Staking His Claim
(Line of Duty, #5)
By: Tessa Bailey
Publisher: Brazen
Published: Feb. 3, 2014
Genre: Contemp. Erotic Romance
Rating:
He wants her. All of her.
NYPD sniper Matt Donovan is in Hell. Instead of driving his best friend’s little sister home from college, he’s stuck with her roommate—a fresh-faced ray-of-sunshine with a body that makes grown men weep. There’s no way he’ll allow himself to taint the little vixen, no matter how hard she tries to tempt him, so he resigns himself to the longest—and hardest—drive of his life.
Matt’s obvious attraction suits grad student Lucy Mason just fine. She had no idea her brother’s best friend was so deliciously hot. Knowing he’d never have his wicked way with his buddy’s sister, she lies about her identity and seduces him. But Matt’s no fumbling college boy. His desires run deep—and dark—and he wants to teach Lucy what wicked really means.
Matt’s demanding appetites only make Lucy want more. But when her cover’s blown, he’s furious—even as his hunger for her becomes insatiable. Matt can’t trust anyone, least of all himself. And he knows all too well that darkness always destroys the light…
The story starts out with Lucy finding out her roommate is ditching her for the summer. However, Lucy is going to make the best of it. Especially when her brother’s “stuffy” friend walks into the coffee shop. He’s nothing like she expected and she quickly finds herself introducing herself as her roommate and saying how Lucy ditched them to go to some beach house with a guy. You’d think that the book would be about Lucy keeping the ruse while home with her brother around but the secret is out the second they get in town. What happens next is where the story really kicks off.
Let me just take a moment to start this review by saying that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that Lucy is from Syracuse University. Not only that just she wears SU gear in the book. Yup, that right there got me all excited, you know because I was born and raised in Syracuse.
Anyways, this was a great addition to the Line of Duty series. You have everything that makes this girl happy, an aggressive male who isn’t afraid to talk dirty, a strong heroin who isn’t too timid stick it to the man, a relationship that is believable, humor laced throughout and drama that isn’t too over dramatized (for lack of a better word). I mean the whole climatic part wasn’t anything eye-roll worthy. I honestly could see it happening in real life. Tessa knows how to write an amazing story that leaves you rooting for the characters.
A bonus to this amazing story is that the MC’s from the previous two books make an appearance. One of which is her brother, but the other is also a cop as well. So if you’ve read the previous books, it was nice to kind of touch base with them again. However, if you haven’t read them, don’t fear because it’s not required. This novel would read great as a stand alone.
I know I’ve said it about 4x now but I am a huge fan of this series. Tessa has easily become one of those authors who I don’t hesitate to click the “buy now” button with. I can’t see which officer she pulls into the story next.
“Matt stood very still, trying his best to find humor in the situation, because she was so clearly lying. Porn definitely got her motor running. But at the end of the day, he was a man. When a gorgeous girl in jean shorts is waving her ass at you, an ass that has been haunting you all day, against a backdrop of moaning and slapping flesh, any attempt at maintaining control is compromised.”
So cool when a book is set where you’re from or where you have been! I’m in to small a town to have a book ever be set here but since I went to NYC I love reading books that are set in the city! Anyways, this sounds like a really great series!
I finished this a couple of days ago, and enjoyed it up until the epilogue. That was too much happily-ever-after for me. I really liked that the couple had real communication problems though, and it didn’t feel forced like with a lot of stories. And yeah, Matt was pret-ty amazing. Sigh.