I made it about 20% into this book before I was too bored to continue. Neither the plot or the characters were compelling to me.

'Netgalley ARC provided by The Publisher in exchange for a honest review'

'DARK EUPHORIA' is a suspenseful and dark thriller filled with lots of overly sensitive plot twists & turns -- many lascivious,explicit,graphic,steamy & erotic sexual interactions/fetish that was involved in this storyline played out against a rich backdrop of small-town rumors and some extreme friends/family dysfunction. If you are Detective Diaz,you commence and commit to the dangerous 'cat & mouse' game by flirtation with potential suspects or lover and at the same time while dealing with her health issues(MS). If you're desperate,you do whatever it takes to get all the exclusive evidence needed by any means necessary on this horrific case while still moonlighting as her lifelong partner. And if you're Avery Ashland,who only wants to be LOVED,you will do everything you can to clear your name---and find the real killer or killers. Though readers gain some information along with both Detectives as the story progresses,nothing is made clear until much closer to the ending when chaos happens and upends everything then we get to find out what is what(all the betrayal). Disturbing,compelling and somewhat okay storytelling,Ms.Black does not always make sense and is not always cohesive with some of her dialogue. But ultimately it does not matter much because most of what she writes about are universal,and the merging of genres like serial killing & mystery, and storyline such as euphoria sex & family secrets is interesting. In the end,this book was in-itself part love story and a fun read. In addition with a fast-pace,good chemistry with all its surrounding and centralized cast,a page-turning excitement with a chilling conclusion that ended for a few to their extravagant lifestyle that they had enjoyed through the years. Recommended to everyone!

I'm a big fan of Ronica Black's love scenes. Some people aren't. I still thought she excelled in these, but the chemistry between the leads was lacking. I didn't feel like they were 'meant to be', but it felt like I was being told constantly that they should be with how Avery acted with Maria. But I guess I just didn't see how they completed each other on a fundamental level? I also wasn't the biggest fan of Avery until the very end, and Maria seemed to have lost her head during some parts of the book. So just so-so for me in the romance aspect of this book.

The murder mystery I thought was handled well though.

This is a mystery with a lot of twists! It kept me guessing almost until to the end of the book. I enjoyed the puzzle although the beginning was a little slow. I recommend that readers continue through the initial chapters to get a feel for the characters. Allow the mystery to build.

The two main characters are Detective Maria Diaz and Avery Ashland, an owner of an exclusive resort which caters to the rich who attend sexual parties. Maria has been assigned to a high-profile murder of a playboy named Hale Medley. Avery is the obvious and prime suspect. It is during the investigation of the murder that Maria and Avery meet. There was an immediate attraction – a little too quickly for my taste and this is the primary fault I see in this book. The interaction that occurs during the investigation is a bit unbelievable.

I have read all of Ms. Black’s books and have enjoyed them a great deal, especially the “In Too Deep” and “Deeper” books. Unfortunately, this book fell short of the high marks I gave those books. There were too many areas in this book where she should have filled in the blanks. For example, Avery has two nieces and writes them into the storyline but, where is her sister? By developing the storyline a little more, I feel the book would have been a more solid read.

Although I found this book lacking the punch of her previous mystery/thrillers, I will certainly read Ms. Black’s books in the future. I recommend this book and give it 3 out of 5 stars.

I was given this ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

Detective Maria Diaz, along with her partner Detective Finley are assigned a murder to solve but it turns out to be like nothing either has ever had to deal with before. To make everything just a little bit harder is the fact that Maria is dealing with some health problems. The victim was not only murdered but it was easy to see he was also torchered. Ashley Ashland is beautiful and rich and she quickly comes up as a person of interest. But is she a cold blooded murder? Ashley also owns and operates the resort Euphoria where anything goes, sexually that is. If you like a good mystery you will love this one. Simply a great read.
eARC via NetGalley

Dark Euphoria was part crime mystery and a steamy romance. Maria is a dectective assigned a high profile case that could make her career and a challenge with their main suspect. Maria finds Avery very attractive and has a hard time resisting her advances, and the more Maria rejects Avery the more determined Avery becomes.

