Review: Last Man Standing

Last Man Standing
by Cindy Gerard
Book 7 (final) of Black Ops, Inc. series

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars

**Side note on 3/27/2016:  With the ending of the Black Ops, Inc. series, we've completed another era of Romantic Suspense awesomeness!  The format of my reviews during this time were still in the process of development, and so they still look sort of haphazard... in case anyone's wondering.

Last Man Standing also ends with a Couple Curtain Call, but since I love these characters so much, it doesn't really bother me.

Also, spoiler tags are hard to mess with. Speaking of which:

SPOILER 

This review may contain some spoilers. And since it IS the last book in a series, it may make mention of certain things from previous books. Continue reading at your own risk. Thanks and enjoy the review!

The Review:
Here is the opening line to Last Man Standing:

Joe Green was as good as dead. He’d known it the moment he’d started digging for answers to questions no one wanted asked.

What he hadn’t known was the havoc his hunt would create.

From the Prologue of this book and onward, there was not a moment I wasn’t sitting at the edge of my seat, anxious about the outcome of this book. Between Joe Green’s life-or-death circumstances and Stephanie Tompkin’s stellar development, there didn’t seem to be a moment of rest for either of our main characters.

And before I jump into it, unlike previous books, Last Man Standing unfortunately doesn’t feature the rest of the BOIs participating in the overall conflict at all. I’m a bit disappointed, though I kind of see what Ms. Gerard was trying to accomplish here. More on that later.


Joe Green’s search for answers about Bryan Tompkin’s death rolls over from With No Remorse and we come upon him in super noble idiocy mode. Being troubled with what he’s found, Joe decides to make this a solo mission thinking that if he screws up, he’ll likely bring down all of his loved ones with him. So, pulling out from the team on Personal Leave, Joe returns to Sierra Leone to find out the truth behind Bryan Tompkin’s death.

In the meantime, he decides to play protector and hero and breaks up with Stephanie Tompkins (Bryan’s little sister) who he’s been seeing since the fourth installment, Feel the Heat, without telling her anything or giving any reasons.

Any reasonable Cindy Gerard fan knows that, of course, Steph isn’t going to just sit back and let Joe rot when she finds out what has happened to him. In Sierra Leone, Joe has stumbled upon a possible lead to Bryan’s death and the mission that went FUBAR fifteen years ago. But before he reaches the priest for questioning, the man has been killed and somehow, Joe is framed for murder and arrested.

This is where we pretty much start the story off.

Being NSA, I was fairly certain that Steph would find out eventually what was going on with Joe. Why he thought he could keep his little traveling stint a secret from anyone was a bit optimistic of him, considering the friends he keeps. But, yeah, thanks to Steph’s co-worker and friend, Rhonda Burns (who has the makings for a potential main character with her character description and who has already been brought into play with Cindy’s newest book, Running Blind ), Steph learns that Joe has been arrested for the murder of a priest in Sierra Leone. But since the news sources aren’t announcing that Joe is American, that means he won’t likely be getting any help from the U.S. embassy, and that the Sierra Leone government intends to keep this arrest confidential.

And so what does our heroine do but head to Africa with all intentions of rescuing Joe… unarmed, unprepared, and without a plan, of course.

While the idea is noble and it makes for good story telling, I’m a slight bit aghast that Stephanie would simply rush into danger like that without any plan or forethought. Even with the BOIs out of commission (they are on an op that requires complete and total blackout), I would think she’d try different options before taking herself into a different country to play hero, knowing full well that she could very well end up stuck there and in even more danger with her own life.

HOWEVER…

Because of the way the story manages to progress and because of all the character development that Stephanie goes through… I’m going to overlook that teeny, tiny little detail of Stephanie blindly becoming a TSTL heroine, and go with the flow of the story.

Because while Stephanie Tompkins starts off as a meek, seemingly fragile and passive, delicate woman, she proves that, once determined, she can make herself withstand many different obstacles and become a powerful, strong, assertive leader. She finds a way to get Joe out of jail and makes plans to get the two of them out of the continent and back to the relative safety of their home state.

Of course, the rest of the conflict involves conspiracy and fifteen years of maneuvering a greedy, power-hungry politician into an even higher position of power, the deaths of many others in his way, and even more deaths to come… But that’s just standard fare for a crime thriller and suspense with action and the ilk.

But honestly, if this book emphasizes anything to me, it is the following:

This book was propelled by Stephanie Tompkins. She is the heart of Last Man Standing and without her, the story wouldn’t have had much progression. While the previous books had me falling head over heels for the men of Black Ops, this last book was all Stephanie Tompkins.

I may even have a girl crush on her.

And I like it this way if only because we always expect, in books like these, that the men are the ones who pull through and save the day and save the world. We expect that Joe Green will be the one who ultimately resolves the conflict. But really, Joe doesn’t stand out quite as well as Stephanie does (and his noble idiocy and short stint as a lone wolf doesn’t sit well with me either). Being imprisoned for such a long duration of time had sapped Joe of all physical strength and the proper mental capacity to function properly. And being the “Big Man” that he is, he’s adamant that he won’t rest and stop being vigilant until the two of them are safely out of Sierra Leone.

At least that was how he had wanted the situation to go until Stephanie finally makes him realize that:

• A)  He’s no good to anyone if he doesn’t rest up to full capacity, and 
• B)  She’s got things under control and he needs to just deal with it.

Aside from the slight logic flaw of Stephanie going TSTL heroic at the beginning, the rest of the book played out nicely. The only other thing I’m slightly disappointed in is that the rest of our BOI team doesn’t get the chance to participate in this op. Instead, they’ve been sent on a wild goose chase wherein they have to go off the grid completely with no communications until the mission is complete.

Bryan Tompkins was a brother to all the men of Black Ops, Inc., and so it felt as if they all should have been there for the ultimate showdown. It just seems disconcerting to me that Joe was the only one there, despite the fact that Stephanie (the little sister) was part of the whole ordeal as well.

But I’m going to go on a limb here and suggest that there must have been a significant reason for this. The rest of the BOIs have “moved on”, so to speak, and consciously “let go” of their rage and their depression over the events of Sierra Leone fifteen years ago. The rest of the BOIs have found new reasons to live their lives without dwelling on the past and are all moving forward. Joe Green is described as the only team member who hasn’t quite let go of Bryan’s death and continues to drown in that tragedy.

It felt like, maybe being the one to finalize and resolve the conflict was a way for Joe to receive the closure he needed. Last Man Standing was probably Joe’s chance at closure.

And then there is also the recurrence of Mike Brown (who will be appearing in Killing Time) and the introduction of Mike’s little brother, Tyler (who will have his story and romance in The Way Home). These two are given a pretty hefty chunk of significance in bringing the final conflict to a close. I’m guessing it’s Cindy’s way of making sure we don’t forget that these guys are going to be important pretty soon.

