I enjoy Jill Shalvis’ books, and I was pleased to discover that a few of her older titles have been re-released as part of Harlequin’s Digital Backlist programme. Aftershock was originally published as a Harlequin Temptation in 2001.
Blurb: If it hadn’t been for the earthquake, Amber Riggs would never have made love to a perfect stranger. And no doubt about it, fire inspector Dax McCall was perfect! Who else could have taught her the meaning of passion at a time like that?
Still, when Amber ran into him a year later she wasn’t sure how he’d react. She hadn’t meant to keep the news from Dax…. But he’d been out of town, and she’d been sort of relieved. After all, how do you tell the perfect man he has a perfect baby girl with a woman he doesn’t know from Eve?
My Thoughts: This book started out very well but the second half wasn’t as interesting as the first. Nevertheless, it was a cute read. Amber and Dax are very different, and they probably wouldn’t have gotten together had it not been for the unusual circumstances in which they met. This is a definite opposites attract story. It also makes me grateful that I don’t live in an earthquake zone! My Grade: B-
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I purchased Karen Foley’s Hot-Blooded purely on the basis of the blurb. It’s a September Blaze release, but it’s already available for purchase at the eHarlequin site.
Blurb: First Sergeant Chase McCormick isn’t a chauvinist. But he does believe that women have no place in combat zones. Why? Because his men forget their training! They fall all over themselves trying to protect the women around them. As far as Chase is concerned, females belong in the bedroom, the home, the office. But not anywhere near Chase McCormick when he’s on duty.
Too bad nobody mentioned that to gorgeous Elena de la Vega. She’s been sent to Chase’s remote outpost in northern Afghanistan.
After they’d shared a sizzling one-night stand!
Elena can handle herself. It’s Chase who needs a directive on how to deal with his own wildly undisciplined sexual attraction to the woman! Because her presence is making short work of his hardened soldier training…and putting more than their hearts at risk.
My Thoughts: I started this book despising Elena. She signs up for a stint in Iraq to prove to her cheating ex-boyfriend that she can be adventurous and take risks. She envisions a position at a nice base with a swimming pool and luxury facilities. However, her assignment is changed at the last minute, and she ends up in a rudimentary military camp in Afghanistan. Elena is horrified, especially when she discovers that Chase is also assigned to the same camp.
Despite Elena’s TSTL moments, there’s a lot to like in this book. I found the setting in a military camp interesting, and I liked Chase. He’s torn between his sense of duty and his attraction to Elena. As indicated above, Elena has a few dumb moments in which she almost gets people killed, but she manages to redeem herself by the end of the story. My Grade: B-
{ 2 comments }
“She signs up for a stint in Iraq to prove to her cheating ex-boyfriend that she can be adventurous and take risks.”
Seriously?! Oh, my. I live in an area where lots of military as well as civilian contractors are going off to or coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, so I hear about it. Part of me can’t believe this heroine – and then part of me remembers having met several someones kinda like that.
@Lynn Spencer: Yes, the heroine has a few TSTL moments, but she manages to redeem herself (more or less) by the end of the book. The hero and the setting kept me turning the pages.