Category Archives: Romantic Suspense

Review: Midnight Rescue by Elle Kennedy

12368900Midnight Rescue
(Killer Instincts, #1)
By: Elle Kennedy
Publisher: Signet Eclipse
Published: May 1, 2012
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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Goodreads

Dangerous. Ruthless. Savage. And she’s the good guy.

Abby Sinclair had a desperate childhood until she was rescued and adopted by a retired army ranger who molded her into a master of self-defense. Now, she’s a cunning and fearless assassin thrust into assignment after dangerous assignment, using everything she has-nerve, resilience, strength, sex-to come out on top. Her only rule: trust no one.
Abby’s latest assignment is in Columbia: go undercover and snuff out a dangerous arms dealer active in the underground sex trade. But when Abby purposely blows her cover in a last-ditch attempt to free the helpless victims, deadly mercenary Kane Woodland is recruited as back-up. His mission: get Abby out of that hell hole.

The last thing Kane expects is to feel a primal attraction for Abby. But when she convinces him to join her on her perilous mission, their newfound passion could put the lives of their whole team at risk.

 

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Excerpt: A Melody for James by Hallee Bridgeman

18077525A Melody for James
(Song of Suspense, #1)
By: Hallee Bridgeman
Publisher: Olivia Kimbrell Press
Published: June 15, 2013
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

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Solitary strangers meet during a stormy stopover. Hours later, their hearts hum a harmonious duet.

Melody Mason has the hottest female voice in the country music scene. But the cheers of throngs of adoring fans mean little in the absence of the handsome stranger who rescued her years before. Widower James Montgomery has never forgotten her. He prays God can bring her back.

Incredible events finally bring them face to face again. Together at last, they realize the bond between them has miraculously risen to a crescendo, melodiously marrying them like strong symphonic chords. Uncannily, they learn they share more in common than they could have ever imagined. They know God reunited them for a purpose.

Sinister forces threaten to destroy their new found happiness. The couple must work in close concert, placing all their faith in God as they solve the deadly mystery that ties their lives inexplicably together.

Fire, loss, and bloodshed cannot shake their faith in God to see them through as they face a percussive climax that leaves hearts and lives forever changed.

 

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Review: Wait For Me by Elisabeth Naughton

13282015Wait For Me
(Against All Odds, #1)
By: Elisabeth Naughton
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Dec. 22, 2011
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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A woman without a past…

After a tragic accident left her with no memory, Kate Alexander struggled to fit in with a husband and world that didn’t feel right. She’s had no reason to question what friends and family have told her, not until her husband is suddenly killed and she finds a photo of a young girl in his office. A girl who can’t be anyone but a daughter Kate didn’t know she had.

A man desperate for a reason to live…

Ryan Harrison lost his wife in a plane crash five years ago. To cope with the pain of her loss, he dedicated himself to his job and to raising their daughter. Now a successful pharmaceutical executive, Ryan has everything a man could want—money, fame and power—but he’d give it all up in a heartbeat for just one more day with the woman he still loves.

Two lives about to converge.

As Kate begins to dig into a past she doesn’t remember, evidence leads her to San Francisco and puts her on the path toward Ryan, a man who sees in her the woman he loved and lost. Kate feels a draw to Ryan, one she can’t explain, but is that feeling enough to convince her this is where she’s supposed to be? As Ryan and Kate search for answers, they uncover lies long buried, a passion hotter than either expected and a danger that threatens…even now…when the second chance they’ve both been searching for is finally within reach.

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Review: Bound to Danger by Katie Reus

20579047Bound to Danger
(Deadly Ops, #2)
By: Katie Reus
Publisher: Signet Eclipse
Published: Aug. 5, 2014
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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At a benefit dinner, community activist Maria Cervantes overhears two men plotting a terrorist attack that could rock Miami to its core. But before she can alert authorities, she’s almost killed in a massive explosion—and wakes up in a hospital with no memory of what happened. As the sole survivor of the attack, she is now a person of interest to the NSA—and especially to Agent Cade O’Reilly. Because Maria is the one woman Cade has never been able to forget.

Years ago, they were closer than either was willing to admit—until Cade disappeared when Maria needed him most. Now he’s sticking by her, whether she likes it or not. Because the memories locked inside her mind could hold vital clues to the next attack. Because terrorists want her dead—and because he never wants to let her go again.

1thoughts Maria finds her world torn apart when a charity event her and her mother are attending is blown to smithereens. Maria is the only survivor from the blast and now the terrorists that are involved are hot on her heels. Lucky for her, her brother’s best friend, and Maria’s crush from 8 years ago is a black ops agent who is hell bent on keeping her alive while finding out who’s behind the attacks and why. The only problem is, she can’t remember anything from the day of the attack.