Oh yes. We also get a glimpse at Jess Albert who will be starring right alongside Tyler in The Way Home.

I’m sure by the time this last novel of the Black Ops was written, Cindy already had plans for all of these new introductions. And I look forward to it all, of course. Mike Brown seems like an intriguing character to follow.


And now to finalize this long review:
Last Man Standing was a great conclusion to the Black Ops series. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The action and the suspense were non-stop. The romance wasn’t really all that significant, but it was sweet and nice all the same--the two had crushes on each other for years before finally acting on their feelings, then they continue to go through obstacles before finally having their Happily Ever After™. I’ll take it.

While I was slightly disappointed about some of the events and had to truly suspend my disbelief for other parts of the book, I’d say that, overall, I did like this one enough to warrant a shout out… or whatever. And I’m definitely going to miss this extraordinary team of heroes and warriors and heartwarming moments in each Happily Ever After.


Also, I called it: (not a Black Ops review goes by without mention of Johnny Reed now, I suppose)

“You can’t swing a dead cat around here without running into a pregnant woman or a tadpole.”  [Reed] touched a curled finger to little Selena’s cheek, his eyes going soft before he addressed the room at large.  “Do you people not know how to contain this?”

Tink slipped out of her jacket, then quietly cleared her throat.  “Maybe we’d better have a little talk, Johnny.”

He glanced at his wife.  “About where babies come from?  Tink, darlin’, I read the book.”

“You read a book?” Doc asked with a startled look.

“Shut up, Colter.  And I'm not the one pollinating the flowers around here.”

“Um… yeah, actually you are.  You did,” Crystal amended [...]

It was such a grinning-like-a-fool moment…  And then Johnny goes and:

Then he dropped to his knees in front of his wife, and carefully positioned his big rough hands, fingers splayed wide, over her flat abdomen.  Awestruck, he looked up at her.  “There’s a baby in there.”

I'm mush.

Finally:

“You should sit down,” Johnny told her [...] “And you should not have been outside in the snow.  What if… what if, oh, God--I can’t even say it.  Juliana.  You’re a doctor.  Tell her she has to be more careful.  And Nate.  You’re her boss.  Put her on the D.L. right now.”

“Guys,” Crystal appealed to the men, cutting Johnny off before he could start construction on a protective cage.  “Help me out here, would you?”

As one, the men converged. [...] Reed was tough and he was wiry, but he was no match for the collective muscle of his BOI teammates.  They bodily picked him up and headed across the room [...] and on the count of three, heaved him into a snowdrift.

I really am going to miss all these people. (So it’s probably a good thing I own all the books, although rereads are never the same as those feelings of a first time read.)

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in MonthYear.

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Review: With No Remorse

With No Remorse

by Cindy Gerard
Book 6 of Black Ops, Inc. series

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars


We’re nearing the end of the Black Ops series and Ms. Gerard has brought the conflicts back to familiar ground for our Black Ops boys; this particular installment brings the boys to Sierra Leone for With No Remorse’s final confrontation. Sierra Leone, if we recall, is where the series began it’s “fifteen years ago” flashback from Show No Mercy, in which Bryan Tompkins, a fellow Task Force Mercy member was killed in a mission gone FUBAR. Following this catastrophic tragedy, the leader of the now disbanded Task Force Mercy decides to take his career into a private contracting agency to operate the same covert ops, but on his own terms with the proper eyes and intel propelling his missions. He invites the former Task Force Mercy members to join him once they split from Uncle Sam’s military.

And that was the birth of Black Ops, Inc.

(Yeah, I know, it’s a little late for back story now, but whatevs.)

Anyway...

While we won’t truly touch upon the death of Bryan Tompkins and a conclusive resolution for the Sierra Leone incident until the next book, With No Remorse gives us some nibbles of what’s to come by bringing the BOIs to this country that only serves to remind them of tragedy and heartache. Just as well, our last BOI, Joe Green’s story in Last Man Standing (of course), begins his own personal mission in this installment when he discovers something significant about Bryan’s death.


With No Remorse begins with quite the bang with the action starting almost immediately upon Luke “Doc Holliday” Colter’s introduction in chapter one: ”Luke Colter’s number one rule of self-preservation: Don’t ignore the itch.”

Following his instinctive “itch”, the train that our BOI medic is traveling on is suddenly detained by gunmen mercenaries who are out to find a specific someone who happens to be international supermodel Valentina Chamberlin… who, of course, just happens to be napping on the seat across the aisle from Doc when the train comes to its unscheduled screeching halt.

His hero instincts kicking in, Luke immediately dispatches of the two gunmen and shucks Valentina off of the train in order to both help her get away from the mercenaries hired to kidnap her as well as to get the rest of the guns away from the innocent passengers on the train. In characteristic Cindy Gerard style, the suspense begins immediately as our two main characters run with gunmen in hot pursuit.

And so begins a long hike across the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Peru where Luke learns that Valentina is a stubborn and sometimes bitchy, ice princess who has a bad case of bad judgement and decision-making skills. Okay… well, he doesn’t think so--he believes she’s just running on adrenaline and is frightened and so is acting all impatient and bratty and rude. I, personally, thought she could have been a little nicer to the guy who just saved her ass.

Of course, this only gives Valentina the chance to develop throughout the rest of the story (which she does and which appeases me enough to stop being irritated with her by half-time because she does start realizing the reality of her situation and grows stronger for it). Luke also learns that someone, somewhere, speaking Korean, is determined to take Valentina alive, but for whatever purpose, of course, we don’t find out until we join with the rest of the BOIs and start doing some research.

It turns out that Valentina and her now ex-husband’s frequent trips to Sierra Leone to help those in need by distributing food and other necessities plays a big part in a North Korean weapons deal.


I mean, of course, the story for the day is yet another global conspiracy and possible act of terrorism… or something like that (I should probably verse myself better in politics and current events). And while I’m making noise about the plot and about Valentina, I will admit that I did immensely enjoy this book, much like I’ve enjoyed all of the Black Ops books since the beginning. The action and the suspense really helps propel the story forward, and while a few things may or may not make too much sense to me, the plot and the telling are interesting enough that I just as soon enjoy the book and be happy with it.

Nonetheless, it’s a great plot device and a good story to follow. Again, I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of the Cindy Gerard story progressions, and since I love her characters so much, I give leeway to anything that seems less than ideal.


Luke Colter is a friendly, sweet, and fun guy… he’s a different kind of friendly charming than, say Papa Bear Savage. And he’s a different kind of flirty fun than Johnny Duane Reed. He’s his own kind of interesting, which is great because even while brooding about his life-altering moment of near death, he still manages to exude a shine of strange realistic, yet jokey FEELS that make him extremely endearing.

Oh, there were FEELS here alright! Doc got me all wound up and in love with him before I even realized it.

The way he takes care of business despite his reservations and his self-doubts, and the way he takes care of Valentina… Again, all of his actions and reactions and just him in general are endearing to the point of warm fuzzies in my heart.

