Tracy’s review of Dangerous Secrets
Isabelle Ballantine has been fighting for independence since she was old enough to walk. Now that she’s finally out from under her father’s shadow, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. It’s tough living on her own, working in a bar and keeping her true identity a secret, but things start to look up when a sexy new stranger walks into her life. After working side by side for weeks, Izzy can’t figure out why he won’t make a move.
To cinch the deal of a lifetime, Adam Marcellus agrees to help Izzy’s eccentric father convince his daughter to move home. He’d assumed Izzy would be another spoiled rich princess, but he’s surprised to discover his feelings for her are stronger than anything he’s ever experienced. When a deranged stalker targets her, Adam finds himself fighting not only an unknown threat – but an unexpected attraction to the one woman he can’t have.
Izzy is working as a bartender in a small town in Florida. Her father is a multi-millionaire but when he put his nose into one too many details of her life she decided to get away from him for a while. She loves him with all her heart but she really just needed some time away to do things on her own without interference.
Adam is a man who started working at the bar a few weeks ago and Izzy’s been attracted to him since he started there. But what Izzy doesn’t know is that Adam is there for her. He and his brother own a security company and are trying to win a bid for a contract with Izzy’s father. The father pretty much bribed Adam into playing security guard for his daughter for 5 weeks and his job is to try to talk her into moving back to Savannah. Adam is pretty pissed that he’s been subjected to this but since the contract will bring much more work for him and his brother in the future he agrees. Adam assumed that Izzy was like all the other rich women he’s met so he’s pleasantly surprised when he finds that Izzy is as down to earth as they come. Though he feels he can’t get involved with her due to the complication with her father he can’t seem to stop himself from taking their attraction to the next level.
One night Adam and Izzy leave the bar together and interrupt what looks like a man trying to abduct a woman. The culprit escapes but he’s pissed that his plans were thwarted. The psycho who got away, they discover, is someone who has been kidnapping and raping women and now he’s set his sights on Izzy in retribution for her interference.
This is a great romantic suspense. Katie really has a great way of bringing both the suspense aspect and the romance issues to a head in a way where you’re curious and interested in both. Sometimes when I read RS I realize that I’m more interested in the suspense plot than the romance plot or vice versa. I think that Katie’s done a great job of weaving the two portions of the story together so that they flow nicely.
The one issue that I had was with Adam, and he really had the issue with himself as well, was the fact that he was lying to Izzy about who exactly he was and when she found out she wasn’t happy at all. But when she finally capitulated I thought it was done a bit too easily for my liking. I think I would have liked to have seen that particular scene drawn out a little longer – but that’s just me. 🙂
In the end a really good story.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here in e-format only.
Thanks for the thoughtful review, Tracy. I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