Lindsay Delagair

I admit I have had trouble with this series but I had to finish the story and find out what the author had in mind for a conclusion. I am not sure if I am happy it is over, furious at some of the plot points or just frustrated by an unsatisfying read. This story was good enough to get me to invest the time in finishing all 3 books. This series is a solid 2.5/3.0 star read with glimpses of 4 and 5 star greatness. Those glimpses into great love, forgiveness, faith and trust are just enough to sustain your interest in an otherwise outrageous plot.… (mehr)

Whew.......this book is action packed!
First off Leese is one Bad Ass & she sing Christian Rock! She has the 2 new guys fighting for her attention and it's unclear which one is the hitman after her. Leese ends up falling for her hitman and it's only a matter of time that he recognizes his feelings for her. Things become messy but Leese has excepted her fate and is even willing to make sure her hitman doesn't get hurt in the process. I couldn't help but fall in love with the hitman myself, besides being Hotter than Sin he has so much more under his tough skin. I can't tell you much more without giving away the goods. No hot sex scenes. Ending was Fabulous but there are 2 more books so I can't even imagine what's to come next.
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I was so torn about rating this book. On one hand, I loved it so much. On the other, there were parts about it that really tested my nerves and patience and I just can't ignore that.

While I am perfectly fine with clean reads, because duh, what's not to like if a book is good, I can't say that I am perfectly fine with religion being shoved down my throat, but I thought that it wasn't really that preachy, especially in the first half of the book.

What I did think is that rather than having Leese be the moral person by nature, it felt forced and because she's so religious and that is why this resulted in a book as clean as this. And honestly, I feel like I should just leave it be at this point, because I might regret anything else I write.

So no, I wasn't bothered that much with the religious aspect of this book (until the very end, where she practically tells you that in order to redeem yourself, you have to turn to the church. Ahem.)

The main problem I had with this book was that there were no twists in this story. Everything that was supposed to be a mystery was blatantly obvious from the very beginning. Who was the hitman? OBVIOUS. I have no idea why she even brought two guys into it. Who ordered the kill? I figured it out right away. I mean, 20% into the story, I knew who did it and why and why they wanted it to look like instructed. I felt like the author was spoiling me for the book. How weird is that?

In the end I have to say I did like Leese. She was... not a mopey heroine. Rather than emotionally blackmail uh... Micah into not killing her, she just accepted what was happening and tried to do everything she could to help her family from meeting the same faith. I thought this was very admirable.

But she is very uptight and a forced prude. I can't help it, that's how I felt about her. At one point she goes into shock because Evan kissed her on the cheek - in front of her friends! I was like...WHAAAAA? Because honestly, can it ever be more chaste than that? Seriously, you will wait for the end of this book to get a proper kiss. A kiss. She is almost eighteen years old.

I loved... Micah (see how I'm not using his pretend name so as not to give it away even though the reader really does figure it out right away?) I understood his struggles and I could see that being around Leese was doing a number on him, torn between protecting her because he's falling for her, and having to kill her because if he doesn't, they both die. He can't quite believe that she should or does love him and that really broke my heart, that he believed himself to be so unworthy of loving.

But there was something about him that really bothered me. I can totally see why the author made it out like he's this efficient, coldblooded, detached killer that doesn't flinch at anything. I loved that, because how believable would it be this is what he does for living otherwise?

But at one point, he said that he would have raped her. Now, I was NOT okay with that. I kind of reasoned with myself that he was just saying that to scare her, but the doubt is still there. He might have been a killer, but he didn't have to be a monster. And that put a huge dent in my loving his character.
I didn't spoiler tag this because I feel all potential readers should be aware of it. It was told during a very romantic moment, and the heroine shrugged it off and continued with her I-Love-yous.

There is a bit of insta-love in this. But there's good chemistry between the two of them and I liked their interactions.

The writing is really good and I liked it. But like I said, there was no mystery or suspense at all. There is a bit of thrill from time to time. And I was torn about the secondary characters, too. While I loved Ryan, I didn't feel so great about Jewels. I loved David and Celeste and Gwen, but didn't like Micah's father.
Ah yes, the author would sometimes switch between present and past tense.

Basically, if you're looking for a super clean, low-key version of Anne Stuart's ICE series, you might wanna consider this book. There's a heroine that faces her eventual death, and a hero that is the main threat to her.

Overall, I liked this enough to give the second book a chance. However, if it continues in the same fashion, I predict a DNF. I do recommend it, especially to clean romance readers. It's (what my friend would call) edgy without sex.

Ah, I have to complain about the cover. It sort of fools you into thinking you'll be reading a different kind of story. It could be so much prettier than this, too.

I am proud to be a guest reviewer at ❤ Coffee, Books & Lipgloss Book Review Blog ❤!… (mehr)