Valentina, on the other hand, had started off a bit cold and stubbornly TSTL. And to top it off, I just feel like she has all the wrong ideas about how to be independent and strong. Her logic also gets a little bit skewed with how she feels she needs to do certain things in certain ways to take control of her life for herself. While I understand the need to be in control of your own life, and I understand the need to feel strong enough to stand up by yourself… I also understand being a strong and smart person for yourself as well.

If you’ve come across a man such as Luke Colter who has saved your butt again and again and you’ve decided that you can trust him, and you also know that he has the skills and the resources to get you safely out of danger, then you really should just continue to rely on that professional to get you where you need to be. Instead, she actually seems kind of ungrateful, going behind Luke’s back to try to control her own safe travel, obviously putting herself in danger again before she’s even out of the fire.

Pride is one thing. Needing to feel strong and in control is one thing. But none of that matters if you get yourself killed in the process.

I mean, there are times to be independent and strong, and there are times when you need to know when to rely on someone who knows what he’s doing to do his job. Get yourself safely back on American soil, hire your own security detail when you get there, if you have to, THEN take steps to take control back into your life.

Or maybe I just missed something somewhere.  And it's also possible I've got an extreme bias for my BOIs.

But it also still kind of irked me that she continued to withhold vital information when her life was at stake. Sometimes being too stubborn for your own good can get you killed.

But anyway, Valentina grew on me and developed to realize the severity of her situation and took measures to aide her own survival in the right directions. So I’m square with her now.

But, to be honest, this installment of the Black Ops series is really all about our Doc Holliday. Luke Colter runs this show, and despite his few moments of out of character panic, he is still the heart of With No Remorse and makes this book what it is.


Once again, with the arrival of the rest of our BOI team members, I get giddy and start grinning like a fool. I know Johnny Duane’s dialogue before his name is even mentioned. I know what he’s going to be jokey about before he even opens his mouth. Of course, he might have gotten a little out of hand in this book with the jokes, but I’ll let it slide because he’s Johnny Duane and I love him.

Also, this doesn’t hurt:

”Hey, Tink,” Reed called to his wife. He’d given up on the poker game and was cradling the little pink bundle that was Mariah Savage [Wyatt’s daughter] in his arms. “Look how cute she is. I think I want one. S’pose we can stop by Walmart and pick up one just like her?”

Crystal glanced up from her cards and gave her husband a look. “Three o’clock feedings. Smelly diapers. Responsibility.”

“Oh. Right,” Johnny said with a thoughtful look. “I’d have to grow up.” He kissed the baby’s little pink cheek and handed her back to her mother.”

How much do I want to bet that Tink and Johnny Duane are the next pair getting pregnant and it’s totally going to happen in the last book? And Johnny Duane is totally going melt like goo about it?


Finally, With No Remorse also introduces a new player to the Cindy Gerard Romantic Suspense world who is supposed to be presented in the next series following Black Ops, Inc.. Mike Brown is a rogue pilot with his own sketchy business, but he used to be the guy who flew the BOIs in and out of missions before they had been BOIs. If I’m not mistaken, I believe we’ll be getting a look into the life of the set of Brown brothers in the One-Eyed Jacks series (which I’ll be starting into soon).

This is how I really know that the series is coming to an end so that a new story with a new set of revolving characters can begin their adventures. (I may or may not start getting emotional soon.)


Final Thoughts: (Finally, I suppose, because this review turned out longer than I’d expected). With No Remorse was just as enjoyable and exciting as the rest and Luke Colter is one helluva guy. While the romance was a bit insta with much too fast development into love than I normally like, I may or may not have cringed a few times. But in the end, the romance was still a sweet and steamy one, all at the same time, so I have no complaints.

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in February 2015.

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Thoughts: Leave No Trace (A Black Ops, Inc. novella)

Leave No Trace

by Cindy Gerard
Listed as Black Ops, Inc. #5.5

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

*This novella seems to take place some time after Risk No Secrets, though the timeline seems kind of sketchy.

**This novella is also part of the Deadly Promises anthology.

We first met David “Cav” Cavanaugh in Whisper No Lies, a CIA operative who was also acquainted with the two former CIA BOIs, Wyatt Savage and Joe Green. With his help, our heroes managed to extract Crystal from Jakarta after she’d been abducted by a human trafficking tycoon.

Despite the fact that I knew there’d be a novella starring Cav, his presence in the third BOI novel created no less of an expectation. Described as unforgivingly handsome with his own hero complex and a penchant for being one of the good guys, I’d be surprised if Ms. Gerard didn’t try to either insert him into another of the BOI novels, or give him his own story.

And so now we have a novella.

What I had a feeling for (though I hadn’t really expected), was that Carrie Grainger, who is introduced in Black Ops installment number five, Risk No Secrets, would be his leading lady. Carrie is an old childhood friend of “Papa Bear” Savage’s; they had been an item when they were in high school, and she still maintained a flame for him, even as he returned to Georgia years later, bringing with him the love of his life, Sophie Baylor, and officially taking himself off the market. And thus, heartbroken and ready to move on, Carrie decides to do something spontaneous, such as get involved in medical care in foreign nations.

When this little novella (which isn’t very little at a slightly over 100 pages of content) starts off, we learn that Carrie has disappeared from the grid. Wyatt contacts David Cavanaugh for a favor involving finding and retrieving Carrie. She had arrived in Myanmar as planned, but not long after a taxi ride, she’d gone missing. On her side of the story, we learn that Carrie had noticed a woman being beaten in public, tried to intervene, and then got caught up in a botched up arrest, where she was wrongfully held in captivity for some sort of legal matter. The next thing she knows, she’s being hauled off to a slave camp to do hard labor in the ruby mines. From Cav’s side of the intel, Carrie’s arrest was a mix-up, and so in order to cover up this problem, the government figured that they better just keep quiet about it and make her go away.

And thus starts a suspenseful adventure of rescue by a non-BOI hero of the Black Ops series world.


The novella was action-packed and well-written, as is typical of Cindy Gerard. And because of the usual consistently forward-moving story progression of her books, I’d never really stopped to appreciate the detail and vivid imagery she manages to infuse into the different cultures and nations that our heroes continuously “visit” for their missions. But the beginning of this novella, with David Cavanaugh sitting quietly in his little mansion, showed a lot of excellent description of his home, the room he was in, and a little bit of Jakarta that is appreciated.

And then the action starts and we forget about great detailed settings and imagery and move right into the excitement.

There was a lot of story to go on with a simple rescue mission. We’ve already covered rescue missions before, and because of the fact that neither Carrie nor Cav were unique nor stood out amidst the rest of the lovely BOIs in their full-length novels, I can only delegate this novella into a simple, enjoyable read. Carrie was the typical damsel in distress who manages to surprise her hero by holding up as strong and determined. Cav was the typical broody alpha male hero with his wits, his heart, and his “I have commitment issues due to my angsty childhood history” and the like.

