Dirty Little Secrets - Mallory Kane (HI #1464 - Dec 2013)

Series: Delancey Dynasty (Book 8)

New Orleans detective Ethan Delancey has a mission to solve a senator's murder. Putting Laney Montgomery -- the sole witness, who now has a cold-blooded killer on her heels -- under his protection? Pure instinct. Every hour pushes her deeper into danger. The only way to ensure her safety -- and capture a criminal -- is to keep her close.

Neither expects the flare of desire that pushes them over the line between professional and personal. Even as Laney's secrets start to unravel, Ethan is driven to watch over her despite the rules of his job and the threat against them. Together, they're on the verge of discovering every dirty detail of the truth…unless an unknown murderer finds them first.

Very good book. When Laney witnesses her boss's murder, it puts her in extreme danger. Ethan is one of the detectives on the case and he is determined to keep her safe, whether she likes it or not. Laney doesn't want to believe that she's in danger, since she didn't see anything that would identify the killer, but when she's run off the road she has to accept the truth.

I loved the chemistry between Ethan and Laney. They are so much alike that their conversations are a joy to read. Ethan first notices her controlled and careful answers when he questions her the night of the murder, then again the next day. He's sure that she's hiding something, and won't be content until he figures out what it is. At the same time, she fascinates him and attracts him, even though he knows getting involved with her would be a very bad idea. I loved seeing his protectiveness, even when she was unwilling to accept it. Laney is just as attracted to Ethan, but is stubborn about maintaining her independence. She is intelligent and persistent and has no qualms about doing what she thinks needs to be done, even when it puts her in danger. The growing feelings between the two of them worry them both because they're not too sure anything can come of them.

The mystery itself is a continuation of events from previous books. The senator has been a person of interest in a kidnapping, and now in blackmail. If they can figure out who he was blackmailing they might have a chance to find out who killed him. The deeper they dig into his life, the more people they find who might have the motivation to do so. Laney finds out some information that tarnishes her memories of her father, and Ethan discovers yet another disturbing thing about his grandfather. I expect his information is going to make an appearance in a later book. I enjoyed seeing them start to assemble a picture of what had happened. By the time the book was three quarters finished I had a pretty good idea of who the killer was, but there were still a couple interesting twists. Laney was a bit of an idiot to do what she did at the end, but I completely understood why she did it.

Special Forces Father - Mallory Kane (HI #1420 - May 2013)

Series: Delancey Dynasty (Book 7)

MISSION: FATHERHOOD

Special Forces operative Travis Delancey is glad to be back from a difficult mission. But his long-awaited homecoming turns into a nightmare when he hears that his college sweetheart Kate Chalmet gave birth to his son while he was away...and the child has been kidnapped. His skills are instrumental in rescuing the boy, but his reunion with Kate is a distraction.

Kate had her reasons for not telling Travis about his son, but now she must put her doubts aside. His strength and determination to save their child makes her realize he's different from the man he was before entering the military. Perhaps Travis is ready for a family...if he can forgive her. But she cannot get ahead of herself-first they have to save their son.

Good book. Travis is back home after his latest mission and five months in captivity. He's still weak from his treatment at the hands of his captors, but he has a driving need to see Kate. Thoughts of her had kept him sane while he was a prisoner. He wants to see if there's any chance of them getting back together.

Kate is a psychiatrist and has been tasked with determining if a criminal is mentally competent to stand trial. There are those that want her to make a decision that is most beneficial to them, and to ensure she does so they have kidnapped her four year old son. Travis shows up at her door right after this has happened and it seems that fate has sent her just what she needs. But she had never told Travis about his son and now has to face that hurdle as they race to save the boy.

Kate and Travis had been college sweethearts. They were in love, but Travis had sworn never to marry. When things went bad between them, Travis joined the military. He tried getting back together with her a couple times, but Kate finally told him that she deserved more than what he was offering.  She's not ready to think about getting back together with him until the crisis is over, but she can't deny that the chemistry is still there between them. 

