The Good & the Bad!

It’s always a good sign when the book you’re reading starts out with one of your favourite phrases. “You’ve gotta be kidding me...” I say that all the time even though I’m German.

Let’s have a look at the cover. You’ll want to give the artist a big fat smooch. It really is great and captures the blurb perfectly. Looking at it I formed certain expectations and I’m happy the author didn’t disappoint. Raith Malloy is my kind of hero. Honestly, his name alone made me quiver with excitement. He’s also moody, demanding and overbearing. I loved it! Kage has a (for lack of a better word) very visual writing style. I could easily picture not just Malloy in action, but pretty much every scene in this book. There was depth to both the characters and the plot. I should mention the length. 193 pages: not a full length novel – not a short story either. Kage made sure not to rush anything. The cop versus attorney theme was a risk. Thank heavens she took it. Hatred had to morph into attraction and attraction into...well, y’all like a happily ever after as much as I do, right?! The journey was...just...awesome!! It truly was “instant lust” that hit them like a ton of bricks. The author built up the tension (on both ends of the love-hate scale) step by step. Loved the fact that Kage switched points of view. Brilliant...how they tried – very unsuccessfully – to outsmart each other.

Kudos not just for the development of hero and heroine as individuals and as a couple, but also the very real portrayal of their respective occupations. To me it felt like real cop talk. The fact that Malloy had one failed marriage under his belt made it all the more believable. At least I imagine that the divorce rate among people on the force is high. Willow had to be just as tough as Raith; otherwise it would’ve never worked between them. Hooray for not being a cry-baby. She pulled it together in situations when most people would’ve lost it completely.

Even though the plot mainly revolved around Raith and Willow, the secondary characters played a big part as well. They, too, were very true to themselves. By the end of the story I felt like I’d known them for years already. The best part? There’s history between the main characters none of them were aware of at first. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, I promise. Some might find Malloy’s initial reaction to a life changing surprise not so great, but in my opinion it was the only way to do it. He really was a grumpy d***sometimes. Weirdly enough it’s exactly what made him so lovable.

I didn’t like the reason for a certain someone stalking Willow. It’s hard to explain without giving away too much, but I just think what this person had to endure didn’t quite fit the possible consequences for his actions later on. Maybe the author should’ve given us a little more insight into his mental lexicon.

Also, the husband of Willow’s best friend had issues with Malloy in the beginning. They disappeared, but didn’t get resolved. There’s a difference! And let me just add that I’m totally on Dylan’s side on this one. I also didn’t like where Raith ended up job-wise in the end. He clearly stated he wasn’t interested in going down this road beforehand. I think it was supposed to seem like he didn’t really mean it. A ~ secret desire to be denied at all costs ~ kind of situation. It didn’t feel like one to me, though. Just one sentence / thought about how he’s so glad he changed his mind would’ve done the trick.

The verdict: DO NOT MISS!!! A very entertaining “hot little number”. :-) Kage once again delivered! You should put her on your auto-buy list. NOW!"

"I really liked the premise of this book however I found it to be riddled with things that rubbed me the wrong way. First off Raith. I love take charge alpha guys but I never got past how completely mean and awful Raith is to Willow throughout the entire book. I have never seen two more prickly characters. They constantly are fighting. Constantly giving each other snide comments and hurting each others feelings. Over-thinking everything imaginable and working on assumptions about every person they see the other with. I think they went way past the banter and straight into annoying territory. I spent a lot of my time shaking my head at their conversations. Raith is condescending about everything to Willow. Yes, she deserved a lot of it with her immature behavior but wow…I think if a guy talked to me like Raith talked to Willow, first I’d knock his head off and then I’d kick him out of my house. I don’t care how good the sex is. But she takes it. Raith is like some kind of sick drug to her. She doesn’t like him, they fight, and yet she keeps taking it because the sex is great.

From the blurb the book sounds like a romantic suspense however I didn’t see it as such. Willow is attacked in the courthouse at the very beginning and yet that has nothing to do with the actual plot. Its convenient yes, but you never hear or see the guy responsible after that incident. Instead we get two minor altercations through out the book before something big happens. In between this is completely a contemporary romance. The threat seems to pop up when its needed but if it were a sustained threat it would have worked much better with the genre.There needed to be more happening to Willow on the stalker front then the feeble tricks that we got.

The level of writing was pretty good but I wouldn’t say it was on the level that a lot of romantic suspense authors at your local bookstore are at. Some of the conversations felt jilted and incomplete. The characters didn’t feel rounded and so they came off to me as one dimensional. There were a few spots in the book that I really enjoyed but they seemed to be few and far between . While I wanted to like this one much more then I did, my problems connecting with the characters left me wanting more from the book then what I was given."