There was nothing new there on the character front, nor was there anything new or exciting about the romance front either. The dialogue and writing were done excellently, and I did give a goofy grin when the BOIs make their appearance at the end (as I seem to do regularly now). But otherwise, this Romantic Suspense novella was standard fare.

In fact, I even feel like the romance was a bit rushed and the word “love” was cast around a little too easily. But what else is new with a Romance novel, right? A couple meets under dire circumstances, they are attracted to each other, they imagine all sorts of naughty thoughts about each other, they give into their carnal needs… they start to care about each other, and within a nano-second of all that has happened, they’ve fallen in love and can’t live without each other. Developments of Romance novels to be taken with a grain of salt and no over-analysis, otherwise, it’s hard to enjoy yourself and immerse yourself in the feel-good, heart-warming scenes that take place.


Simply Put: An enjoyable, yet lengthy novella with the right amount of suspense and the right amount of excitement. It may or may not have made for a good full-length novel, given the chance. A romance with unnecessary bittersweet angst… and so let’s get back to our BOIs in the next full-length novel, shall we?

Also, it feels like the timeline for this novella is a little bit off.  When the BOIs show up in the end of the novella, Cav makes it sound like Carrie had never met them before, but we know everyone, including Carrie, showed up to Wyatt's wedding in Risk No Secrets.  So either that was an accident, or Carrie has met, but doesn't remember our Black Ops boys... which is certainly strange, because a room full of Gabe Jones, Johnny Duane Reed, Rafe Mendoza, Luke Colter, and Joe Green would be pretty hard to miss... or forget for that matter.

Also... I hadn't pegged that Johnny Duane would be fully recovered from his skateboard stunt injury already, but it might have been months after the events of Risk No Secrets.  Also, I thought that Doc (Luke Colter) was supposed to be on vacation.

I'm not certain when the events of Leave No Trace takes place, really, and it could be a long time after Wyatt's wedding.

Oh well, it's not like I'm really complaining or anything.

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in MonthYear.

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Review: Risk No Secrets

Risk No Secrets

by Cindy Gerard
Book 5 of Black Ops, Inc. series

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars


I just can’t get enough of this world of Black Ops boys and the action, the suspense, and the heartwarming friendships and the hot and steamy romances.

And Risk No Secrets had a nice abundance of feels (I know, no emphasis or anything this time, but the feels are there nonetheless) in some of the right places. And I blame all of that on the great, cuddly, good man who is Wyatt “Papa Bear” Savage. He’s not only a good man, but he’s a good man in spades. The nickname given him, “Papa Bear”, fits him to a ‘T’. With his genteel southern charms and his lovely, caring personality, it was hard NOT to fall in love with Wyatt Savage.

And for a while, I even felt like his OTP partner, Sophie Baylor didn’t really deserve him, and that she needed to step up the romance if she was going to claim him. Of course, I grew to like her too, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hold Papa Bear on his own pedestal. He comes in a close second to being my favorite BOI--but only because I’m still irretrievably in Johnny Duane’s eternal fanclub.

You know how, in a romance such as, say, a K-drama, there’s always a broody, antagonistic man with a secret heart of gold, and then there’s the stock-standard good man through and through? And you’re always rooting for the good man who is always the second lead because he’s the one who never gets the girl? Because he’s always the one who wants the girl to be happy even if he has to let go and walk away? And because these girls are always drawn towards the broody, rude man who manages to light up their Bickering Romance fires?

Well, Wyatt Savage encompasses that exact good man persona. Except, thankfully, the girl sees his all-sacrificing, noble idiot self, calls him out on it, and falls in love with him for it. And this is exactly why I probably need to stop watching K-drama.

Far be it for me to judge who gets to be the OTP in the end, but sometimes you just wish that the good guy could end up getting the girl for once.

Anyway, back to the book...


Risk No Secrets follows the same action-packed, page-turning formula as the rest of the Black Ops installments, with a new story, a new set of characters, and the same exciting and suspenseful story progression. And because of these new stories and new plot devices and new romances, I’ve enjoyed every single one of the BOI books so far. It doesn’t hurt that the characters are forever making me feel giddy and proud.


Wyatt Savage and Sophie Baylor knew each other twelve years ago when Wyatt fell in love with Sophie and stood back to watch her marry his best friend, Hugh Weber. Fast forward into the present and we get a Papa Bear who is war-weary and ready to re-evaluate his life as a shadow warrior. But even as he’s contemplating living out the rest of his life quietly in his home state of Georgia, he receives a call from Sophie with an urgent distress message: Sophie’s daughter was the target of a kidnapping, but another little girl was mistakenly taken in her place. And now Sophie, though relieved that her own child is safe, is wracked with guilt over the other little girl’s abduction. And she can’t think of anyone else who can help her.

Without any hesitation, Wyatt picks up and shoots to El Salvador to be Sophie’s support and do what he can to help her bring the other little girl home. It’s a crazy, chaotic mess in the Central American country when corruption reigns high and no one else is doing anything to help retrieve or prevent the recent string of kidnappings for ransom. With so much danger openly challenging them, the mission to find and rescue the missing little girl is a much more difficult task than even the BOIs all bargained for.


The concept of Risk No Secrets is a good one and I actually enjoyed this particular storyline a lot. There was a concrete mission that wasn’t a too vague “save the world from terrorist attacks” ordeal. And thanks to Papa Bear, Sophie, and the ex-husband (Hugh Weber), there was a lot of emotional tension sitting in the room like that proverbial elephant waiting to be addressed, but needing to be ignored in favor of other priorities.

Even without the deadline of a kidnapping ransom, the little relationship triangle was so high strung that even I had to hold my breath for a few beats. And then my heart also broke for Papa Bear a couple times too when it seemed like he just kept giving everything he had with no expectation of Sophie even acknowledging his altruistic selflessness.

So forgive me if I came up with a few moments where I kind of wanted Sophie to leave Wyatt alone if she wasn’t going to be able to be there for him, despite silently asking him to be there for her time and time again. Then Sophie DID step it up and between the tragedy of watching a little girl be abducted, having to watch her own little girl be taken away for safe-keeping, and then witnessing a few blood baths, I kind of slowly accepted her for Papa Bear’s sake.

The romance was a sweet one, if also a bit one sided for the twelve year old flashbacks and the present day rekindling. It’s not my favorite love story in the world, but it’ll do.

It’s just that, Wyatt Savage wrenches the heart with his noble idiocy, you know. And it’s a good kind of bittersweet angst that makes women all over the world swoon for his sweet, caring, and loving character.


The excitement of the suspense story was in full force; and despite the fact that our heroes were working on absolutely no leads and a ticking timeline, there was still action all over the place. The ultimate conclusion turned out rather predictable, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the ride while it rolled on.