Kate can see that Travis is no longer the angry young man who had a tendency to walk away when emotions got to be too much for him. He is focused and determined and swears that nothing will stop him. Travis's training has given him the skills he needs, but he has to separate the mission from his emotions and that turns out to be very difficult. 

I really liked the suspense of the story. Kate's fears for her son's safety are at the heart of her actions throughout the book. Travis's appearance and determination to help both relieve her and make her more afraid. She was told to tell no one about what happened and Travis insists on being involved. They have very different ideas on what should be done, with Kate determined to follow the kidnapper's instructions and Travis wanting to get the help that they need from the authorities. Kate is furious when he goes behind her back to involve various family members, and does something really dumb that also puts her in danger. Travis's actions both help and worsen the situation. I loved seeing the way that the family supports each other and is there to help, no matter what.  The ending was intense as the rescue operation unfolded. The epilogue was fantastic and I loved seeing how Kate and Travis finally came together.

Cover Me - Joanna Wayne, Rita Herron, Mallory Kane (HI #1407 - Mar 2013)

Eight years ago, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, three men lost everything. Now it's time to reclaim what is theirs...

Bayou Payback by Joanna Wayne
Detective Remy Comeaux never got over the loss of his beloved fiancée. But when he returns to New Orleans to expose ongoing corruption and meets Nicole Worthington, something about this beauty seems all too familiar.

Good opening story. Remy is a former police officer and currently a PI. He has come back to New Orleans for the justice he still craves. He had been helping the FBI investigate corruption at the highest levels of the police force when he was arrested on bogus charges. He was in jail when the hurricane hit, and feels guilty he wasn't able to save his fiancée. Now he just needs a little more evidence to be able to take down the chief. The first night he's back he meets the chief's girlfriend, Nicole, and is immediately drawn to her. He can't stand the idea of her being caught up in what Lee is doing, so he warns her. The next day she offers to help him. He wants her to be safe, but he also wants to stay close to her.

Nicole has been dating Lee for awhile but despite his wishes she isn't ready to take the next step. When she meets Remy at a party in Lee's honor there's something about him that she can't resist. When Remy tells her of his suspicions about Lee, she feels she has to help discover the truth. She seems to have an instinctive trust of him. I loved her insistence on helping Remy. She has quite a level head and is definitely an asset to his investigation.

Though the story was very short, it was still quite intense. The tension of Remy's first confrontation with Lee just escalated as he got more evidence. The fear of their discovery kept me on the edge of my seat as they searched Lee's house. The final confrontation had quite an interesting twist to it as Remy arrives just in time to save Nicole.

Bayou Jeopardy by Rita Herron
He lost his job and the love of his life when the storm hit, but Mack Rivet never gave up searching for answers. His passionate reunion with Lily Landry forces him to confront what really happened that fateful night. And then he learns about the son he never knew existed...

When Mack hears that the police chief who set him has been arrested he heads back to New Orleans to try to clear his name. As he begins his investigation he is stunned to discover that his wife and son did not die during the hurricane as her father told him. He is more determined than ever to get the answers so that they can have a life together.

Lily was told that Mack had died when the jail flooded. She didn't want to believe the charges against him but the evidence was overwhelming. She has never stopped loving him and is reminded of him every day when she looks at their son. When Mack shows up at her house and tells her that her father lied to both of them she doesn't know what to think.

Mack is determined to find out the truth, but it's looking more and more like Lily's dad is involved in more than just lying to them. And when he starts getting too close to the truth, Lily and his son are kidnapped to use as leverage against him. There are a couple of very interesting twists in the resolution of this one and the journey to a happy ending for Mack, Lily and Winston.

Bayou Justice by Mallory Kane
In order to bring justice back to New Orleans, FBI agent Ray Storm must once again turn to Molly Hennessey for help. This time, though, convincing the gorgeous attorney to believe in him is going to take more than just one night of seduction.

Having finished a four year undercover operation, Ray has taken some time off to come back to New Orleans and finish what he'd started eight years ago. Thanks to the two police officers he'd worked with then, some of the high level corruption has been stopped. But there's one more player and Ray is determined to take him down. In order to do so, he's going to have to ask Molly for her help again and he figures that's going to be a hard sell. Eight years ago he had gotten closer to her than he should have and then disappeared when he was pulled out right before Katrina.

