Holly‘s review of Money, Honey
WHEN A LAWMAKER…
FBI Agent Elizabeth Brynn has dedicated her life to her job, having earned her position through hard work and a firm belief in law and order. She played strictly by the book until she recruited a notorious jewel thief as an informant-a professional criminal who used his wicked ways to tempt her into something more personal…
BETS ON A HEARTBREAKER…
Patrick O’Connor assisted the Feds for three years before going legit. Now a successful crime novelist, he wheels and deals his way around Hollywood, getting anything and everything he desires-except a certain federal agent who remained immune to his charms…
THERE’S MORE AT STAKE THAN JUST THE MONEY, HONEY.
Cop and robber are unexpectedly reunited when Patrick agrees to go undercover to help bust a counterfeiter-but his true motive is to get Liz under the covers, and she’s not sure she can keep her hands to herself this time….
This is Susan Sey’s debut novel. As a contemporary romance, this really hits the mark. The dialogue is witty, the main characters sexy and the sexual tension hot enough to steam.
Six years ago Patrick O’Connor was a jewel thief at the top of his game, but he gave himself up to save his little sister. For three years he did time, in the form of playing weasel for FBI Agent Liz Brynn. Then he left Mara, his baby sister, and Liz behind. Three years later he’s a successful author and screenwriter, and he turns back up, unexpected. Ostensibly to help his baby sister catch a counterfeiter, who’s been running money through her casino. But he has a hidden agenda, only part of which is getting Liz naked and in his bed.
Agent Liz Brynn doesn’t trust Patrick any farther than she can throw him, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting him. He’s always managed to get under her skin, and things haven’t changed in the three years since she last saw him. She’s suspicious of his motives, but she’s willing to use him if it means catching the counterfeiter. Especially if it means keeping him close so she can figure out what he’s been hiding. Of course that makes fighting her attraction even harder, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
Liz Brynn is the one woman Patrick has never had, so she’s the one he’s totally fixated on. He doesn’t try to deny it, or pretend it’s something else. He just does his best to make sure Liz doesn’t find out. He doesn’t want anyone to find out, come to that. He knows nothing good can come of loving others, or letting them love him. He’s good at keeping people, his sister and her family, Liz, etc, at arms length. It’s obvious to the reader right from the beginning that he isn’t as detached as he’d like to believe. But it takes him a little longer to figure it out. It was fun watching him get there.
Liz puts the badge first, always, in everything. But she has a hard time putting it first when it comes to Patrick. The attraction sizzling between them keeps blurring the lines for her. Patrick didn’t let her get away with pushing him away, or hiding behind her badge. It was nice to see her concede the point when Patrick called her on something. Instead of getting defensive and acting like the abused party, she acknowledged when he was right about her.
Unfortunately, as a Romantic Suspense, this really didn’t work at all. The suspense plot was weak, the villain one dimensional and the procedure aspects full of holes. I tried setting that aside, since the suspense was very light and the focus on the romance, but there was too much to overlook. I tried to take this in the vein of Tara Janzen’s Steele Street series, but it was a stretch.
I also felt like I missed a book somewhere along the way. A lot of Patrick’s past, especially with the FBI, is alluded to in a way that made me think I’d missed part of the story. Since this is a debut, I know that isn’t the case, but it’s my hope that we’ll be given better insight in later books. There also seems to be quite a bit of backstory with Patrick’s sister and her husband I hope to see explored later.
The good news is that the romance made up for what the suspense lacked. I was able to set aside disbelief, or flat out ignore things when I couldn’t, enough to enjoy certain aspects of the story.
Though the suspense didn’t work, this was still a steamy, sexy read. I look forward to seeing where Sey goes in the future.
3 out of 5
This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here
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