Friday, October 15, 2010

Review: Into the Crossfire by Lisa Marie Rice

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Title: Into the Crossfire
Series: Protectors
Author: Lisa Marie Rice
Read copy: eBook
Published: July 27, 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062005359
ISBN-13: 9780062005359

Former Navy SEAL Sam Reston keeps to himself. His world is dangerous, uncertain, violent...and there is no room in it for the helpless and weak. Then the most beautiful woman in the world moves in next door to him . . . .

Nicole Pearce's life is complicated enough—with an ailing father and a new business to worry about—and the last thing she needs is to get involved with a secretive, hard-bodied, hardheaded neighbor. Yet Sam leaves her breathless—her body tingling with erotic desire—and it takes every ounce of her fabled control to resist offering herself to him, no strings attached. What she doesn't know is that Sam Reston is on an undercover assignment . . . and she's about to step into the crossfire.

Never has Sam ached for a woman so badly, and he's never fallen in love before. Now that Nicole is in grave danger, he will become her shield, and guard the tempting body he longs to touch and taste. Because a terrorist plot hatched half a world away is heading to their doorstep—and it can only be derailed by one man and one woman.

My rating:

Okay, here goes nothing. This one was a tad too similar to Elizabeth Jennings's writing style for comfort. Though they're both the same author, I like LMR stories better. This one was a bit too EJ for me.

It was rather slow moving, compared to the Dangerous series, it was too similar to EJ's Shadows at Midnight, and I didn't like the couple Sam and Nicole were. Sure they made fire together, but I didn't "feel" the connection between them. I loved Sam, despite his two almost TSTL moments when Nicole was in danger - that was a bit unbelievable for an ex-SEAL - but his protective nature, his single-minded attention (and devotion) to Nicole is something every woman secretly desires.

Now, Nicole was a completely different "animal". I absolutely hated her. Her prejudice toward Sam in the beginning (just because he looks like a thug doesn't mean he is one), her superiority-complex toward Sam at the beginning, her indecisiveness when they were finally together (I simply didn't get it), her hiding behind her father's illness, using it as a shield against everything and everyone...I found her hypocritical and vain. And her "worldliness" was belied by all the stupid mistakes she did throughout the novel.
I actually felt sorry for Sam for ending up with a chick like this.

I find that in RS stories I usually have a strong reaction to the villain - sometimes I even like him - and that depends entirely on the author's depiction of him. In this case, he was just bland. There was no depth, just a plain, blank, blind following of orders that was idiotic, had no content, and was utterly disappointing.

Even the main plot, which I assume will be the series' arc, about middle-Eastern terrorists, which could've been a great premise and move the entire plot, fell short, slowing the already slow story even further.

So, beside Sam (in his good moments), this story has nothing good working for it, I'm afraid.

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