Avery appears aloof but she’s really interested in Maria and not just for a conquest. Avery keeps saying she’s not the killer but they keep finding evidence that points to her. Is someone framing her?

I loved this story and all of Ronica Black’s books. Dark Euphoria is definitely worth the read.

I guess I'm just hoping for another "In Too Deep" book? This wasn't it for me.

I'm a big fan of Ronica Black's love scenes. Some people aren't. I still thought she excelled in these, but the chemistry between the leads was lacking. I didn't feel like they were 'meant to be', but it felt like I was being told constantly that they should be with how Avery acted with Maria. But I guess I just didn't see how they completed each other on a fundamental level? I also wasn't the biggest fan of Avery until the very end, and Maria seemed to have lost her head during some parts of the book. So just so-so for me in the romance aspect of this book.

The murder mystery I thought was handled well though. I didn't know who did it so kudos for that!

*ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher for an honest review*

Reading this book took me back to Black's earlier books "In too Deep" and "Deeper".
I really enjoyed those books because they brought something new to lesbian fiction as I knew it.

This book, although enjoyable, was not as enticing as the earlier works and I feel that this was due to Avery's character. Her character starts off as sexy, mysterious and smart but eventually becomes just another mouse in someone else's not so elaborate game.

I would have given this a higher rating if the ending hadn't been a complete waste of a perfectly good storyline.

I’ve been a fan of Ronica Black since In Too Deep. She isn’t cookie cutter in the least. I enjoyed Dark Euphoria but had a couple of issues with it. What was it about Maria that totally captivated Avery? What was it about Avery that Maria was able to skirt her police training and succumb to Avery’s charms? Why were the nieces a focal point of the story without us knowing the sister? I thought this was a well-crafted mystery, but maybe it needed a few thousand more words to develop the loosish ends.

For much of this book I had it lined up in my head as a four star novel, there really is a lot to like about it. Detective Maria Diaz is a significant departure from the facsimiled cops that Black and many other lesfic crime writers seem to be resorting to, indeed she's more of a throwback to Kate Allen's wonderful Alison Kaine. Another aspect of this book that really appealed to me were the well worked point of view switches, which allows the reader access to the innermost thought of chief suspect, Avery Ashland. Ashland has clearly done something, or is at the very least hiding something significant to Diaz's murder case but Black only reveals enough to keep us turning the page well past bedtime!

Why only three stars then? Well, the ending. I dislike this habit some writers have of very quickly and oh so neatly wrapping things up, it's just so unrealistic and can upset the pacing of the novel completely.

This is a police thriller with some additional ingredients, that by moments have remembered me the movie Basic Instinct, which has helped me to imagine Avery as Sharon Stone. Imagining Maria as Michael Douglas has never been an option. That said, the similarities with the film are the underlying sexual, and mental too, games between the detective, Maria, and the murder suspect, Avery, and the successive clues that lead the reader to assume the culpability of such suspect.

The book does not have much mystery or suspense, because if you pay some attention, many clues lead to assume the final conclusion, there are no unsuspected twists or tricks, quite predictable in general.

There are some aspects that are not completely clear, as for example the almost instantaneous obsession that Avery has towards Maria, does not make much sense with the history and past of Avery that is explained later.

There is also some sex scene, not as many as one might suppose after reading the first chapters or even with the author's history. There is some kinky sex but nothing extraordinary.

So, although I don't consider this book as something special or that it can completely satisfy lovers of thrillers or crime novels, or even erotic stories, I also don't consider it is a complete waste of time to read it.

<i>An ARC was sent to me from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley for an honest review </i>

I am a fan of Ronica Black. I like that she writes books that are different than the norm. The problem with being different is it doesn’t always work out. Unfortunately, I have to put this book more in the not really working out category. It is getting the okay rating since it was reasonably entertaining and kept me reading, but it didn’t really all come together.