Meanwhile, my dearest Johnny Duane Reed had to sit this one out:

At four in the afternoon, after Sophie had joined Hope next door at Carmen’s, Wyatt answered the door, and there stood Reed, balancing on a pair of crutches; his right knee was trussed up in a brace.

[...]

Wyatt glanced from Reed’s injured leg to his face. “And?”

“And even Superman can have a bad day.” Reed grinned [...].

“He tore his ACL day before yesterday trying to do a stunt on a skateboard,” Crystal said with a roll of her eyes that didn’t quite hide the concern she felt for her husband.

“Mendoza dared him,” Luke Colter--a.ka. Doc Holliday, the team medic--put in, shaking Wyatt’s hand as he entered the house.

[...]

“No one held a gun to the fool’s head,” Mendoza pointed out defensively.

Wyatt just looked at Reed and shook his head. Reed gave him a stupid grin, but Wyatt could see that he was embarrassed by the circumstances.

And so help me, I was a grinning fool when he made his appearance, all goofy with his pretty boy charms and his insipid grin despite being incapacitated. I couldn’t help it even though this is not Johnny Duane’s book for Johnny Duane fangirling.

But even with him delegated to babysitting duty with Tinkerbell in Argentina, keeping an eye on Sophie’s daughter and keeping her safe for the time being, his presence was still felt. And the rest of the BOIs still managed to wrench smiles from me with their typical boyish, dark humor and their heartwarming love for one another.

As I said, I never get enough of this world and the characters Ms. Gerard has created. Like when I finished The Bodyguards series, I have a feeling there’s going to be some form of gaping empty void in my heart when I finally reach the seventh and last book. I can just feel it coming.


Final Thoughts: Risk No Secrets was entertaining, exciting, enjoyable, and every bit as suspenseful and action-packed as I’ve come to expect from a Cindy Gerard novel. Tack onto that the loving, peaceful friendships between the BOIs and their extended family and friends, it just makes these books so much harder to resist.

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in January 2015.

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Review: Feel the Heat

Feel the Heat

by Cindy Gerard
Book 4 of Black Ops, Inc. series

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars


Another Cindy Gerard Black Ops book, another great suspenseful read with exciting global conspiracies, terrorist activity, covert ops missions, guns and explosions… following up with the steamy hot sexual tension, a sweet romance, and a heartwarming gathering of great characters.

This is what is expected of a Cindy Gerard book now. At least to me, it’s what I’ve come to expect. And while you always get all of that--especially the heartwarming feeling of togetherness of the BOIs and the rest of their big adopted family--you also get a page-turning thriller that just keeps going.

On top of that, I swear the women in these books just keep getting stronger and more Rambo than I had expected, but Ms. Gerard has always been able to bring out the best in her female heroines. Even if there may be one or two things you don’t like about one of her characters, you ultimately still manage to find them charming and lovely.


Defense Intelligence officer B.J. Chase and Black Ops Raphael “Rafe” Mendoza team up in an undercover mission when Raphael must return to his childhood home in Colombia for intel. There is a potential terrorist act on the horizon that B.J. managed to uncover after infiltrating the NSA--there is encrypted communication, secretly deleted and now recovered, that points to EMP technology and a possible attack with an E-bomb against the States that could devastate America’s economy.

Furthermore, a drug cartel lord, Emilio Garcia’s name comes up--a man Raphael knows only through reputation as well as through family history with ties to his own family history. Raphael’s uncle by marriage works for Garcia. As a cover, B.J. poses as Raphael’s fiancee to better help the couple maneuver around the drug cartel territory as Raphael tries to convince his uncle and Emilio Garcia that he can be trusted.


Once again, another global conspiracy, another terrorist attack brewing, another special ops mission to save the world. While a lot of the plot points in a Cindy Gerard book tend to operate on grand scales, at the very least they are always a different new threat that requires our BOIs to step up and be the heroes again and again. It’s never the murder mystery I love to indulge in with the surprise twists and whatnot, but these kinds of Romantic Suspense stories are still exciting and intriguing.

Undercover operations as a plot device for a romance is always welcome in my book, and while the couple didn’t really jump into their undercover op until halfway through the story, it was still played out very well. Especially when you’ve got the ever capable BOI team member front and center, joined by a tough-as-nails, intelligent and resourceful partner backing him. B.J. Chase is certainly one of my new heroes, granted it would have sat a bit better with me if she’d been more willing to play nice as a team. Of course, this is what makes her unique and different--that she’s cold and withdrawn with more stubborn courage than anyone (man or woman) should be allowed to have, and that she’s also capable of handling herself and several others while she’s at it.

In a world without BOIs, B.J. would be a lone wolf hero who’s always trying to save the world by herself, without people she can trust and without friends to confide in.

As for Raphael Mendoza, not much stands out about him, really. But he IS a good man, and he does well not being the typical broody type of alpha male. There is no broody bone in him at all, and for a change, our female main character is the broody, angsty commitment-phobe. An interesting change of roles which makes for refreshing storytelling on the romantic front, I guess. Rafe Mendoza still makes for good hero material and the other half of our steamy romance; he just doesn’t give me anything outstanding as a BOI…

Although in his defense, I might still be riding on the high of falling in squee-ing fangirl love with Johnny Duane Reed, the goofy, pretty boy who gushes flirtatious charm and puts a grin on your face no matter in what capacity he appears in. When you put the two of them side-by-side, I have to apologize for my bias towards Johnny Duane; he’s just become my favorite and I’m not sure anyone else is up to taking his place right now.

Anyway...

Speaking of the romantic front: While Rafe and B.J. do strike up a rather sweet love story, I found their relationship developed into love too quickly for my liking. For the first five chapters or so, Rafe was all about having a thing for Stephanie Tompkins. He’d fluttered around her worriedly when she was hurt and he’d even mentioned multiple times that he was interested in her, but for reasons wouldn’t ever act on his feelings.

Then, suddenly, along comes B.J. Chase and Rafe is now having hot and steamy thoughts and daydreams about her. Mere moments before the two are carrying out their undercover mission, Rafe suddenly decides that maybe he didn’t really like Stephanie romantically after all. Not long after that, the two have sex (as is staple in a Romance), and then Rafe decides that he’s fallen in love with B.J.

As for B.J., while it’s a little bit easier for her to grasp falling for Rafe, her coldness and aloof personality made the concept a little unbelievable. She jumped too quickly from “relationships and love are unnecessary evils” to “I think I’m in love now.” Granted, she fought the idea for 99% of the book and kept in character with her beliefs, so I’ll give her props for that.

Still, I’m of the impression that all of that love story happened a little too quickly, so much so that it felt a bit out of place and rushed. I can see them admiring each other and being attracted to each other easily. But falling in love with such little development still seems a bit rushed… despite the fact that this is typical in most Romance novels.

Otherwise, I didn’t feel bothered by their romance too much.