This is a highly suspenseful novel. There isn’t a lot of gore but you do go into the minds of the killers. You see the way they think and why they are doing what they are. Now, I’m not saying I agree with their ways but you definitely sympathize for them.

Even though I am a huge Katie Reus fan, this one just didn’t fully connect with me for some reason. I usually gobble her books up in one sitting but this one left me feeling a little blah. There’s nothing wrong with the story. Katie had a great way of bringing her characters and their world to life. I just don’t know what kept me from fully engaging on this one.

1favequote“All those wealthy people didn’t know shit about true pain. The rick kept getting richer and people like him had to struggle to get to where they were. Even Marina, she might try to make herself feel better by giving back to the poor in her community, but she always had her parents’ money to fall back on. Money she hadn’t earned.”
kRISTIN

Review: Thrill Ride by Julie Ann Walker

15831824Thrill Ride
(Black Knights Inc., #4)
By: Julie Ann Walker
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Published: April 2, 2013
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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He’s Gone Rogue

Ex-Navy SEAL Rock Babineaux’s job is to get information, and he’s one of the best in the business. Until something goes horribly wrong and he’s being hunted by his own government. Even his best friends at the covert special-ops organization Black Knights Inc. aren’t sure they can trust him. He thinks he can outrun them all, but his former partner—a curvy bombshell who knows just how to drive him wild—refuses to cut him loose.

She Won’t Back Down

Vanessa Cordova hasn’t been the team’s communication specialist
very long, but she knows how to read people—no way is Rock guilty of murder. And she’ll go to hell and back to help him prove it. Sure, the sexy Cajun has his secrets, but there’s no one in the world she’d rather have by her side in a tight spot. Which is good, because they’re about to get very tight…

 

1thoughts“The story of a woman who was scared of the dark and a man who was scared of love, who’d come together to overcome all their fears…”

I don’t know why but I didn’t gravitate to this story like I did the others. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the story but I just didn’t get wrapped into it as much as the others and I’m not really sure why. The characters were likable and the sexual tension was there like the previous books. Heck, Vanessa and Rock are crawling through the Costa Rican rainforest and hiding in trees to get away from the enemy. So the suspense was there as well. I just don’t know why I didn’t fall into this story like the others.

“I just thought I should drag you down off that high horse you climbed up on. Wouldn’t want you to start suffering from altitude sickness or anything.”

I did like the humor in this novel. Vanessa doesn’t back down from Rock, and Rock tries his hardest to hide from Vanessa. You see, Rock lost his fiancee years ago and he never wants to feel that loss again and he knows that his life is currently forfeit and doesn’t want to cause Vanessa and pain either. So he hides behind behind being a sarcastic ass and Vanessa gives as good as she gets to hide her frustration over this man.

“She was in a hollowed-out log, in the middle of a Costa Rican rainforest, being hunted by the CIA with a man ho had no qualms telling her that, while he thought she was hot-to-trot and he wouldn’t mind letting her polish his rocket-so to speak-he has absolutely no plans to start anything permanent with her because…and get this… he would never-that would be with a capital N, his tone had made that very obvious-fall in love with her.”

Like I said, I enjoyed the story and all the puzzle pieces that fell into place but I just couldn’t dive fully into it for some reason. However, I still really enjoyed the storyline and look forward to the next Black Knights Inc novel.

 

1favequote“Zut! Just give me some bubble bath and a tampon. I think I’m officially part of the estrogen party.” -Rock

kRISTIN

Review: Taste Me Deadly by Nikki Duncan

20482876Taste Me Deadly
(Scensory Ops, #5)
By: Nikki Duncan
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Published: March 18, 2014
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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After five years in Witness Protection, Greycen Craig’s life of careful routine is upended when she learns her sister is the victim in a hit and run, hospitalized, unconscious, and needing a kidney only Grey can give.

Despite warnings that this “accident” is a ruse to draw her out into the open, Grey risks everything to race back to Miami—where she comes face to face with the one man she aches to trust.

FBI agent Liam Burgess thinks he’s prepared for the moment Grey walks into her sister’s hospital room. But the moment the woman who holds his heart appears, his tongue is almost too tied to remember to ask one burning question—why she disappeared in Las Vegas two years ago.

