Casee‘s review of Defender by Catherine Mann

When a USO boat goes down in flames, test pilot Jimmy Gage pulls a scantily clad Chloe Nelson out of the shark-filled Mediterranean . Although she is grateful, and he’s as hot as the fire that took the boat down, the last thing Chloe needs is a jet-jock to be her bodyguard—until she inadvertently finds herself closer to Gage than she ever expected, and side by side in a dangerous mission…

Gage is desperate to find a fellow airman, missing and reportedly held captive. A pub in Istanbul , controlled by a notorious and sadistic female adversary, may hold the key. Now, moving in toward untold dangers, Gage can’t afford to let his growing attraction to Chloe distract him for a second—or it may cost the lives of his crew, the prisoner they must rescue, and the woman he’s unable to resist.

This book starts out really good, but it kind of goes flat as the story progresses. This review is one of those reviews that’s hard to write b/c I just feel “meh” about the whole thing. It’s not that it wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t good enough to make an impression.

Test pilot Jimmy Gage is desperate to find the missing airman from his team. After being held captive for four months himself, Jimmy is determined that nothing will stop him from finding Chuck.

Chloe Nelson has a good reason for traveling with a famous singer, going from base to base to perform. She got a kidney transplant from a solider and feels like she needs to give something back. After the boat she is on explodes and she finds herself flailing in the middle of the ocean, Chloe re-evalutes. Then she’s rescued by Jimmy Gage.

The romance between Chloe and Jimmy is lukewarm at best. I just wasn’t feeling it. Chloe is determined not to be treated like a fragile flower and Jimmy wants nothing more than to put her on a plane headed back to the States. After having a sister die of leukemia, Jimmy has a very hard time pulling his protective instincts back.

The villain made the book better and not only b/c she was a woman. She was a woman who had no conscience; a true sociopath. Her utter lack of humanity made her truly evil and made the book better.

The secondary characters made the book more interesting and I plan on continuing the series. The final conflict in the book was a bit predictable, but it somehow worked.

3 out of 5.

This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here or here in e-format.