This particular installment of Black Ops also made to introduce a future couple in the making, Joe Green and Stephanie Tompkins, who will be featured in the last book of this series, Last Man Standing. We get a little insight into how their relationship may play out as well as get a taste for their romantic chemistry as is typical of Cindy Gerard fashion. I’m guessing something about this couple may or may not be brought up randomly in the next two books preceding the last one.

We also get to officially “meet” Wyatt Savage and get more out of his personality than we’ve seen before. While previous books had him mainly in the background, joking a quip here and there, we actually get a full few lines of heartwarming humor and dialogue out of him for a short scene when he’s teaching B.J. how to operate a steam engine--and we even get to skim the surface of his persona. With those few lines from him, I’ve actually become kind of intrigued by his character, and that’s not just because he sounds charming in that jokey yet genteel southern way.


Final Thoughts: Fast paced and exciting and enjoyable, as per Cindy Gerard style writing. A good storyline to follow with page-turning pacing. The romance could have been handled a little differently, but the characters, as usual, are excellently presented.

I never get tired of seeing the same favorite characters in a series with stand-alone book installments. I love watching the BOIs interacting with each other, I love revisiting favorite characters from previous books and seeing them in a larger role than just a random cameo appearance.

And while Tinkerbell didn’t get much time in the book, I’m glad we get to see enough of Johnny Duane to appease my “favorite BOI, favorite couple” quota.

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in January 2015.

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Review: Whisper No Lies

Whisper No Lies

by Cindy Gerard
Book 3 of Black Ops, Inc. series

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.5 Stars

**Side note on 3/27/2016:

I ♥ Johnny Duane!
I also ♥ Tink!
And I especially ♥ them together!!

Personally, I want to give this book a full five star rating, but I’m trying to be objective… As objective as a 4.5 Star rating will get you, I guess... so who am I trying to kid?  At least I figure I should wait until all the FEELS roll off of me before I decide how to dissect this little review post without squee-ing all over the place.

Which, unfortunately, I cannot do.

And so...

I had a feeling I’d love Johnny Duane Reed when he was first introduced in Into the Dark the final installment of The Bodyguards series that preceded this series. The way he was described gave him so many layers and so much of a mystery shroud while at the same time presenting a pretty boy playboy “character” that it intrigued me.

No doubt, there must be some stock in how they say that women are attracted to the men with layers and layers of personality just waiting to be discovered. And on top of that, I tend to lean more towards the cheeky, smarmy types who also happen to come off as sunshine and bunnies one moment, but can instantly flip a switch to being all business and kinda hot to boot for it. In the midst of it all, there’s an underlying goofiness to Johnny Duane that makes you grin every time he appears. And then there’s that seemingly lost little boy mode when he’s out of his element on the romance front and has no idea how to deal with all those foreign feelings.

And when Johnny Duane whipped out the lost and confused seriousness with the stammering and the stuttering, it was truly the most adorable thing ever. You’re just so used to seeing these men in their confidence and their flirtatious, irritating charm that it’s nice to see them in a different light.

Anyway…

Aside from Johnny, the heroine of this adventure was also a sure win from the moment you meet her in the previous book, Take No Prisoners. She’s a fiery, spunky, intelligent, and resourceful woman who can handle herself just as well as the BOIs, and it shows. As a loyal friend who came to Abbie’s aid, no questions asked, I had already admired Crystal Debrowski’s character. When she was described as a former police officer’s daughter and that she’d “trained her entire life” to become police, I was slightly worried she might be over hyped just a little bit (you know, those "she's strong and independent" types on paper, but in actual narrative, she only ever shows her clumsy, damsel-in-distress side).

But the moment she dismantled a picture frame into two glass shard knives and a wooden club weapon, I had a feeling our pixie-like Tinkerbell wasn’t going to let me down on the strong heroine front. She certainly held her own despite still needing a little boost from the BOIs to help get her out of danger. And she wasn’t too proud to show that she wasn’t superwoman and could do everything alone; she deferred to the guy who knew what he was doing, she readily accepted being scolded for making any mistakes, and she had her own resourceful wits about her. Being strong doesn’t always mean doing everything alone in spite of the danger; being strong also means being smart enough to know when to let trained professionals have your back when it’s needed, and it also means admitting defeat or admitting your faults when they happen.

"So how come you didn't tell me you were afraid of heights?" he asked [...]

"What makes you think I'm afraid of heights?" [...]

"Oh, maybe the fact that your face glows green under the Maglite."

"Yeah, so, fine. I don’t like heights. Didn’t stop me."

"No," he said with a huge grunt as he broke a small hole through the outer wall. "It sure as hell didn't."

Approval.  She heard it loud and strong.  Next, however, she heard the anger.

"You wanna play with the big boys, you don't keep secrets, got it? Secrets get people killed."

She nodded, properly chastised. "Got it. Sorry."

The story sets off with Crystal Debrowski being propositioned by a foreign business man who pretty much tells her she will be his sex slave. When she rejects his offer and sends him packing, however, it seems this man has other ideas that involve ruining her life by setting her up to lose her job and getting arrested for embezzlement charges.

And then he goes and kidnaps her, taking her all the way to Jakarta to become that sex slave he’d promised her he’d make her.

And so now Johnny Duane Reed must travel on his own covert mission to find and rescue Crystal (who was also in the process of trying to rescue herself), fueled on that unknown foreign feeling of his that keeps telling him to come back around to his lovely Tinkerbell no matter how many times he runs away from her. In the midst of this, darker crimes are uncovered as the two learn that Yao Long is sitting on his own empire of human trafficking, weapons smuggling, and counterfeit distribution.

And so then the BOIs are called in when a new twist to the crime is revealed (rescue mission of other important peoples being held captive at Bordella de Sleazy Human Trafficker in Jakarta), and the action just keeps spinning on its side.

Whisper No Lies was certainly action-packed and constantly moving forward. There was no lacking in progression and it seems that when one thing started dying down, another conflict would arise. And in the middle of it were Johnny, Crystal, and a few of the BOIs with a fairly straight shot mission of recovering their American girls and then getting the heck out of Jakarta. Of course, more chaos continues to ensue, and until the eleventh hour, things just kept right on happening.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think there was too much going on, because frankly, for a small, minuscule moment, I DID feel like there might be too much going on. But then Johnny and Crystal would start bickering, or Johnny Duane would do his suave, pretty boy flirting thing, or Tinkerbell would slug someone upside the head or learn to throw a couple grenades… and then I’d be back to enjoying the entire page-turning ride as the book continued on.

As always, it’s the characters of the Black Ops world with their charm and their loveliness and their heart that made this book such an entertaining, enjoyable, and fun experience. And it was Johnny and Crystal and their bickering but steamy romance (and multiple hot and steamy sex scenes) that had all my FEELS amped on high.

I mean, this couple just screamed all sorts of fun, and not just the sexy kind.  They were great as a partnership, great as a couple even without the nakedness.  And sometimes a fun couple is what you need to truly invest in a good romance.

