Holden Price is former military and was working as an agent for the supah-secret Recovery Project. However, because of events that transpired in Under The Gun, there's been major fallout. The Recovery Project has been shut down and a congressional hearing/investigation is looming. This all translates to Holden being unemployed, sitting on his couch, in his cabin, in the middle of the woods. However his solitude is short-lived when Mia Landers comes crashing through his front door. Literally. She drives her car through his front door!
Mia is completely disoriented, scared, and running on enough adrenline to fuel a grizzly bear. A congressional aide, her boss has driven her out to the middle of nowhere, made wild accusations, and physically threatened her. She manages to escape, only to crash into Holden's house. Nothing is making any sense - and now she has hired goons chasing after her. Her options are limited but one thing she knows for sure? Holden isn't a bad guy to have around. And it turns out they both have a common enemy.
The Intrigue line can be tricky business for authors to pull off, and Dimon has made her stories work by writing them a bit like they were action movies. I'd classify this series (so far) as more thriller-oriented than traditional romantic suspense. You have lots of fighting, lots of gun play, and lots of bad guys chasing after our couple. Even factoring in The Love Cooties, if this story were to be made into a movie, I could so see my Dad (the aficionado of action films) eating this up.
With all this danger and intrigue flying around, the concern on the part of the romance reader is always "what about the romance?" Well, readers who want their romance first and their suspense second are probably not going to be wildly enthralled here. The romance does take a little of a backseat to the Bad Men With Guns chasing after our couple. However, that's as it should be in a story of this ilk. Frankly it would have been wildly unbelievable and improbable to have the Mia and Holden hash out their feelings and engage in heavy petting while dodging bullets and knocking out bad guys. The romantic elements in this story fit, the author includes them in all the right places, and it instills some hope in the happy-ever-after even considering the short time frame.
Now that this has morphed into a mini-series, readers should expect some series baggage. The author does a lovely job of bringing the reader up to speed (I read the first book all the way back in April, so I appreciated this!), but there's no denying this is a series. All the pertinent questions swirling around Mia and Holden are dealt with, but there are some dangling threads left loose presumably for future installments.
I've always considered myself, in my heart, a mystery/suspense girl. I discovered the romance genre later in life, and while I love it with all my heart, sometimes I just want the thrill read. I want villains, hand-to-hand combat, and fast-paced action. This series has been giving me that. They're fun. They're exciting. They're what I consider perfect vacation reads. And oh happy day, the next three installments are all due out in 2011.
Final Grade = B
6 comments:
Thanks for the review. Of HelenKay Dimon's books I've only read Impulsive and I found that only so-so. I understand the other books in the series (Heroes of Hawaii?) are better though.
I have to comment on the serious hair spinning action on the cover. You have no doubt that the heroine has no idea where to turn :)
Hannah: Ooooh, the book before Impulsive is awesome! Holding Out For a Hero. Although, I gotta say, one of the reasons it was so awesome was the suspense angle...which got "spoiled" for you in Impulsive. Still, I really enjoyed that book a lot.
And LOL - the hair spinning! I will say that the art department did a nice job here. That's actually pretty close to how the author describes her in the book.
Dimon was one of my finds in 2010 and I really enjoyed Holding Out For a Hero . I loved that Dimon was willing to "go there" in some ways that I think are sadly rare in romance novels. I want to be specific, but that would make my comment very spoilery. I'll just say that I was impressed that she didn't try to make Josh or Deana perfect and still managed to keep them likable and make me root for and believe in their HEA.
Dimon is now on my list of authors to look for and I've added several of her titles to my TBR.
Sounds like a very solid book, Wendy :) I've been meaning to read more of Ms Dimon and actually get Impulsive...
I enjoyed the book, but thought there must have been a previous book which gave some of the back story--about Luke and his heroine maybe? I thought lacking that info detracted quite a bit from the story in GatGND.
LoriK: I know exactly what you're referring too. Yeah, that was what impressed me the most about that story. That the author "went there."
Nath: I've liked her Intrigues. They're snappy and quick with plenty of action. Nothing that has changed my life, but they've kept me entertained :)
Anon: Yeah, the previous book, Under The Gun, is Luke's story - and it came out....in early 2010. It's definitely available in digital - and, at least at Amazon, you can still buy it in print.
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