The story is about a detective, Maria, who finds out she is investigating a high profile murder case. The prime suspect just happens to be a wealthy, attractive, lesbian by the name of Avery. Avery is immediately attracted to Maria and wants to distract the detective away from the case. Will Maria succumb to the pull of Avery or will she solve the murder case even if Avery is the guilty one?

As other reviews have already mentioned, there are not a lot of likeable characters in this book. I am such a character driven reader that I really need to connect to at least one, and I found that to be very hard to do here. Even Maria who is a character we are obviously supposed to root for, I still struggled.

When it came to the romance I had some issues. Avery is supposed to be this ice queen player that never wants more than flings. Black never really followed through with why Maria was the one to change all that. After very few interactions Avery seemed to just become obsessed without much reason why.

When it came to the mystery I thought it was okay. I found it pretty easy to figure out the killer so I was a little disappointed in that. In this book the cops basically just have one suspect. You as a reader must decide if they are right or wrong. What disappointed me the most in the mystery was the motive. It was just really glossed over, and hardly went into detail. I don’t even know why in one instance.

I guess the biggest disappoint for me in this book was it never went far enough. It didn’t go far enough into the connections between the two mains. It didn’t go far enough into the why’s of the murder. This book was borderline erotica but didn’t really go there. And lastly Maria goes through a huge change in her life (I’m being vague here not to spoiler anything) and once again I don’t think Black dug into that enough for me.

I will say the one thing I appreciate is the ending was not rushed. I have been reading so many abrupt endings lately I’m getting sick of it. If anything there was a whole other chapter after I thought the book would end. It ended up being a decent ending.

This is not a book I can recommend, but I won’t say stay away either. It’s pretty down the middle for me. I had lots of issues, but it did keep me reading. As a fan of Black, I always look forward to reading her books. Hopefully the next one will be a winner for me.

Ronica Black never disappoints me. I have enjoyed all her books and although this one isn’t my favourite it’s still a damn good read. A fast paced murder mystery, with a hot budding romance built in - not much more I could wish for :-)

Dark Euphoria by Ronica Black is a crime/suspense novel that got me hooked from the very beginning. Detective Maria Diaz finds herself working a high-profile, gruesome murder case that focuses on local resort owner Avery Ashland as it’s primary suspect. Avery is a perfect suspect. She is the epitome of the unattainable ice queen who hosts sex parties for the city’s elite. The closer Maria gets to Avery, the stronger their attraction becomes. The question becomes, can Maria solve this case despite her growing attachment to Avery?

By the second chapter, I was all in on this book. I love a sordid murder mystery and Black provides a doozy. She creates a world where money, looks and sex can literally let someone get away with murder. I thought I had the murder solved, but there were twists that I did not see coming. This book was reminiscent of her first book In Too Deep which is one of my all time favorites.

The problem I had with the book was with the two main characters. I don’t want to give too much away, but because this book is part romance, it is a given that Maria and Avery are going to get involved in a sexual nature, but what goes down seemed somewhat forced for me. Upon their first meeting, Avery becomes obsessed with Maria. I didn’t understand why. Black doesn’t go to great lengths to set Maria apart from most detectives working any case. In fact, Maria is a bit tired and worn out so she wasn’t looking to turn on any charm. I always find it a little off putting when a top-notch detective inadvertently ends up having sex with the primary suspect. I know this is fiction, but I can’t help but think that an excellent detective would be able to resist the charms of any suspect. There is nothing nice about Avery, but Black slowly redeems her through the course of the book. However, the very quick change of heart/attitude/outlook that Avery comes to at the end of the book just seemed forced to me. This made the happily ever after questionable to me.

The oddest thing for me: where was Avery’s sister? Her nieces play a big role in her life, but the sister is just a big question mark.