As Grey struggles with what to tell him—everything or nothing—the danger that drove her underground resurfaces, threatening everyone she loves. And the only safe place to run is the arms of the one man she can’t tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

 

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Review: Fighting For Irish by Gina L. Maxwell

17619576Fighting For Irish
(Fighting For Love, #3)
By: Gina L. Maxwell
Publisher: Brazen
Published: Jan. 13, 2014
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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Kat MacGregor has forty-eight hours to make good on the debt her ex-boyfriend owes a crime boss. Unfortunately, the measly tips she makes waitressing are barely enough for her to live on, much less cover the twenty-thousand needed to keep her breathing. With time running out, Kat ‘s forced to accept help from the only man who’s ever made her feel fire rather than fear.

When he learns a friend’s sister is in trouble, former Boston MMA fighter Aiden “Irish” O’Brien heads to Louisiana to offer himself up as collateral to keep her safe. But to satisfy the debt, he has to do the one thing he swore hed never do again: fight. With more than just money on the line, will Irish have what it takes to not only reclaim the man he once was, but become the man he needs to be for the woman he can’t live without?

 

1thoughtsI loved Rules of Engagement and was really excited to start Fighting for Irish. You have a retired MMA fighter who’s secretly keeping an eye on a friend’s sister-in-law who may or may not be in trouble. That is, until the mafia come knocking on her door. Which is when Irish steps up to take her debt as his own and ends up back in the MMA ring fighting for the Mafia.

I don’t know what happened but I just didn’t connect with the story. I’m not sure if it was the extreme naivety on Kat’s part because let’s be honest, at her age, even if she’s never experienced an orgasm, I’d hope she’d know what one was. Apparently not though because she sorta panicked when the moment came and thought the feeling was painful-pleasurable. Alas, Irish shows her what she’s missing out on… multiple times. Or maybe my problem was with Irish. The typical bad-ass who turns to complete mush when he meets his woman. Such a mush that he start talking gobbly goop that would make a Hallmark card cringe. You can’t be a big bad Bostonian MMA fighter and start getting mushy on me. I want that bad-ass demeanor to carry on throughout the story.

I liked the beginning of the story and had high hopes for this but it just didn’t work for me. I wasn’t connected to the story or the characters. I will still continue to read Gina’s work since I loved the last book and love the way she writes a story. However, the characters in this one just didn’t work for me.

 

1favequote“He must have heat stroke from the last few hours of his ride. Yeah, heat stroke sounded good. He’d go with that. The alternative-comparing a woman to something like lemonade-would mean the demise of his virility, and he could kiss his Man Card good-bye.”

 

Previous reviews from Fighting For Love
Rules of Entanglement

kRISTIN

Review: Theirs to Keep by Maya Banks

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Review: Dark Waters by Toni Anderson

17397907Dark Waters
By: Toni Anderson
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: Aug. 6, 2013
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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Danger once again laps at the shores of Barkley Sound, the Graveyard of the Pacific…

Since her rocky childhood and its abrupt, brutal ending, schoolteacher Anna Silver hasn’t given her trust easily. But when her estranged father gets in over his head—again—and winds up dead, his last message to Anna is as clear as it is insistent: she’s in danger and Brent Carver, the man with whom he shared a prison cell for five years, is the only person she should turn to for help. With nowhere else to go and with her father’s killer on her trail, Anna flees to what she hopes is safety.

​Tucked into the west coast of Vancouver Island, Brent Carver’s isolated home hasn’t seen many visitors. And his friend’s daughter is the last person he ever expected to grace his doorstep. She’s in trouble, and he can’t deny her protection…just as he can’t deny his attraction to the independent beauty. As their passion sparks into flame, the perfect storm brews off the coast of his island home, bringing with it a sadistic killer hunting Anna and the secrets she’s come close to uncovering.

 

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Review: Rush by Joan Swan

16057050Rush
(Phoenix Rising, #3)
By: Joan Swan
Publisher: Brava
Release Date: Aug. 27, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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Jessica Fury, Washington lobbyist, has money, connections, and her own firm. But five years ago she had something better: happiness. Her firefighter husband, Quaid, was handsome, courageous, and crazy about her. Then one day he walked into a chemical inferno—and never walked out. Jessica has been through hell to get back on her feet. And then a rumor surfaces that could bring a miracle or shatter her world – again.

Q has been a prisoner forever. He’s honed his mind and body into weapons. He’s developed abilities no one else understands. But he’s still at the mercy of a cabal of ruthless men, who blank his memory, test him like a lab rat, and tell him lies. Although his past has been erased and his future looks grim, instinct tells him he has a woman to live for. What his mind can’t remember, his body can’t forget…

The heat is on.

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