ve learned, Bliss is the perfect place to be who you are and to be with those you love. Gemma is a wildcard and she’s not afraid to show her claws. But she’s also scared and lonely but Jesse and Cade seem to be the only ones to discover this. I enjoyed their banter and the chemistry. I like the strange little town of Bliss and all the things that can happen here. Another enjoyable book in the series.
Bliss, Colorado – the place where all are welcome especially those with a penchant for unusual circumstances. As a powerhouse in the New York law firm where she was employed, Gemma seems to have the perfect life. With dreams of a husband and a successful career, Gemma knows that her future is lying in the palm of her hands. Then an unexpected trip to her fiancé’s apartment reveals nothing is as perfect as it seems.
Seeking solitude from the chaos that ensued from that confrontation, Gemma finds herself traveling to the place that her mother once called home. While trying her best to avoid any attachments, Gemma manages to catch the eye of Jesse and Cade. Two mechanics with a penchant for sharing women, Jesse and Cade know that Gemma isn’t the typical type that catches their eye. Determined to break through Gemma’s defenses, Jesse and Cade make sure their lives intersect with Gemma’s every chance they can. As is typical in Bliss – you never know what is waiting around the corner!!
Chasing Bliss is the latest rerelease from Lexi Blake, and it is sure to heat up your reader! Gemma, Cade, and Jesse aren’t your typical couple by any means. Each adds a distinctive layer to this trifecta that will captivate you with wit, emotion, and determination. Gemma might be a hard-nosed player on the outside, but Jesse and Cade discover she certainly can’t resist when they BOTH set out to capture her heart. The sass and snark in Chasing Bliss is certainly the icing on the cake where this trio is concerned. Another amazing rewrite that will please any fan of the series!
Gemma Wells has everything she thought she wanted until she caught her fiance screwing the person the law firm they both worked at was making junior partner instead of her. After causing a scandal knocking her out of Manhattan’s society and the firm, Gemma found herself in Bliss. Not only did she lose everything she had worked for her entire life, she know resides in a town with an ordinance about practicing lawyers living within the town limits.
Jesse McCann and Cade Sinclair my not be brothers by blood, but fate has them closer than any siblings could be. They’s floated through life and found their way to Bliss to find revenge on the man who had cost their foster mother everything. But, now that vengeance has been served, Jesse finds himself wanting to settle down and the non-conventional relationships that abound in Bliss suit him and Cade just fine.
Jessa takes one look at Gemma and knows she is the one, but Cade isn’t so sure. Both Cade and Gemma carry so much hurt and baggage that it will take Jesse to be the glue that can pull them together. He’ll need to knock down Gemma’s walls and help her see the person she was really meant to be. And, he’ll need to help Cade see that he isn’t cursed just because the people he was closest to dies and he didn’t.
As this trio struggles to find their way, Gemma’s past shows up at her doorstep . . .and it’s much more sinister than she ever realized. With someone trying to kill her, Jesse and Cade will not have to keep Gemma safe. They’ll all also have to figure out if being in love is enough to make their relationship work or if all of their pasts will keep them apart.
It’s always such a pleasure to be back in Bliss! I have to say, I really loved Gemma’s character. She had so much sass and personality that she was a true lawyer with a bad attitude. But, I loved even more that all that spunk really hid her true caring nature. And, never underestimate the banter of a lawyer – it’s crazy entertaining!
Jesse and Cade were super unique characters as well. Both very alpha, they could not have been more opposite and balanced out each others personalities well . . . really giving Gemma everything she could ever need. And, their backstories were heart wrenching, which really helps readers understand Jesse’s need for family and Cade’s fear of commitment.
As with every Lexi Blake book, readers will never see everything that is coming their way, and this plot will keep you on the edge of your seat! Fans of the series also get to spend time with their favorite residents of Bliss as they all band together once again to keep those they consider theirs safe from whatever evil has followed them to Bliss.
5 Stars for Chasing Bliss! I’m so glad that Lexi has given this series new life, as I am truly enjoying the journey she takes us on with each and every stop in the series!
This book brought us back to Bliss, a small town filled with trips and danger. Chasing Bliss is book 7 in the Nights in Bliss series and it is as definitely enough to keep me sucked right in.
This book gave us Gemma, Jesse and Cade’s story and it was easy to fall for them since all three had a broken and hurtful past that they were trying to overcome…them add in the hotness and it is a book you won’t be able to put down.
I really love the family type atmosphere in the town of Bliss and absolutely love getting to see characters of past books still so intertwined in the newest trio’s life.
I highly recommend this series, each book can be read as a standalone so feel free to dive right in!