Just as he's about to make contact with her, Ray notices she's being followed, but the man takes off before Ray can stop him. Molly wants nothing to do with him, still feeling betrayed by what had happened before. She also feels guilty for helping Ray get evidence against her brother. Now that he's running for governor she hopes he's stopped his illegal activities, but she still has copies of the evidence from years before.

When she is attacked and the papers stolen, she and Ray realize that the danger isn't over and someone wants to make sure that the evidence disappears. Ray's protective instincts kick in and stays with Molly to keep her safe. It puts a strain on his good intentions to be that close to her, and those intentions fall by the wayside as their attraction kicks back up. A heart attack and an overzealous campaign manager create a couple interesting twists to the conclusion of the mystery. Then Ray and Molly have to decide just what kind of a future they can have and if they can have it together.

Undercover Captor - Cynthia Eden (HI #1474 - Feb 2014)

Series: Shadow Agents: Guts and Glory (Book 1)

Get rescued by a hero in disguise

The man standing watch over Dr. Tina Jamison was an imposing, scarred figure. Even more frightening was what would happen when her kidnappers discovered they'd taken the wrong woman. Only she didn't realize this same guard was an undercover agent, or that Drew Lancaster left no fellow Elite Operations agent behind.

Running handcuffed together through Texas, Drew vowed to protect Tina against all dangers. For a man who'd fought so may battles, he couldn't afford to lose this one. She'd need to follow his orders to stay alive. But it didn't take a doctor to see that this wounded warrior she'd once feared needed some saving himself....

Fantastic book, a real page turner from the start.  Tina is a doctor who works for the Elite Operations Division.  She is used to patching up agents when they are done with a mission.  She doesn't expect to end up in the middle of a mission herself, but that's what happens when she is kidnapped.  Only, it's a case of mistaken identity, and if they discover the truth she'll be dead.  Drew has been undercover with this group for several months and is shocked to see Tina.  He knows he has to get her away, even if it means blowing his cover.  

Tina is a doctor.  She became a doctor after seeing her parents killed during a bank robbery and not being able to save them.  When she's kidnapped by men who think she's her boss's daughter she is terrified.  That terror is slightly relieved when she immediately recognizes Drew as one of her captors, as she knows that he will save her.  Drew is the one man that has fascinated her since she met him.  She is fully aware of what he is capable of doing and of his reputation for having ice in his veins, but that doesn't stop her heart from jumping whenever she sees him.  She has complete trust in him and that he will get them out of trouble.  That trust grows quickly into love as she gets to know more about him.  I loved seeing the way that what he has done in the past doesn't affect the way she feels about him.  Being on the run with him also changes the way she feels about herself.  She has always considered herself weak, because she can have asthma attacks when under stress.  She considers it a huge drawback to her desire to get closer to Drew, because a man like him doesn't need a woman like her.  I loved seeing her strength of will develop over the course of the book.  I especially enjoyed seeing her stand up to them all and insist on being the bait for a trap to catch the bad guy.  And I loved seeing her get to Drew at the end.

Drew had had a rough childhood, doing things he wasn't particularly proud of just to help support his mother and sisters.  After joining the army, then the EOD, there were many who thought of him as a killing machine.  He is always very coolheaded as he goes about his missions.  He had worked hard at his undercover mission to get to the leader of a terrorist group.  Finding Tina as the kidnapping victim is going to blow that cover all to pieces, because he can't leave her in danger.  He also discovers that his control also disappears around her.  His immediate jumping in to protect her from what the terrorists had planned to do to her got them handcuffed together waiting for unpleasant attention.  Drew wasn't sure he was going to be able to get them out of it, but he was going to try.  He had trouble believing that Tina had so much trust in him.  He believed that he wasn't deserving of all that trust, or anything else that she might be feeling for him.  That trust in him started working its way past his walls until he was feeling things for her that he'd never felt for another woman, and it really scared him.  He had kept his distance from his own family for fear of what he does coming back to hurt them, he could only imagine how much worse it would be if he allowed himself to love Tina.  I loved his conversation with Gunner (Sharpshooter) where he asked "Weren't you afraid? That what we do ... Weren't you afraid it would spill over on them?" "I was more afraid," Gunner admitted, "of trying to live my life without her." That went a long way toward making him realize he didn't want to live without her.  I loved their ending scene.