It also helped that our couple’s love story started off as a simple hook-up by two strangers who were just looking for a good time. It probably helped their love story along that their respective best friends, Abbie and Sam, are married and so despite the no-strings hook-up, Johnny Duane and Tinkerbell still came around to seeing each other a lot. They’re constantly attracted to each other and apparently had spent the backstory between Take No Prisoners and Whisper No Lies hooking up whenever Johnny visited Sam in Las Vegas.

And as time flew by, and they went through one obstacle after another, they grew to love each other.

This is the kind of romance that I can definitely buy into. Sure it started off as instalust, but the rest of the romance developed over time and the word “love” wasn’t even thrown out there until it was necessary.

I knew I’d love Johnny Duane Reed and Crystal “Tinkerbell” Debrowski when they first came on the scene. I’m glad that I wasn’t proven wrong. The two are definitely a powerful couple.


Final Thoughts: An action-packed storyline (that may or may not have gotten a tad bit out of control), a clear cut plot that was going somewhere intriguing, and a lovely romance that was all things steamy, sweet, adorable, and fun, all at the same time.

When was the last time I fell in love with a couple (as well as the individuals) of which I described as “fun”?


***

This book is a pre-chosen participant in the following Reading Challenge(s):

• 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in January 2015.

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Review: Take No Prisoners

Take No Prisoners

by Cindy Gerard
Book 2 of Black Ops, Inc. series

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars


To use the same line that Abbie uses nearing the climax of this book: Sam Lang is a good man. And I’m pretty sure it was mainly because of Sam Lang (as well as having a repertoire of great side characters and character interactions) that had me loving this second installment of the Black Ops series.

If it’s one thing I know I’ll always get from a Cindy Gerard book, it’s the heart of charming and easily lovable characters. And I’m not too proud to admit that a good collection of characters is enough to satisfy me no matter what kind of book I’m reading. Sure, I’ll still see glaring flaws and obviously tacky dialogue and cheesy romantic content, but negatives are a lot easier for me to overlook when I find I love a set of characters created in a world that I’ve also come to love.

While Show No Mercy was an obvious bridge from one series to another, with a lot of monotonous story progression and very little significant story line, Take No Prisoners seems to solidify the Black Ops series as a whole new culture of men and women apart from Ms. Gerard’s first Romantic Suspense series--it cements Black Ops as a series unto its own merit with its own gaggle of lovely, awesome characters.

I know very little about military operations and even less about privately contracted firms working “under the radar” to do the government’s bidding in secret. The idea is intriguing if only because it feels extremely made-for-action-movie-and-espionage fodder. So I will comment little on the authenticity of these elements; I tend to spend more time following the characters and what logically makes sense to me, personally, about the story line. That doesn’t take away from the suspense and the excitement of the story itself. Coupled with a decent enough story line with a put-together plot surrounding a well-written romance, I’m all over it.

And plus:  It's exciting to me, and that's all that matters.


Abbie Hughes meets Sam Lang when he approaches her at her Blackjack table with a mission on his mind: Dig up information about how she and her brother are related to the drug, weapons, and gem smuggling terrorist leader Fredrick Nader. His goal is to “romance” her into talking about her life as a low-level correspondent for her brother in receiving illegally smuggled goods and making money off of them. It isn’t long before Sam realizes his mistake--that Abbie had no idea what her brother has been doing. But by then, he’s already found that he’s fallen for her and that seducing her for information she didn't have was not the best idea in the world.

At this point, Abbie is contacted by Fredrich Nader: He has her brother held captive because the young man stole a priceless diamond necklace from him and hid it. And he wants it back and Abbie is to retrieve it and bring it to Honduras or her brother will die.

Despite the betrayal of Sam’s ruse (he who had gotten close to her in order to learn about Nader’s whereabouts, lied to her about his identity, and then tried to freak her out by threatening to arrest her and her brother for being involved in illegal smuggling of goods, and pretty much accusing her of being a thief), Abbie realizes that he is the only way she’ll be able to find her brother and get him back alive.

In typical Cindy Gerard fashion, we find our heroes and one strong, stubborn heroine (amped up on fear, determination, and adrenaline), traveling to Nader’s playing grounds in Honduras on a rescue mission. In the meantime, Sam’s goal is to put Nader down once and for all as vengeance for his sister’s death. As backstory goes, Fredrich Nader was Sam Lang’s mission while he was with the BOIs, but when he started getting too close, Nader decided to send Sam a warning in the form of a car bomb to his sister and her husband. The message for Sam to back off or similar tragedy would hit the rest of his beloved family.

It certainly doesn’t get any better than personal attacks, car bombs, ruthless terrorists, and vengeance.

I both enjoyed and appreciated that there was a more solid plot in this second installment of the series than had shown in the first book. We had conflict, action, more conflict, some pretty damn good feels, forward progression, and a well-rounded conclusion to the overall story. Meanwhile, it was hard not to fall for Sam Lang and Abbie Hughes as a couple, and even harder not to love Sam Lang as a man (even if I’m not really gushing or squeeing).

Sam is a good man, that’s for certain. Despite the fact that he handled the situation in the beginning with Abbie poorly, I still see him as a good man. I wasn’t happy with his decisions and his deceit, but I liked seeing that he had his fair share of struggling through his own guilty conscience because of his careless actions that had lead to Abbie’s determined and stubborn refusal to fully trust him again until the very end.

Whether man or woman, it’s just not right to play around with human emotions of love like that. Deceit is very emotionally damaging. Thinking that he was romantically interested in her when he was really just after information and was willing to acquire said information at all costs? I’m sure that hurts a lot.

There was just so much FEELS going on with this angsty relationship and I liked it. Especially when the angsty stuff didn’t last long, and despite Abbie’s wounded heart, she was still willing to trust that Sam could keep her safe and pull her brother out of danger; even if she did doubt him and question him more times that I personally liked.

In contrast to Sam, Abbie didn’t really stand out as much, though I still admired her strength and the more down-to-earth feel from her individual life than I’ve seen from any of the other Cindy Gerard heroines. We’ve had a rambo chick with a tragic past tied into global conspiracies, a former Secret Service gal related to four other ex-military tough guys, a rock star who can kick her own bodyguard’s ass, an embassy worker who relishes doing overseas work, a spunky hotshot journalist who chases explosive stories...

Abbie Hughes was simply a young working woman trying to get by in life as a blackjack dealer, an accounting student, and trying to take care of her younger brother in the process. And when push came to shove, she was simply a desperate woman who wanted to do whatever it took to make sure her brother could come home, safe and alive.

It’s just unfortunate that as an individual, I felt like she fell kind of flat. Then again, it worked out quite well, as Sam Lang is a man of few words, and the quiet romance that blossomed between him and Abbie was actually quite lovely. And I liked it for that. In spite of the fact that their courtship was a ruse, it was still a nice development in their romance, in contrast to the usual instalust romances.

