The GEMs play by their own rules. These global problem-solvers combine grace, firepower, smarts, and a healthy dose of audacious attitudes to get the job done – for a price, of course. After all, the M in GEMs stands for Mercenary. Jackson “Jax” Guillion, known as Diamond, leads this group of kick-ass women, behind the front of an elite travel agency. So what if it leaves a gaping hole in her personal life? She wouldn’t trade what she has for anything. Who has time for a personal life when there's wrongs to be righted and money to make doing it? But when a client hires them to find and return a sick child’s father, all bets are off. She’ll do what it takes to bring him back, whether he wants it or not. Too bad nobody warned her he was sexy, dangerous, and just her type. Wes Davenport is running from the complicated life he left behind. Spending his days on the slopes would be his favorite pastime - if he wasn't too busy looking over his shoulder. Shock and trepidation filled him when one of those glances back included a beautiful woman intent on taking him back. Dangerous but gorgeous, he can't let his draw to her get in the way - he has to keep running to stay alive. Unfortunately, she's not giving up and neither is he. Can the two of them find a safe middle ground without getting their hearts involved or will they both give in to the irresistible pull demanding they stay together, no matter what? WARNING! Adult language and situations.
Melissa was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and raised in Houlka, a small rural town forty-five minutes southwest down the famous Natchez Trace. She found a love of reading very early and quickly devoured everything she could. Told repeatedly that she had a wonderful imagination, she turned to scribbling her musings and wrote her first novel while in college. It was never published and has since vanished. The death of a close friend who aspired to become an author reawakened her own desire resulting in penning her first book, Shattered Dreams, published in 2013.
Melissa now resides in Meridian, Mississippi with her supportive family – husband, Robert and daughter Rebecca, two cats, and two dogs. When she isn't writing, she spends way too much time with her online friends and feeding her ravenous appetite for the written word.
This is the first of the G.E.M.S. series, revolving around Jackson "Jax" Gullion (aka Diamond) and her all-female mercenary team (Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, and Emerald), who previously appeared as background characters in some of her Team Cerberus novels.
Melissa Kay Clarke knows how to write an excellent romantic suspense novel. The action scenes are sharp and well written and the plot is creative yet reasonably realistic. The characters are strong, funny and authentic, and their interactions with each other are great. One thing I found confusing -- in the "mercenary" scenes, Clarke only refers to the GEMS by their code names, and at other times she only refers to them by their real names. Aside from Jax, she doesn't explain who is who. I went back and read the parts over again, and could figure it out from things said about them later in the novel, but otherwise, it was confusing. But that's a fairly minor quibble about a great book.
What a fabulous start to a new series! As usual Melissa kay clarke takes you on a daring ride! 5 fantastic kick ass take no prisoners women! Diamond and Wes are perfect for each other, all is not as it seems for the G.E.M.S. Teams newest job. This book has it all intrigue, danger, passion. I can't wait to read the next book in the series Emerald .
Well.....I’m hooked. When I realised G.E.M.S was going to be a series I preordered and counted down the days till it was released. It was definitely a 3 🍷🍷🍷of a good Burgundy read! Now I’m going to see if I can preorder book 2! Thank you ❤️
Fast pace, page turner great storyline. What a wayvto start a series. Two strong willed people come together in this wild ride. Jump aboard you won't be sorry.
Melissa Kay Clarke is a new to me author. With that said, Diamond was an amazing, fast paced, suspense filled book. Jax and Wes' chemistry was off the charts! Fantastic read.
I really enjoyed this book. It has action, suspense, intrigue and a growing attraction. Jax is a tough as nails woman who leads a team of equally tough women doing mercenary and vigilante work all over the world. She is hired to find Wes, the father of a sick child to procure bone marrow to save the child. Jax and her crew get to work and she locates the man but Jax and Wes end up in a gunfight and running for their lives during a snow storm. Something is not right and Jax is determined to find out what the truth is and make it out alive. These are also fighting the developing feelings that have cropped up as they’re on the run.
