The first novel in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1211671.Alexandrea_Weis">Alexandrea Weis</a>’s Nicci Beauvoir series, To My Senses (2007) follows the tragic romantic adventures of a young woman rebelling against the expectations of her wealthy family. Set in New Orleans before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, To My Senses is a romance novel that turns into a suspenseful thriller towards the end, as its protagonist is forced to reckon with the loss of the man she has come to love. Nicci Beauvoir lives in two worlds. Outwardly, because she is the heir to her father’s successful salvage business, Beauvoir Scrap, there is a life script that she should adhere to. As befitting a young woman born into a wealthy family, she is expected to go to debutante balls until she finds a suitable man to marry. However, this isn’t what Nicci wants for herself. When we meet her, she is finishing nursing school and eager to go into the medical field. An independent, strong-minded young woman, Nicci would always rather skip the parties and stay home to study instead. One night, after her Uncle Lance and Aunt Hattie cajole her into going to yet another ball in order to support her younger cousin Colleen, Nicci manages to be surprised. On the arm of Sammy Fallon, her father’s main business competitor is the handsome artist David Alexander. Because he is clearly Sammy’s arm candy – or, as Sammy describes their relationship, she is his patron – David is clearly off limits. Nevertheless, Nicci can’t help but be taken in by his charm. David is also quite struck by Nicci, who seems so different from the rest of the status-seeking crowd. They run into each other a few more times and are finally forced to acknowledge their mutual attraction. This results in a day spent together: they go fishing, get a late-night coffee, and finally, an exhausted Nicci collapses on David’s couch. While she sleeps, he paints her. His passion – both for his art, and now, for her – is palpable. The two begin a steamy affair, as David draws artistic inspiration from Nicci and Nicci finally lets someone in behind the walls of sarcasm that she has put up in her life. However, throughout their relationship, David is cagey and mysterious about his past. Eventually, in an overheard conversation, Nicci learns many hard truths about the man she loves. For one thing, in order to advance his art career he has had to seek out many “patrons” like Sammy – he has been a gigolo on the side. Even more seriously, David knows a suspicious amount of information about Nicci’s father’s business. This is alarming because as it turns out, Beauvoir Scrap is in trouble and needs to diversify quickly and quietly before competitors can swoop in and crush it. Convinced that David has been using her love as a way to commit corporate espionage, Nicci emotionally shuts down. Her new coldness causes David to leave. A heartbroken Nicci decides that the only way to move past this is to immediately jump into a new relationship. She takes up with Dr. Michael Fagles, a psychiatrist obsessed with money and social standing. Michael only values Nicci for her external beauty, growing more and more controlling in order to make her conform to his conservative standards for what a wife should be – basically, a decorative piece of furniture. As long as Nicci follows his directives, he treats her reasonably well, but as soon as she shows any sign of independent thought, he browbeats her into submission. Nothing her family does snaps Nicci out of the funk that makes her stay with Michael. Quite the opposite: when he asks her to marry him, she agrees, signing up for a loveless life. Finally, however, at their engagement party, Nicci’s family makes a scene that forces Michael’s hand. A shocked Nicci is at first angry that her family has derailed this life plan, but when David reappears by their side to try to convince her to leave Michael for good, Nicci agrees. The couple is reunited and things are going as well, or even better than before. David’s confusing background is cleared up – he wasn’t doing anything nefarious after all. But just as Nicci thinks that she is finally about to have her happily ever after, the novel ends on a terrible final twist: David is found murdered. This shocking ending is a cliffhanger leading readers into the next book in the series, which picks up with Nicci attempting to get to the bottom of who would have killed David and why.

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