Catalyst by Nicole Fanning

Utterly Absorbing & Immensely Enjoyable!

Karen’s Review

This is a romantic Mafia story. A friend suggested it to me. At over 400 words long, I wouldn’t have read it no matter how appealing the blurb. However, my friend’s enthusiasm won me over.

Natalie, is an ordinary women attending a family wedding in a Chicago hotel. She doesn’t expect to run into the hotel owner, handsome Mafia Don, Jaxon Pace, and fall for him. This is when the sparks fly, and the reader is sucked right in.

Each chapter is written in the first person. We go between Natalie and Jaxon and within that, we are treated to their thoughts in reaction to a situation. This made it incredibly intimate.

Equal amounts of the story were dedicated to the business side of Jaxon’s operation, as well as the slow brewing romance with Natalie.

In two days, I read over half the book, unable to put it down.

The supporting cast were Jaxon’s right hand men. Each of them had their own back story, and I fell in love with these hard men.

Every word, every paragraph of this massive book, counted. But, in my opinion, it would have been better as two books.

Although not a cliff hanger ending, it was incomplete, as there were still questions to be answered. I wanted to know what happens next; I wanted to be back with the characters I’d come to love. Was there a hope the second book would be slightly smaller? Not a chance! Book Two, Ignite is hundred pages longer.

Would I recommend Catalyst? Oh yes, one hundred percent, yes. I adored it. Catalyst, will go down as my best read of the year so far.

Will I read Ignite? As much as I long to, I don’t think so. Had it been two books, then, yes, I’d have taken the series at my pace.

But will I be able to resist the lure of Jaxon and Natalie?

Description

When Natalie Tyler arrives in Chicago to attend her cousin’s wedding, she is just hoping to survive the week with her estranged family… And her ex-fiancé.

One week. One uneventful week at the beautiful Hotel Jefferson, is all she has to endure before she can return to her quiet life in Miami.

However, fate has other plans.A split second decision, unknowingly puts her in the path of one of the city’s wealthiest bachelors. And one of the deadliest.

She finds herself thrust into a world she does not understand.The world of Jaxon Pace. Billionaire. Hotelier. Mafia Boss.In an expansive underworld of crime, violence and deceit, Jaxon is king.

He is heartless, ruthless, and runs the city with an iron fist. Jaxon is used to getting what he wants, no matter the cost.

However, Natalie did not come to Chicago for love, and certainly not for an ungrateful, spoiled playboy with a god complex. But soon she begins to wonder if there is more to this handsome and mysterious man than meets the eye?

Entangled in their fiery romance, and a fleeting hope of happiness, Jaxon sets his sights on the beautiful and charismatic Natalie Tyler. But his enemies have noticed Natalie too.Can Jaxon win Natalie’s heart, before everything goes up in flames?

Their passionate romance will take you on a heart pounding wild ride of suspense, mystery, and chemistry so explosive, it could set the whole city on fire!

This is the first of a series.