I really enjoyed this first story in the series, it’s a stand-alone but you will like it so much you will want to read the next book in the series. Jaxson runs a very successful travel agency but also a secret group called the Gems who are finders of anything, people, jewelry, pretty much anything but this job might have Jaxson finding something she wasn’t even looking for.
This book was so good. A pack of women help out those as a hire for hit. They catch people who are needed to be found. Diamond AKA Jackson or Jax is a hard working women. She is alone with a friend with benefits relationship with a man but there’s no feelings. Just scratching an itch if it’s needed. When she gets a job from a women to find Wesley Devonport, she wasn’t sure but a kid needed his father. So the team GEM’s went to work. Tho what they found wasn’t what they were looking for. Jax finds herself in a situation that has never happened and is wanting to know more. Some feelings pop up when she least expects it. Who is this Wes? He made her rethink relationships and what she wanted. A must read for sure.
Jackson "Jax" Guillon is ex-army who now works out of Exotic Destinations while leading a group of women called G.E.M.S. on secret missions. The group of women work together and are always underestimated.
When her team is hired to find a missing father of a sick child they are able to track him down but soon they learn that not everything is as it seems.
Can Jax and her girls find out the truth in time?
This was such a good book and I really enjoyed it!!
I love the idea of a woman's undercover team that kicks butt and gets the job done! Each of the women were awesome and I am looking forward to reading all of the books. We got to meet all of them in this book and see a little bit of their personalities but this book focused on Jax, aka, Diamond.
Jax is no nonsense and I loved the latest case she was on trying to track down a missing father for a sick child. I thought her receptionist, Sierra Marchant was great and I loved how not everyone knew what she was involved in at Exotic Destinations.
It was interesting when Jax arrived at where she was going and how she met a man and things seemed almost too good to be true. I loved when she tracked down the person she was after, Wes, and how certain pieces began to fall into place but there were still a lot of questions.
There was so much chemistry between Jax and Wes but as much as stuff began to happen there were still some missing pieces that could come crashing down on Jax. I really liked where Jax when to hide out with Wes and I was shocked at all of the trouble that found them!
I was a little surprised at where things went as I knew Wes was still in danger and I didn't think the book was going to go the way it went.
I loved what ended up happening two months later and I can't wait to see where things go from here and if Wes ends up working somehow with Jax.
The epilogue was totally shocking and I can't wait to see what happens with Kiyoko next!
I've read a couple of other books by Melissa Kay Clarke and I love her style and the way she writes. I was really excited when I found out she was creating a series for the GEMS because they are some kicka$$ ladies, and we need more books with strong ladies as the main characters. Boy did this book not disappoint! As always there was plenty of action, some twists, turns, intrigue and of course some hot, sexy moments as well. Learning more about Diamond - her history and what makes her the dominant, strong, kicka$$ person that she is was rather amazing. Seeing her fighting her attraction but finally giving in to it was not something I had anticipated. But her and Wes had so many sparks flying between them that it would have been a shame to not follow her heart. I am now looking forward to the next one in the series and learning about all these other ladies, and of course I'm wondering if Wes will be working with the GEMS in some capacity. Loved this book, and could not put it down once I got started. I need to go back and read all of the books that I have not read by this author, that is how much I enjoy her work, and I believe if you give her a chance, you will become a fan as well.
When I heard Ms. Clarke was going to write a series on The GEMS I could not wait. These bad @--, kick @-- girls were my favorite when they made appearances in her other books.
It was great to see Diamonds past and why she runs the GEMS. As she takes on a case that will tug at your heart strings she finds out things are not as they seem. When she finds the man in questions all there questions are met with more questions and the lies unravel.
These women, oh my goodness the banter between them will make you laugh but believe me they have each others back. When Jax meets Wes it ends in gun fire, but from who. As she finds out his past nothing will be the same.
This book has just the right amount of romance and suspense and plenty of angst and action. It is fast paced and never dull. Can't wait to see what is in store for the other girls.
Wow, whats not to love? Jax aka "Diamond" is a strong women, who knows what she wants and where she's going. Jax and her team of like minded women form GEMS, mecenaries who will go out and "get the job done" for thier clients. But, when thier next client asks for an "absent" dad to be found and returned to help his sick child, Jax and her team find themselves in a situation they didn't expect, with thier lives and that of the man they went to find at risk. Least of all Jax excpected, was to fall for the man she was sent out to find. This one is full of twists and surprises a great start to a new series.
