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 … 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.
Code of Honor is book #2 in the Cipher Security series. It is a full-length romantic suspense novel, and can be read as a standalone.
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Engaging characters in the kind of story I Iove best
Part of the Penny Reid universe, Knitting in the City world, this book is the second in the Cipher Security series. Several great characters from book one make an appearance here, so while you don’t need to have read book one to enjoy this, having that background will help round out those characters—and as one of my top reads from last year, it’s more than worth your time. For KitC fans, both Dan and Quinn have small roles here while Jane and Kat (and Alex) get very brief mentions.
Having loved Code of Conduct as I did, I was looking forward to reading this sequel with both eagerness and a little trepidation, wondering if it could possibly meet the standards set by that first book. I shouldn’t have worried. I adored both Anna and Darius: this author has a talent for creating unique and engaging characters who practically jump off the page and dare you not to feel for, and with, them.
I was surprised at how quickly I came to empathize with a character I seemingly had so little in common with, but I think those differences are exactly why I liked Anna so much. Afraid of heights, non-athletic, tendency-to-overthink me laughed at Anna’s lack of filter even while I admired her ability to just roll with it, as well as admiring her intelligence, spirit and courage. And I’d like to think that I have my own code of honor that I live by just as much as Anna lives by hers. As for Darius, well, like Gabriel from Code of Conduct, he’s another swoon-worthy character more than worthy of book boyfriend status; he has his own code of honor, and trying to figure out how he and Anna are going to reconcile her shades of gray guidelines with his black and white rule book helps keep the pages turning.
This is exactly the kind of story I love best: intriguing characters you love to cheer for, in a story full of humor, romance, mystery/suspense, and yes, a little heat and emotion, while the opportunity to revisit some favorite characters in a familiar setting is a welcome bonus. Another amazing read from this author, and another book that will be on my list of favorites for the year. 5+ stars
Wow wow wow wow wow! April White does it AGAIN! She dove into the Cipher Security group with “Code of Conduct” and “Code of Honor” does not disappoint!
Our protagonist Anna get wrapped up in a caper & entangled with her own “Disney Prince” Darius, whoa own past creates complications in this romantic-comedy caper.
What I love about this book is we have another smart, sassy, capable & quirky heroine. Empowered women is what April White brings us every time and men that appreciate the woman & bring perspective and dimension to the story. I loved this book and how it touches upon real differences & a storyline that mirrors some of the most infamous heists in history. I was immersed in this funny & sexy story all the way and I can’t wait to follow up with them later!
****** ARC provided for genuine & honest reader review. This is not affiliated with anyone else******
It was wonderful and witty. It made me laugh and made me cry, a definite sign of a great book.
I definitely recommend this author and this series.
Anna and Collette are twins but that isn’t a well known fact. Now these two must retrieve a painting stolen from their aunt and mother. Does this open a huge can of worms.
Darius plays by the rules and it is always black and what and never gray. Or can it be gray?
I loved reading how Anna shows Darius that life can be fun. So much fun to read!!
Another great read by April White!
There is incredible plot building AND character building in this story. This book is very well written and I immediately want to read book two.
Shane is a very closed off person for multiple reasons that will be revealed as the story progresses. Shane is an incredible character and one of the most interesting female characters I have seen.
Gabriel has an equally interesting back story which makes him a caring and fierce protector. I admired how a strong protector could also be loving and caring.
The dialogue between Gabriel and Shane is incredible and often raw and moving. Well done by author, April White.
Rom-com suspense? Yes please! Loved Anna and Darius. Anna says THE MOST HILARIOUS things ever and who doesn’t love a bit of mistaken identity. Also, it takes a brilliant writer to make a heist funny.
This was such a fun book! I loved the mystery of it! It was a fun ride! I was intrigued from the very beginning and couldnt wait to see how it all played out! I would definitely recommend this book!
Received an arc for an honest review
Quirky, kickass heroine, adorable romance, intrigue and adventure, loving family, heartfelt moments that had me reaching for tissues. I adored this book and it has gone to the top of my 2020 Favourite Reads List. Highly recommend. Off to find more stories by this author…
I’m enjoying the Ciper books from the Smartypants romance. There have this action mystery part fown plus very character driven aspect to it. Code of Honor has Thomas Crownr Affair feel to it. But then the two leads have their own ways of dealing with all that. Anna is the ultimate thrill seeker, she sees the world in grays. No filter, awkward and dorky at times. She’s her own brand of different from her twin. So that twin aspect can be a skeptical thing some can tell the difference I guess some can’t.