Black creates a great cast of supporting characters. Maria’s partner was exceptionally relatable and all the women moving in Avery’s social circle were one of a kind.

Despite the problems I had with the two main characters, this book kept me engaged. I was 100% committed to seeing it through because I wanted to know who did it!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Well written and suspenseful. It's nice seeing more books from Ronica Black. I enjoy her writing and can always expect a solid read. Great character development and a very interesting plot. You'll either like the characters or hate them. I would recommend this book.

It is rare in a book that all characters are equally not like able. The only thing that kept me reading was the crime book that kept me guessing but beside that it was not enjoyable.

I like a romance, one of my favourite genres is a good murder mystery and I don’t mind a good sex scene to liven things up, oh, and I hate leaving bad reviews. So, I loved the strong, flawed, but misunderstood Avery, and the murder mystery part was interesting enough to keep reading. What I didn’t like was that I could not feel any chemistry at all between the two lead characters Avery and Maria, and as this was much of the basis of the book, it just didn’t work. The other point, the sex scenes were awful! I don’t mean too erotic, or explicit or anything like that, (although the settings may be too much for some), I mean just plain awful. Painful to read. Shame, the synopsis held such promise.

When prominent hotelier and playboy Hale Medley is found dead, Maria Diaz is one of the homicide detectives called to the scene to investigate. It’s not long before their investigation leads them to the door of Avery Ashland, owner of the exclusive and expensive private resort, Euphoria. Avery feels and immediate attraction for Maria and although Maria feels it too, it’s definitely not a feeling she can indulge when it becomes clear that Avery is their primary suspect.

I’ve read a number of books by Black and only a few of them have been light and fluffy romances. ‘Dark Euphoria’, as the name suggests, is not one of them. I found the story line bore a marked similarity to ‘In Too Deep’ in that in both of them one main character is a wealthy, powerful club owner with darker sexual tastes and the prime suspect in a murder. Both characters are attracted to the detective investigating them, who in turn needs to resist the attraction due to conflict of interest. That said, I preferred the characters in ‘Dark Euphoria’.

Looking back on my ratings of Black’s other novels, I also notice that I prefer her darker stories to her lighter romances but, because this is the first one I’ve reviewed, I can’t remember why. Avery is a complicated character. She is predatory and sexual but also has a softer side when it comes to her two young nieces. I liked that I wasn’t entirely sure whether she had done it, or was involved, or not for most of the novel. Maria is not a stereotypical tough cop although she can’t admit to physical frailty. She wears skirts and heels and her femininity is not an issue for her.

I enjoyed the mystery/suspense part of it but felt that the main characters could have done with a bit more interaction to justify the desire they felt for each other. The sex scenes are erotic with a side order of kink which may not be to everybody’s taste. Three and a half stars rounded up.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

This was a very good book. I love the way Ronica Black writes. She is so good at developing characters you both love and hate. It was very obvious that Avery wasn’t the killer and once they introduced Melanie it all fell into place for me. The plot was splendid and moved at just the right pace. It wasn’t dragging and I liked that. The addition of the nieces felt unnecessary Nd they didn’t explain why her sis inter had such a problem with them seeing Avery. MS is hard to write about but I thought Ms. Black did an excellent job of not making it seem forced. Great book, and if u really want someone to send you a bottle of wine (you mentioned in your acknowledgements) just send an address.

I don’t think I’ve ever loathed so many characters at once in a book before, horrible characters, every book I read I have to at least like one character otherwise it’s game over so to speak, I think the mystery part of this book was ok and it kept me guessing, i didn’t like the sex scenes because they felt a bit too smutty to be enjoyable, I can’t even put into words of how vile these characters were, just bloody ugly, I didn’t find this to be a pleasant read and I almost gave up so many times, Infact when I found the answers I was waiting for I paid zero attention to the last couple of chapters, every page had me hoping it was the last, so this book definitely didn’t give me any pleasant after thoughts.
1.5 stars for the mystery 0 for everything else