Jax "Diamond" and the G.E.M.S have picked up a job of tracking down a man who is needed to save his child. Jax is at the ski resort and she has just found the man they are looking for. The more time she spends with him and learns about him, she realizes she has been lied to. Wes has been working undercover but now is on the run. He also has figured out there are leaks in the system. The bad guys have found them. Wes and Jax have gotten close but now he is back in hiding. Will they ever see each other again?
This is the first book in the GEMS series. They are easily the 5 deadliest women on the planet...if they have to be. We first met the ladies in Ms. Clarke's Team Cerberus series, another awesome series available in Susan Stoker's Special Forces World. I highly recommend reading it. This book has a little bit of everything. Danger, mystery, car chases and bullets flying. There's also plenty of romance. Ms. Clarke is an amazing storyteller and will keep you enthralled from the first page. Get this book ASAP. You won't regret it. Sorry, no spoilers
Solid 4.5 star It was great to see the G.E.M.S get their own series after seeing all the antics and crazy attitudes via the Cerberus series and the ladies did not disappoint. I loved getting to know them more and there is plenty of action, attraction, nothing being as it seems and Jax aka Diamond and the others fighting for the good guy while mayhem ensues! You definitely won't be putting this down until the end and will be impatiently waiting for the next book to get to know the others more and see what craziness they can get up to!!
Loved, loved it! Jax is the leader of the Gems, a girl mercenary team. They're hired to find Wes, who abandoned his family and the Mom is looking for him to help her son that has cancer. Well, I'm not going to spoil the surprise, but Wes turns out to be someone different. The book is action filled and has some hot romance scenes, but not a lot. Not a dull moment in the whole book, can't wait to read Kiy's story.
I started this book around 11:30 pm last night and finished it at half 4 this morning. Best none sleep day ever. This is my first book by this author but it definitely won’t be my last. I am extremely excited to read about the other ladies in this group. I loved every minute of this book and the characters are funny and amazing. Fantastic read and highly recommended.
Diamond is the 1st book in the G.E.M.S. series by Melissa Kay Clarke. Jax aka Diamond runs a group of mercenaries who are kick butt women with special skills. They chooses jobs they want and not for the money. If you love action, suspense, thriller with romance thrown in, this book is for you. I couldn't put it down. There was never a dull moment. This os a must read.
There’s nothing better than a strong female in a story. Fierce, independent, sweet and sexy-sassy. The world needs more women like Jax. I loved the G.E.M.S. popping in to assist in previous stories, but getting to know them individually is a treat you have to share! I can’t wait for the next one, and the next, and the next. Love love love.
So loved the narration of Ashla Rae Summers. You feel the tension, pace , characters and action. Perfect.
Jax is the leader of the Gems, a girl mercenary team. They're hired to find Wes, whose son is very ill. Nothing is what it seems. . The book is action filled and has some hot romance scenes, but not a lot. Not a dull moment in the whole book,
Having these particular ladies show up in other books that I have read I had to read Diamond’s story. The book did not disappoint. I love the interactions between the characters. It is well written. Please keep writing Melissa Kay Clarke.
I was glad to see these bada$$ ladies get their own series after previously reading about them in other books. Action, adventure, sexiness and great supporting characters with their own unique stories made for a very entertaining read. Based off the epilogue, I can not wait for the next book!!
This was a fast paced read for me and i absolutely loved it!! I was so happy that Author Melissa Kay Clarke wrote a series for the GEMS! These are a bunch of badass ladies that needed their own stories! Diamond, Aka Jax is my fave!!
A completely enjoyable read. This book is a military romance with plenty of action and romance. Completely likable characters. I read this quickly and loved it. I definitely recommend it and can't wait to see where this series goes next.
I loved Diamond and Wes. The plot was great, the steam hott and the characters intriguing. I really enjoyed all of the characters seeing the different women, their personalities and specialities was amazing! I can’t wait for Emerald’s book!