Gwen Hernandez

I think this is Gwen's best book yet, and I'm almost glad it took me so long to discover her books because the wait for Nat's story in Night Herons #2 might be agony if I didn't already have part of her between-book wait completed. Considering I devoured her 7-book backlist in 4 days (a technicality based on finishing a book after midnight....) when I was trying to make them last as long as I could, it'll still probably be torture. But at least 11 months of however long it'll be have already passed.

Now, the book:

• It was one of the best second-chance romances I've read. Both in the reason their first run at a relationship didn't work out, the cleanness of the break, their thoughts on the relationship afterwards, and their chemistry + realistic emotions upon reconnecting 14 years later.


• The depth and consistency of characterization and the trajectory of character growth was fantastic, e.g., Jason's reaction to finding Emma's presumed duplicity takes the same form as their college breakup, but he actually works through it on his end within a couple of hours, reevaluates and regrets what he said rather than going off and betraying her in turn.


• The plot was less predictable than many romantic suspense / protector romance novels. It's a sub-genre prone to formulaic rehashes that depend on well-fleshed out characters to make them readable, and this was definitely not that.

Based on the setup, it looks like Night Herons is going to have a bit more of an ongoing story arc between the books than Gwen's Men of Steel series did. I can't wait!

Literally, I can't. Gwen, please tell me the next book is coming out next week?… (altro)

DESCRIPTION, NOT REVIEW: He'll give his best friend's sister his protection, his body, even his heart... Anything but the dangerous truth about her brother's death.

When always-play-it-safe Jenna Ryan starts questioning how her brother died in Afghanistan, someone decides she must be stopped. Permanently. Her brother's best friend--a sexy thrill-seeker she can't stop thinking about--won't reveal what he knows about the fatal shoot-out, putting Jenna at odds with the only man she trusts to keep her alive.

Former military special operator Mick Fury would give his life to keep his best friend's irresistible sister safe. He took an oath to stay silent about their last mission, but Mick's will is tested by the white-hot attraction to Jenna he's tried to ignore for years. Now he must risk everything--even falling in love--to protect her from a secret that could destroy them both.… (altro)

How could he not admire a woman who understood camouflage?"

A Marine scout sniper working now as a security expert and a hacker who has tried to go white hat from her childhood black hat days.

I loved this heroine, she was smart, not only in her computer abilities but understanding how the hero was better equipped to handle certain situations and listened to him. However, there wasn't a lot of that happening as she was the one who dictated a lot of the efforts to help them out of their bind.

The gist of the story is that her employer has clients that hire them to find security leaks in their computer systems, except the employer is lying about the companies hiring them and takes the weaknesses the heroine gives him and uses it to steal information from the companies. The hero is hired by the employer in a set-up situation as he tells him he thinks the heroine is the one stealing from the companies but is really a big set-up to make it look like the hero is helping the heroine.

I promise you, it makes sense in the beginning and you'll think the employer is an evil genius but the reader doesn't get much insight to the villain and the suspense side gets pushed to the side too much in the middle. Basically, the suspense side started off very strong but faded away and rushed at the end.

This couple was great in that the hero and heroine meshed super well and it was understandable that such an accomplished guy like the hero would be a little rattled about how competent the heroine was and how her skills were more important in this situation, he gets rattled but he also found her hot because of this and I find him hot because of that. Along with the suspense side, I thought their romance stalled a little in the middle, even though the story slows to focus in on it more. I thought the middle meandered or slowed too much overall.

I'm definitely going to find the other two in the series and read them as this author intrigued me with her suspense writing and different characteristics to her characters.… (altro)

A tiny Caribbean island makes up this story where everything from kidnapping for ransom, selling of orphaned children and bringing back two people together who once shared a wonderful couple weeks together but one of them had to much guilt and let the other go.

Alexa Alyssandratos is in her mind serving her penance for her twin sisters death by using her family’s wealth to help those less fortunate that her. She has been working as a nurse in a small clinic on St. Isidore Island when the local rebel lord figures out who she is he kidnaps her for ransom. Even while locked up in a tiny shake she is more worried about the little island girl she is trying adopt and who she helped escape before she was taken.

Dan Molina used to be a Air Force Parajumper. It was as he was serving in the Air Force that he met Alexa on the island and he fell in love with her but she broke his heart when she refused wants of a future together. Now he is working for Steele Security and he’s been requested to rescue Alexa by her father.

Thinks do not go well during the rescue and not only are these two trying to stay a step ahead of the rebels and try and save the orpaned children but they also are fighting there still strong attraction to each other while working through their past demons.

This is the second book in the series that introduced us to the group of former Air Force PJ’s. I thought the story flowed better throughout this one and it certainly kept you on your toes wondering how these two were going to make it out of the situation they kept finding themselves in. I am certainly intrigued now to find out more about Kurt Steele (the boss at Steele Security) and Caitlyn Brevard who run’s chartered plane’s out of Barbados.
… (altro)