The quick introduction of the Crystal and Johnny Duane potential chemistry also gives rise to intrigue and I’m ready to dive into the next book now. Despite the fact that these two didn’t get as much book time together as Ms. Gerard typically gives a lot of her potential future main characters, I still found their interaction at the end of the book interesting. On top of already having a vested curiosity about Johnny Duane, I found that I DID immensely like Crystal Debrowski, what little appearance her spunky, fiery self showed throughout this book.


Final Thoughts:  Immensely enjoyable and hard to put down, and not just because the suspense was well paced with constant action. Great character interactions and story progression. And to be honest, I think Sam Lang was what did it for me in this book in spite of the douche-y way he acted towards Abbie in the beginning--I think his internal struggle, guilt, and fresh grief over his sister’s death helped a little bit.


***

This book is a pre-chosen participant in the following Reading Challenge(s):

• 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in January 2015.

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Review: Show No Mercy

Show No Mercy

by Cindy Gerard
Book 1 of Black Ops, Inc. series
-- follows The Bodyguards series

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars


I read a short BOI novella in SEAL of My Dreams which reminded me why I loved Cindy Gerard. And in doing so, it cemented my need to finally dive into the Black Ops, Inc. series with a goal to tackle all seven books within the next two months. (But let’s be honest, if I marathon the way I normally do with no regard for sleep or tomorrow or other Real Life priorities or the rest of my TBR list, I’ll have these books done by the end of this month… which makes me wish I had a few extra vacation days.)

Jenna McMillan and Gabe Jones were introduced to Cindy Gerard fans in the last book of her first Romantic Suspense series The Bodyguards, as they aided Dallas Garrett and Amy Walker in uncovering and destroying some evil organization and conspiracy; a mission that just seemed too out of this world on a global level to be anything but Made For Movies, but yet I contentedly went along with because I loved the characters and the sense of excitement and urgency building as the story line progressed.

For this, I willingly suspend my disbelief.

To be totally honest, I’m not the biggest fan of non-mystery Romantic Suspense novels. I’m a big lover of mystery stories, criminal or not. So the reading of many Romantic Suspense novels and my enjoyment of them is based purely on whether or not the story is fanned out well, and whether or not I like the characters and, yes, especially the love story that unfolds.

And as it turns out, even if the story unfolding isn’t the best in the world, I’ve never felt let down by the characters in a Cindy Gerard book (even if at least one or two characters were boring or were kind of assholes). Nonetheless, one thing I’ve taken away from a work written by Cindy Gerard is that her characters have heart; sometimes they have cheesy dialogue and tacky monologues and incredibly “too perfect to be true” personalities and attitudes and behaviors… but they have heart. And some of them have charm enough for me to enter the squee mode of ship-dom for the couple depicted.

And also, Cindy writes a pretty good suspense around her romances, in my own personal opinion. These are definitely action-packed page-turners.


In Show No Mercy the “Big Evil” sort of takes a sequel-ish continuation from Into the Dark with our story picking up months after Jenna and Gabe last saw each other in Argentina. While our other couple, Dallas and Amy, have gotten their happily ever after, Jenna and Gabe were on the fence about each other in a love/hate, grumbly, and bickering relationship. And nothing says cute romance and hot, sexual tension like a Bickering Romance.

After the events of Into the Dark, Jenna McMillan has found herself hiding from her usual journalistic subjects due to a fear that developed from witnessing all the blood and gore in Argentina. Being held captive by strange and rough persons also didn’t help. But straightening up her backbone, with thoughts of how her friend Amy managed to toughen out despite everything she has been through, Jenna decides that it’s high time she quit hiding and moping and get back to her life.

She returns to Argentina to pick up a new story in order to return to her glory of being the “hotshot” reporter who uncovers all the big, important news, internationally. Being requested specifically by a shadowy foreign billionaire to conduct an interview, however, places Jenna back into the dangerous territories of which she both feared and found intriguing. At the same time, it reunites her with Gabe Jones of the Black’s Operators, Inc., a low-key organization serving as private contractors to operate dangerous missions that should otherwise not be known about--a band of shadow warriors who work under the radar to do Uncle Sam’s bidding, but on their own terms.

While awaiting her chance to interview this billionaire at the National Congress in Argentina, a bomb is what throws Jenna and Gabe back into each other’s lives. As the action unfolds our couple learns that they both have an enemy who has orchestrated a ruthless plan of vengeance.

And of course, romance ensues with the typical untamed lust that turns into love… with obstacles included and lots of violence and guns and bombs and so on and so forth. Of course. Oh yes, and also a frustratingly self-created angsty Gabe Jones who’s broodiness really hits a new high--Yeah, I had a feeling I’d had enough of broody alpha males...

It didn’t take me long to determine that Jenna and Gabe were the actual targets marked for death and not the shadowy billionaire, Maxim. There were a lot of givens going on from the beginning of the book, going forward. The plot itself felt mundane and done over many times, but the progress of the story left no room for contemplation; action after action after action just kept happening, and by the time I could think of any reason to find something to complain about, the story was finished.


Ever since Into the Dark, I’d found myself curious about the continuation of all the new characters introduced who would comprise the Black Ops series. Unfortunately, Gabe Jones and Jenna McMillan weren’t the couple that I had been all that interested in following. They have the traditional Bickering Romance device that I love, but as individuals, Gabe and Jenna really just don’t stand out. I like me some Bickering Romance, but to be honest, Gabe’s broodiness hit an all new assholery level on his side of the bickering.

They are the typical Romance novel broody alpha male and spunky gorgeous babe combo, both with hearts of platinum gold. They aren’t unique and they aren’t really all too relatable as people. They are very stock-standard Romance novel hero and heroine.

These are things that I already expect from a Romantic Suspense. The trick is making them unique apart from the rest of the standard alpha male and spunky female combos.

Of course, Jenna DOES one up a lot of the other typical Romance novel heroines out there. She’s straight forward about what she wants and she goes after it without beating around the bushes. For this, at least, I can admire her. She doesn’t play coy nor does she play at the “I don’t usually do stuff like this” demeanor. She’s honest to a brutal point, which I like seeing in a female character.

In contrast, the rest of the characters in the book stand out just a little bit more, and I’ll admit that I’m slowly working my way to Johnny Duane Reed’s story in the series’ third book because he intrigues me more than any other.


Overall: An enjoyable read with great character interaction and a spunky heroine I can potentially love. Bland and typical romance (which wasted the lovely Bickering Romance device), but cute and fun and with one of the hotter love scenes in a Cindy Gerard book I’ve read (yes, the first time our couple has sex, it was pretty steamy). Predictable story and plot, but good sense of progression and action and suspense. The ending could have been a bit more epic, but who’s complaining, really?


***

This book is a pre-chosen participant in the following Reading Challenge(s):

• 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in January 2015.

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