Anna restole if that makes sense a family painting and was clever about it. Not expecting to meet Darius who is also a security expert. Darius family is an immigrant, his family left Iran when he was young to escape the trouble there. It formed his ethics beliefs. So while these two have loads of sparks the friendship can be strained at times. Darius doea have this Disney prince appeal. And he does let loose at times and that’s his best stuff. He and Anna get on with food and books are they talk. They only need to compromise or something with the whole black and white va gray area thoughts each has.
It’s more complicated than that but I simplified it. But I really like the thoughtful aspect here. The conflicting feelings of Darius between his beliefs and what Anna does. They so belong together and has the chemistry and all that. I’m glad they found a way to merge them or write new rules for them as they go along. The whole painting scheme with all of that was brilliant and I enjoyed guessing with them.
4 Stars!!
After having read Code of Conduct last year I’ve been looking so forward to picking up more of Ms.White’s work! I’m so glad that I got the chance to with another Cipher Security novel! I got into it from the start and I really liked how this story pulled me in. I really enjoyed Code of Honor!
Anna and Darius’s journey was so unique and such a breath of fresh air! I loved being in their world and I could picture it all so vividly. These characters made me feel so many different things and I connected with them so much.
Their story kept me on my toes throughout and I couldn’t get enough of that! I had to finish reading it in one sitting.
With Code of Honor, Ms.White created such an awesome and original read! This is my new favorite book of hers! I can’t wait to pick up what she comes up with next!
*I volunteered to read and review a copy of this book from Smartypants Romance / the author*
This book, just like the first one, was SO much better than I expected. I knew it would be good, don’t get me wrong. After the first book in this series (Which was my first book by April White) I was reasonably sure this one would also be awesome. It still blew me away.
I am full on in love with Anna. She is the most badass heroine ever. She is basically a ninja, with no filter, a great imagination, and awesome creative instincts. Darius is equally amazing. My favorite thing about this book, (and the one before it) is that they don’t feel disproportionately skewed to one character over the other. Often in first person romance novels, you know almost everything about one character, but nearly nothing about the other. That is not the case here. Darius is just as much a full character with an amazing back story. He’s complicated. I love him. The secondary characters are just as amazing. I loved the families of both of these characters. Especially Anna’s dad and Darius’ mom.
This whole book gave me the girly squeals. I highly recommend it. The mystery kept me on my toes, Anna kept me laughing, Darius kept me sighing (HE READS SARAH MACLEAN!!!!), and the writing left me fully satisfied.
CODE OF HONOR is only the second April White book I have read, and once again she has created some unique characters whose adventures I am on board for. This time around it involves Anna Collins just doing a spot of stealing of a painting from a private home. To succeed, she needs to find a hole in Darius Masoud’s security system. And she does.
I really enjoyed the cat and mouse game played by Anna and Darius. Their attraction is palpable and immediate but circumstances exist that means acting on the attraction will have wider consequences. Written with dual points of view, readers are never left wondering what Anna and Darius are feeling. And when they have several deeply personal and painfully honest conversations with each other, you can feel how invested they want to be in each other.
I am no fan of illegal activity but there’s a perverse side of me that just loves a good heist in a book or movie, and when it’s weaved through a real life occurrence – here it’s the theft of artworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – I am sold. I felt the fictional mystery was credibly intertwined with the known facts and it held my interest.
Overall, I’d class this a good read. I liked it. It’s certainly better than average but there are some things that didn’t work for me. Firstly, there’s some literal toilet humour that I thought was disgusting and entirely pointless. I put the book down for several days, wary that the story would continue with such juvenile antics. Thankfully, it did not.
Secondly, I found the story was repetitive. Both the mystery of the paintings and Darius questioning his values – albeit both very important matters – did feel belaboured because we were in a loop going over the same information with no forward momentum.
Those of you familiar with Penny Reid’s book, especially the Quinn Sullivan and Dan O’Malley characters, will be happy to know they make an appearance. I think White does a great job in her Cipher Security books of staying true to the characters we have previously met.
The only thing left to wonder is when White will be publishing the next book in the Cipher Security series. I am looking forward to it.
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Code Of Conduct ( #1) was one of my favorite romance novels in 2019 , April White with her witty and beautiful writing style , continued the World Of Cipher Security exactly as Penny Reid Created it , by adding Brilliant characters and interesting stories .
In The Second Installment in this series ( Which can also be read as a stand alone ) , the writing style didn’t change at all , it was still sarcastic , smart , funny , expressive and gripping . Which shows how GREAT April White as An Author .
The Main Characters in Code Of Honor were Awesome , I loved every single detail about them and their story .
But I gave it 4 stars because it was a little fast – paced for my liking , usually I love the tension be tween the characters to go on for a little more than the first 3 chapters .
