Judith’s review of Safe in His Arms by Renee Rose

For as long as she could remember, Becca dreamed of a dominant man to take her in hand, and Zac, the handsome Marine she met at her sister’s wedding, filled the role with aplomb… for a weekend. Then the fling came to an end, Zac went off to war and died for his country, and Becca learned she carried a child who would be born without a father.

Seven years later, Becca has done her best to move on and forget about Zac… until the day she walks into her kitchen to find the man she believed she would never see again locked in mortal combat with her son’s nanny, and realizes everything she thought she knew about Zac was a lie.

Like all Black Ops agents, Zac doesn’t exist in any government record. His life is a series of deadly missions, and relationships of any kind are unsanctioned. But he keeps one secret. He watches over Becca, the beautiful daughter of a rogue agent, and Parker, the six-year-old boy he fathered that fateful weekend. When he spots a known assassin in their apartment posing as a nanny, he’s forced to reveal himself and take them to safety… whether Becca likes it or not.

While Becca may have enjoyed his dominance once, bending her to his will again may not be quite so easy. He is determined to keep her safe, however, and if a long, hard spanking is required, he is more than willing to oblige. Having Becca over his knee rekindles more than his passion, though; even when the immediate danger has passed, he finds it much more difficult to “ghost out” on his family again. Must he resign himself to protecting those he loves from afar, or can he find a way to be the man Becca needs and longs for, the man who is worthy of her submission and love?

This is a very different kind of Black Ops/CIA/suspense novel with lots of eroticism mixed in with some mild BDSM thrown in to spice things up even further.  The story revolves around the experience of a young woman who met the quintessential hunk Marine at her sister’s wedding and their acquaintance resulted in the weekend-long “stand.”  Now, years later, Rebecca has a son, born of that unlikely liason, with a man who she now believes to be dead.  In reality, Zac has been watching over Becca and Parker all this time even as he carries out his government missions.  He is known as “the ghost” among his colleagues and his stealth is truly that of one who is almost “not there.”  Yet he “drops in” initially to save Becca and Parker’s life from the assassin posing as a nanny, and things get very complicated from that point on.

I’m a great fan of that mixture of suspense and romance, but I especially love those stories that have the undercover element mixed in.  Zac is a very dominant person and as he has watched over his son and lover, he has learned that Becca is a woman who he believes needs the security of a dominant person in her life.  She is a successful teach and feels that her life purpose is helping students see beyond the present-day obsession with technology through exposing them to great literature and the myriad ideas that have nurtured creativity for centuries.  Zac is a man whose life is empty of important people other than Becca and Parker, who wonders if he has ever had a life purpose, but is drawn to Becca’s gentle spirit that is bolstered by a staunch determination to care for her son while being true to her destiny.  Once Becca comes to realize that Zac really isn’t dead as she has believed for seven years, she becomes embroiled in the web of the dark world that is Zac’s life reality.  There are some additional surprises for Becca and her son, but the growing attachment between Zac and Becca is both a joy and a problem for Zac and his superiors.  All in all, it is a fascinating novel and was really quite compelling.

This is a new author for me and I was impressed that this complicated story was so well put together.  Writing any romance novel is a challenge but add in the complicated plot that Black Ops ingredient demands, and that kind of story and its author has my deep respect.  This is a book that demonstrates that the author has thought the story line through carefully, has crafted the plot and characters well, and has moved the action consistently throughout the novel.  The spanking ingredient was not really a problem for me as I saw it as something that Zac and Becca came to realize was necessary for their particular relationship.  Obviously that dynamic isn’t necessary or desirable for everyone.  There were times that I felt it went on a bit long–but then again, Zac had a point to make each and every time and Becca was a very stubborn woman–holding on to her insecurities and allowing them to shape her view of reality.  She allowed those insecurities to move her in directions that were not positive for her or her son.  For her the spankings were a way of renewing her sense of direction and helping her to trust someone who really cared about her.  It had not always been so.

This is a book that will be difficult for some but good reading for others.  I personally enjoyed it and am delighted to discover another new author whose future work I will be be looking forward to reading.

I give this novel a rating of 3.75.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This title is available from Stormy Night Publications.  You can buy it here or here in e-format.