The tougher they are, the harder they fall…
Professional mercenary Dare Macintosh lives by one hard and fast rule: business should never be personal. If a cause appeals to him and the price is right, he’ll take the mission he’s offered. But then the lovely Molly Alexander asks him to help her track down the men who’d had her kidnapped—and for the first time, Dare’s tempted to combine work with pleasure.
Fiercely independent, Molly vows to trust no one until she’s uncovered the truth. Could the enemy be her powerful, estranged father? The ex-fiancé who still holds a grudge? Or the not-so-shy fan of her bestselling novels? As the danger heats up around them, the only anchor Molly has is Dare himself. But what she feels for him just might be the most frightening thing of all…
I have two reviews for this book. One is a semi-professional review on what I think about the book and why you should and/or should not read it. The second review is a totally unprofessional and what I would like to be my only review. I think I might get in trouble from the review police if I only went with that one.
I like Lori Foster. Back in the day (circa 2002) it was really hard to find Lori’s old Harlequin Temptations. In fact, I would go onto eBay and pay horrendous prices just because I had to read Gabe
When the whole controversy about My Man, Michael came out, I was bummed. I had moved on from Lori Foster long ago. I still enjoyed her books from time to time but I didn’t rush out and buy her. As my reading tastes grew, I noticed that her characters were always similar. The storyline seemed to stay in the same box. Which I knew was making some reader out there happy, but it just wasn’t for me. But I was reading Say No to Joe?
Dare Macintosh travels into Mexico to rescue his best friend’s sister from human traffickers. Imagine his surprise when he finds Molly, an American that has also been kidnapped but not for the same reasons as Alaina. Everything about Molly and her situation set off Dare’s radar and he decided, albeit reluctantly, that he wouldn’t leave Molly to defend for herself. Such a Foster hero, isn’t he?
Molly has no idea why she’s been taken, nor does she care at this point. All she cares about is that she’s been rescued. Dare Macintosh seems to be the perfect man to protect her while figuring out who would want to kidnap and hurt her. After she talks him into accepting the job, she starts to tell him how they’ll proceed when he stops her cold. It’ll be his way or no way.
Dare takes Molly back to his compound in Kentucky where he can keep her safe while he starts digging. He’s fairly certain who is behind the attack (he was wrong just like I was). Molly was wrong too. See, she was convinced it was one of her readers who was unhappy with her last book. She had received quite a bit of fan mail about their unhappiness, but they just didn’t understand that she had to go where the muse took her. Add in a gay assistant and you have the makings of some slap-stick humor.
Really, if I didn’t know of the My Man, Michael controversy, I probably wouldn’t have been bothered by the blatant “I’m the author, I do what I want” dialogue. Whether or not Lori Foster meant it as such is another story. There were things I liked such as Dare’s dogs and his interaction with them. Chris, the gatekeeper (literally) and even Molly. There was just more I didn’t like. And I didn’t like it after I read the book. While I was reading it, it seemed great.
3 out of 5.
My second review will have to come later. This turned out waaaaay longer than I expected.
This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here
The series:
I won this book a few weeks ago…never read any of her stuff before. I guess we’ll see how i feel once i get into it! Lol!
I loved this one & just finished Trace’s book which I enjoyed as well. I have to be honest, when I read this I never once thought of the My Man Michael issue. I was immersed in the story.
You know, I really liked this book. I guess I felt that Dare moved beyond himself in rescuing not just one but two women, and took on their troubles when he didn’t have to. As in all fiction I, too, saw some action and some character lapses, but all in all, I thought the story was so interesting and I was so curious at how it was all going to play out that I guess I forgave some of the other stuff.