BUGGY

Opening Line: "Joe Green was as good as dead."

How freakin good was this? It was like I’d been on a diet and then with great anticipation sat down and ate the most satisfying, delicious, fulfilling meal I’d had in ages. Of course this meal also came with remorse because now it’s over and back to my diet of mediocre romantic suspense again. Not much in this genre comes close Cindy Gerard’s BOI’s for me, I have loved each and every book in the series and to then finish with Joe’s story… well he definitely is desert.

And anyone with a soft spot for the tortured hero had better sit down because Special Operative Joe Green will grab your heart and squeeze until the very last pages. Ah yes the vigilante hero, is there anything more heartbreaking then a man willing to risk everything?

Sadly this is the 7th and last book from Gerard’s fantastic Black Op’s Inc series. I’d have a tough time picking a favourite among them; Fast paced, super sexy and filled with action, adventure, exotic locations and top notch writing, you really can’t go wrong, I would recommend however you start at the beginning. (Show No Mercy) Speaking of which, I loved the fact that this book took us back to events started there, in affect creating a story arc and tying up all the loose ends.

I guess my only real disappointment would have to be that we didn’t get to see more (any/some) of our BOI’S within this story. LAST MAN STANDING is all about Joe and Stephanie, not that the plot suffers for it or anything but I missed the banter. With the introduction of Navy pilot Mike ”Primetime” Brown I did get some of what I was missing though and I’m sure looking forward to his book from Gerard’s as yet unnamed new series.

“Mean” Joe Green has gone vigilante, completely off the grid he’s cut himself off from everyone including long time love Stephanie Tompkins, breaking both of their heats (and mine) in the process. Joe is on a mission of vengeance, back in Sierra Leone he’s seeking out information on the man responsible for his team mates death in a supposed ambush years ago. He’d meant to protect Stephanie from this hell but when he’s falsely imprisoned for the death of a priest, and with his team on blackout status, she’s the only one left who has his back.

For a month Joe is beaten starved and tortured, he’s half way to dead by the time the last person on earth he wants to see shows up in in Freetown to rescue him. But with no military training how is sweet and gentle Stephanie ever going to break him out of of this hellhole?

I want to read this all over again just writing the summery. The opening chapters are so good. Stephanie turned out to be a real surprise, I mean she doesn’t suddenly turn into Rambo or anything but she did have me believing she was capable of just about anything and for quite a while wore the pants in this relationship. Men can be so dumb. The romance, sigh. I loved this couple. I loved that Joe and Stephanie were already together so this was a different sort of romance, not all butterflies and new love but a couple working through things and really seeing who the other is.

“She looked not like a woman who needed a man like Joe Green to complete her life, but like a woman who could damn well complete his.”

I can’t say enough good things about this series, it captured me from book 1 and has never let go. Each instalment is excellent; with hot alpha men falling hard for their lady loves. These BOI’s are funny, endearing, good in bed and manage to give us quite a few sigh worthy moments while still packing a big gun and kicking major ass. The storylines are always exciting, expertly written and with a nice balance between the action and romance. I never find myself going “yeah right” with this series it’s just always amazing. Cheers