The suspense part of the book was outstanding.  The EOD people knew who it was that had taken Tina.  They had set up a sting to catch the guy, but he took the wrong woman.  The action was constant as Drew and his coworkers try to get away, with the bad guys right on their heels.  It becomes obvious that there is a traitor somewhere in the EOD, so they also have to make their plans and try to protect them at the same time.  I loved Drew's focus as he tries to protect Tina while fighting his growing feelings.  The final showdown was really intense with all the things that were going on.  I loved the part that Cooper played, as the author sets things up for the next book.

Star Witness - Mallory Kane (HI #1416 - Apr 2013)

Series: Delancey Dynasty (Book 6)

STORM ON THE HORIZON

Dani Canto has precious few people she can trust. As prosecutor Harte Delancey's star witness against her grandfather's murderer, she's become a prime target-"and" a courtroom pawn. Protective custody seems to be the only solution, but she's not expecting Harte Delancey to be her personal bodyguard.

PASSION ON THE RISE

Harte vows to protect Dani himself to ensure her safety and testimony. After all, winning the case will also settle an old family obligation. But earning her trust is key. Now with a raging storm threatening New Orleans and gunmen on their heels, Harte must break down the walls Dani has erected around herself. Once he does, not only does he find unexpected passion, but the certainty that the only safe haven is within each other's arms.... 

Good book.  After someone tried to run her down Dani is put into protective custody by prosecutor Harte Delancey.  She and Harte have faced off in the courtroom several times as public defender and prosecutor, but right now he is the one in charge of the case against her grandfather's murderer and she is the best witness they have.  While hiding out from the people after her, she and Harte prepare for the trial until they are found and attacked again.  They escape out into a raging spring storm and have to evade the bad guys as well as protect themselves from the storm.  Thrown together like they are under intense circumstances, the desire that has been simmering between them intensifies with the storm.  

Dani was raised by her grandfather and is still coping with the grief of his loss.  She has channeled that grief into the determination that his murderer pay the price.  Dealing with Harte has been a bit of a challenge for her.  Not only because they are usually on opposite sides of the courtroom, but also because she has been attracted to him since they met.  She does her best to resist it, often resorting to sarcasm and confrontation to keep him at a distance.  When they have to depend on each other for safety and escape she has to allow herself to trust him.  I loved seeing the way that she did stand up for herself, not allowing herself to be completely ruled by him.  She had a great way of seeing his two sides - the prosecutor attitude that was separate from the man she got to know.  I also loved the way she got them into the warehouse to hide, completely surprising Harte with that particular skill.  As their attraction grew stronger Dani worried that he considered it just a reaction to the stress while she found that her feelings were involved.  The chase through the storm was very exciting and kept me riveted until the conclusion.

Harte is the odd man out in his family.  His brothers are all military or law enforcement while he chose to go into law.  They tend to give him a hard time though as a family they are very close.  Harte has been interested in Dani since he met her, but they got off to a rocky start when they worked opposite sides of the same case.  Now he has to prepare her as a witness in an important trial.  When he hears about the attack on her he pulls some strings and gets her into protective custody.  Making sure that she is safe is very important to him.  He comes across sometimes as arrogant but I loved seeing how wonderful he was with her when he discovered her fear of storms.  His feelings for her were growing but he also had to make sure he didn't do anything that would affect the upcoming trial.  I really liked seeing his surprise at some of her abilities and also the way she stayed pretty focused during the chase.  I loved seeing him realize how much he wanted Dani to stay in his life even though he wasn't sure of her feelings.  I enjoyed the ending scene in the courtroom.