Rowena’s review of Shoot To Thrill by Nina Bruhns.
Hero: Kyle “Kick” Jackson
Heroine: Lorraine “Rainie” Martin
Grade: 2.5 out of 5
A sexy black ops hero and a beautiful ER nurse must fight for their lives –and for a love they never thought possible…
“Do this last mission and we’ll tear up your contract.” Kick Jackson, former CIA spy, has heard that one before. However, this time saying no isn’t an option. Only he can identify a terrorist and stop a bloodbath–and Kick’s conscience won’t let him walk away. But one woman has the power to save him…
Nurse Rainie Martin wants to run like hell when Kick kidnaps her, but how can she abandon a wounded hero? Thrown into a deadly international game, Rainie soon realizes the gorgeous rogue operator has sent her orderly life spinning out of control. To survive she’ll have to face her worst fears…including a lethal attraction to her captor.
From the glitter of New York to the desolate sands of the Sahara, this unlikely couple must battle to stay alive, to find the courage to trust again –and even scarier, to open their hearts …
I didn’t think that I was going to finish this story because the way that it started was just downright unbelievable that I rolled my eyes. Literally rolled my eyes. I mean, I know that this book is a romantic suspense and we’ve all read those posts talking about you’re running for your life and you don’t know if you’re going to live to see another day and all you can think about is having sex with this super insanely attractive hero? Yeah the hell right! In this story, the heroine meets the hero in a hospital speed dating thing and within minutes of meeting him, leaves the speed dating thing to go with this guy that she’s only known for MINUTES. They start making out like crazy against the wall out on the street and then the hero hears a noise, turns like lightning, gun drawn like some crazy cowboy in a duel and then KIDNAPS the heroine and…still she’s thinking and actually has sex with him?
Huh? On what planet would that ever happen? I mean, he kidnaps her, takes her to her place and PULLS A GUN ON HER and still…she sleeps with him. Still.
Yeah right.
Then as I continue to read the book I realize that Rainie is terrified of violence. Her parents were attacked and killed by carjackers and she’s terrified of cars, flying and violence. This is the same girl who was kidnapped by a dangerous looking man (by her own words) who pulled a gun out and instead of withering in fear, she yells at him, she has sex with him and she gets good and mad at him. I was taken aback that she had sex with him after minutes of meeting him and after she found out that he was on the run and could be a bad guy.
Yeah right.
The story as a whole wasn’t a bad story but there were too many things and too many inconsistencies that took me right out of the story. Everything happened too fast to suit me and it just felt extremely unbelievable and I spent most of the book saying, “YEAH RIGHT!” then shaking my head. I cannot believe that the C.I. frickin’ A would let a civilian onto this big of a mission, going after a terrorist because she yelled at him to let her accompany Kick on the mission.
I wanted to like this story but I just couldn’t get too into the book and I kept reading and reading, hoping that it would get better and though I did like Kick, most everything had me rolling my eyes down the street and I just couldn’t get into it. I guess you can’t win them all. I don’t think I would count this author out on future books but this book just held a little too many things that I couldn’t overlook. It just wasn’t for me.
This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here.