Publisher Simon Kohl is on the top of the world, a puppet master in the world of the written word, he can make or break people with one phone call. The only person he’s yet to tame is his lovely fiancée Janice Lace, a bestselling African American author he plans on building a life with, but she has yet to say the three words he needs to hear. Deciding he’s had enough with Janice closing him off from her heart and the past that has caused her to become the cold woman she is today, Simon decides to play a little game of chess. Bringing forth a lover from Janice’s past, Simon is not prepared for the avalanche of pain and confusion he unleashes in their lives. Now Simon will have to play hardball because his own personal demons are finally catching up with him and the thing he’s always wanted the most may now be slipping from his grasp forever.

Janice has already gone the love route. She knows the pain that comes when you allow a man to know he has power over your heart. She refuses to give Simon any more power than he already has over her because as soon as she does everything she’s worked for will fall apart. Their relationship was supposed to be easy, not about enduring love. Somewhere they both forgot the rules and with the addition of her past lover haunting their fragile relationship, Janice and Simon may find that not all stories have a happy ending.

This book reminded me of an old song called “If Loving You is Wrong”. I kept singing the song in my head the entire time I was reading Many Shades of Gray. This story is the epitome of how not to love someone. Manipulation, jealousy, possessiveness and verbal abuse seemed to be the common thread between these two lovers. Janice and Simon were a couple who were so scared of love they did whatever they could to destroy it. Talk about drama. Dyanne Davis wrote a soap opera that was so excessive I read the entire book with my mouth hanging wide open, cringing half the time and laughing uncomfortably the next.

Now I’m sure you’re thinking I didn’t like this story, right? Wrong, by the time I was halfway through this book, Janice and Simon had sucked me into their insanity. I couldn’t wait to turn the page to see what other act would be perpetrated all in the name of love. Simon took being a rich ass to a new level. His volatile episodes where he loved Janice to death one minute and was trying to ruin her the next were mind boggling especially since it was obvious he really did love her. This is not a love story for someone who wants a fairytale love affair. This is a story of hot, passionate, obsessive love of volcanic proportions and, just like most natural disasters, uncontrollable.