Monday, October 11, 2021

Review: Lock 'N' Load by Tee O'Fallon

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Title: Lock 'N' Load
Series: Federal K-9
Author: Tee O'Fallon
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: May 28, 2018
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
ASIN: B07CWRYKPV

Crack CIA analyst Trista Gold is a whiz with the computer, but not so much with people. She hides behind her job, analyzing Top Secret code and making recommendations on national security. She doesn’t need a man in her life. But she will, very soon...

CIA K-9 officer Sgt. Matt Connors suspects that beneath Trista’s uptight appearance, there’s a sexy woman itching to cut loose. But he doesn’t dare act on his attraction. He’s a loner and always will be. Keeping away from Trista is a must-do directive. Until he doesn’t have a choice...

During a routine assignment, Trista stumbles across a cryptic exchange. She doesn’t think much of it...until someone tries to murder her—twice. Both times, Matt had been there to save her. But now she has to hide. And her new bodyguard, Matt, and his K-9 are the only hope she has against the powerful forces that want her dead.

My rating:

***eBook available for free on Amazon***

Trista Gold doesn't need a man in her life (not that anyone's come knocking), she needs her job. So when this CIA analyst loses her security clearance because of not only one, but two men—the one that tried to kill her and the one who saved her then filed an official report—she thinks her life's over. She has no idea...


On a worse day, this would've gotten only 2 stars, but I figured things I liked trumped things that bothered me.

I liked Trista and Matt individually, not so much as a couple. I hated the author used the trope of a mousy woman hiding her appearance behind gray clothing and classes blossoming because of a guy. Couldn't she had blossom because of herself? I also didn't particularly like how Matt's mental issues were relegated to a plot point. He had real, quite relatable issues of survival's guilt, feeling like he didn't deserve to be happy, to love and be loved, because of what happened twenty years ago, but all of that got somewhat lost in the story, and I really felt like his issues were even written in the first place for the sole point of creating conflict in the romance between him and Trista and he decided to address and try to solve them only so he could be with her. Again, couldn't he have solved them for himself?

I loved Matt's K-9, Sheba, and Trista's cat, Poofy—the animals literally saved the day. And I can't wait to spend more time with Matt's colleagues and friends. Is it in the job description that all K-9 officers have to be over six feet hunks?

The suspense was also hit-and-miss (but still more hit than miss). I liked the blackmail-murder main plot and all the red-herrings thrown into the path (beginning with Trista's bosses), but toward the end, the plot lost a lot of momentum, almost turning into a parody.

The pacing was the biggest issue for me. It was stop-and-start from the beginning to end. The moment the story picked up its pace, the next scene brought it to a screeching halt. Maybe it was the editing, some of it seemed a little choppy, like some scenes were slightly out of order, maybe it was the voice or maybe it was the length (it did drag on a little too long).

Still, not bad and I will definitely read the next installment.

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