Vanessa theJeepDiva's Reviews > Dark & Dazzling

Dark and Dazzling indeed. Azariah Hayes aka Z is definitely the dark one of the Sassy Boyz. Nothing in life has ever come easily for Z. He wears his armor of sass, attitude, and cynicism behind a wall made of glitter and high heels. For the most part this has worked for him. Z has survived, he’s a survivor it's all he knows how to do. Readers get to know Z at a point in his life where he has one very simple choice to make. All he has to do is ask one simple thing. He chooses to do it all on his own and things pretty much crumble from that point.
NYPD Connelly Reid has a favorite diner and his love of the place has nothing to do with the food and everything to do with a certain waiter. All it takes is one chance meeting away from that diner for Connelly to decide he has to get to know Azariah (complete with make-up, sparkle, and dazzle) better. Z is the exact opposite of all of the men in Connelly’s past except for one thing. It’s that one quality that will draw out Connelly's nature to help that will push Z away.
Z is not an easy character to warm up to. His character is perfect for this book though. So much of him made sense though. I didn’t want to like him. I wanted to throttle him when he went to Castor for some extra money. The Sassy Boyz are a family yet Z couldn’t see that his family would support him no matter what. Connelly’s is no angel either. I could have choked him as well. For a smart man he was pretty ignorant to believe that he could keep Z out of the case he was working. This all made for a great addition to this amazing series.
The second installment of Elizabeth Varlet’s Sassy Boyz series easily works as a stand-alone. Fitch and Ansel have small secondary roles here but nothing that happened in the first book carries over into this one. I’m guessing that won’t be the case for the next book though. There were several things left unanswered that will have to carry over into the next book. I’m very curious where one of the Sassy Boyz decisions will take him. Needless to say I’m looking forward to the next book.