BUGGY

Opening Line: “It was a quarter past midnight before Carrie Brooks turned off the computer in the Sea Circus office, twenty past before she turned off the lights.”

I liked this one very much and at the end decided to rate it 5 stars, however now, a few days later as I sit down to write my review I find that I can’t remember a thing about it. So I guess you could say this is a good, quick romantic suspense but also completely forgettable.

It is Brockmann though so the writing is fantastic- she always adds these little details to her characters that make them more relatable and I ended up falling pretty hard for Felipe. He’s a great hero all sexy mysterious, bad boy on one side and sweet, noble protector on the other. The accent didn’t hurt either.

As others have mentioned the heroine is kind of annoying, that girl needed to make up her mind about trusting her man because gah, the back and forth. I did find her job at SeaWorld fun and different though especially since she’s from Montana. There are some good secondary characters here too, Felipe’s recovering addict brother and their evolving relationship and history is well done and the bad guys or who is the bad guy kept me guessing.

One of my favorite themes within this story is “Te Amo” Felipe says it to Carrie in the throes of early passion and then spends the rest of the book afraid that she’ll find out what it means.

“She pushed his hair back from his face in a gentle, loving caress. It warmed him, and he smiled back at her, whispering words of endearment in Spanish—words he wouldn’t have dared say to her in a language she could understand.” “Te amo. Te adoro.”

Carrie Brook is heading home after a long day with the whales at Sea Circus when she stumbles upon a gang of “bad guys” Events quickly escalate until Carlos; the leader locks Carrie in the trunk of her car rather than letting the gang do “unsavoury” things to her. For some reason Carrie can’t stop thinking about him, her criminal saviour with the kind eyes and aura of danger, a man of contradictions. Months later Carrie spots Carlos (now Raoul) at an upscale Miami restaurant and confronts him, bad idea Carrie.

Felipe Salazar is deep undercover in an organized crime syndicate, one slip and Laurence Richter takes him out, and that’s just what Carrie’s little show ensures. Grabbing the girl they make a run for it, but not before Felipe takes a bullet to the leg. When the news breaks a story about an undercover cop going bad –framing him for murder, Fil knows that he’s as good as dead. He can’t let Carrie go now either because they’ll kill her too, the only way he can guarantee her safety is to essentially kidnap her and try to explain along the way. The problem is he’s been in disguise, living someone else’s life for so long now he’s not really sure who he is anymore.

Yup with well-rounded characters and a credible plot, as with all Brockmann’s stories (even these older Harlequins) you can’t go wrong. Cheers