The plot was different , exciting as I already said , I couldn’t put this book down until I finished the whole novel in one sitting .
Personally , I would Highly recommend this book for all Romantic suspense readers.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! How in the ham sandwich have I never read April White before? I have been missing the hell out! Code of Honor was smart and witty, different and completely consuming. I was hooked from the first page.
I liked Anna a whole lot. She was quirky in the most charming way. I loved that her job was unconventional and gave her an awesome skill set. It also brought her face to face with Darius.
Darius was so dreamy! I absolutely loved him. His principals. His honesty. The way his brain worked. How he couldn’t stop thinking about Anna even with how complicated their situation was.
I loved their banter. It was sharp and direct and showed a lighter side to their personalities. But with them working on opposite sides of the same issue, it was only a matter of time before their already sticky situation got even more tricky. And did their journey take a wild twist.
Code of Honor was a mystery wrapped in scandal and coated with romance. April White kept me on the edge of my e-reader to see how everything would pan out for Anna and Darius. And that ending, oh it was so wonderfully them and I can not wait to go back and get my eyes on more of the Cipher Security teams!
If you are a fan of mysteries with a heavy romantic subplot I highly recommend this.
The main character Anna reminded me alot of Janie from Neanderthal Seeks Human. She is a wealth of random information, is super awkward, and has no filter. Unlike Janie, Anna does not have an amazing shoe collection as she prefers motorcycle boots, and she’s a bounty hunter. I immediately liked Anna, she felt very relatable as she owned her awkward and she was a wealth of useful and useless information. She also wasn’t afraid to be the tomboy and live by her own code. I loved that she challenged Darius, aka the Disney prince, throughout the book as they tried to uncover the mystery of what really happened to the stolen paintings at the Gardner museum while trying to protect herself and her twin sister. As the story unfolds and they begin to trust each other more, they uncover that they each operate by very different moral codes. If they want to explore the attraction between them, the code by which they each operate may be a problem. I do appreciate how that was discussed and handled. Darius had experienced some pretty heavy stuff as a child and developed a very black and white sense of how the world should operate, making him very good at his job at Cipher Security. Anna on the other hand operates in shades of gray, making her a very good Bounty Hunter. Can the rules on how they operate change so they can uncover the mystery of the stolen painting and they can be together? You have to read the book the find out.
I thought the character development was good, and the main characters have good chemistry. The pacing was good. There wasn’t a ton of suspense just a good mystery to be solved, so no worries about this being heavy on the thriller aspect. I could have done without the bathroom humor moments. I don’t appreciate that kind of humor.
If you are a fan of the Smartypants Romance books to date, or you like romantic suspense I highly recommend this one!
« It’s called Karma, and it’s pronounced « ha-ha-ha-ha. »
CODE OF HONOR offers undeniable qualities that will make you spend a really good time :
_A strong, smart, quirky, filterless and unique heroine.
_A funny and lovely and romantic and manly hero.
_Some original twists
_An unusual plot
_Funny scenes
_Steamy scenes
_Super weird scenes and dialogues
…
April White has a vivid imagination with no bound, she creates heroes who are mature, serious but with a hint of fantasy.
A must read.
Imagine a family heirloom falling into the hands of someone else. What would the cost be to return that item to your possession? Anna knows a little bit about setting a plan in motion that can rival even the craftiest thief. With a task that is so intricate it leaves little room for error; Anna sets out to retrieve an item that seems to be causing a huge stir in ownership. Who knew a heist that was so intricate in detail would end up leading Anna down a path that would alter her future?
Darius is assigned the task of installing a security system that has some unusual requests. When that system fails and the homeowner wants to blame someone, Darius sets out to uncover why his system failed. Nothing was more surprising to Darius that meeting the quirky girl who captured his full attention with Disney facts. What Darius didn’t realize in that moment was just how important crossing paths with Anna would really become. After all, a Disney prince always needs a Princess to complete the fairy tale.
Code of Honor was the latest book to be released by Smartypants Romance. It is a tale of humorous and often times intricately planned out nuances that can only exist in the mind of a thief. I found the information from the history of an actual heist at a museum very interesting. Darius was the perfect match for such a quirky gal like Anna!! Cipher Security will never be the same after crossing paths with Anna!!
4.5 stars
If you haven’t read Code of Conduit yet, what are you waiting for?
I fell in love with the author’s writing from that book and I couldn’t be more excited when I’ve heard we get more of her stories in the Penny Universe.
I loved this book so much for so many reasons. Great characters, especially the female one, great banter and greater romance moments.
Can’t recommend it enough.