HOT SHOT -- a summary and opinion

So I realized when re-reading my Only With You post, that I'm not so great on the summary part of the 'a summary and opinion'. I'm real big on the opinion, but that's about it. So I'm going to try with the summary -- try to focus more on it. But I can't make huge promises. I'm a big believer in people making their own decisions on their own accord. Read a book based off the cover. Read a book because an author you like endorsed this new author. Read a book because the back is enticing. Don't read a book because someone gave you the low-down of it, start to finish.

I'm always afraid that I'll put more into the summary than I should. I don't want to give away the really good parts, so I try to skim over them, then realize while skimming some things, I missed other things.

So really, I'd rather just do a 'what I really loved about this book', 'what could have been better', and perhaps a character analysis.

But we'll try with the summary.

Three years ago, Jack Hunter and his HOT team (Hostile Operations Team) were on a mission to take out Metaxes, a man they'd been after for years. Gina Domenico, a pop superstar, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Or so they think.

What comes from this accidental meeting is three days in hiding, and, unbeknownst to Jack, a baby.

Fast forward three years later, and Gina's "adopted" son is kidnapped. She calls to the person that saved her those years ago and when he tells her he'll be there for her, but it's not really a mission his team will go on, she drops the mother of all bombshells -- Eli wasn't adopted; Eli was his.

The story moves through the paces as they try to find the boy, and, for obvious reason, for Jack to believe in Gina. He's not seen pictures of Eli in the media, but Gina shows him one on her phone. The boy could pass as his, he decides. Jack's biggest issue is he was once married and when Hayley died, she'd been newly pregnant. Jack believed with all his heart that Hayley would have been a great mother, one who would sit and play with her children, and shower them with the attention they needed.

He can't help but feel Gina couldn't do the same, not with her lifestyle -- which was oddly, if wrongly, proved when Eli was kidnapped. However, upon seeing Eli (and realizing he's a mini-me of himself) and seeing him with Gina, he understands that Gina really is a good mom -- it doesn't take away from the fact he needs to process everything.

Gina and Jack push eachother's buttons, but they sure know how to makeup after a fight -- something that Jack points out later nearly through clenched teeth. There are trust issues, which are a recurring theme in the romance genre, but it doesn't feel overplayed. Gina didn't grow up in the best way, and as such, she has a hard time with Jack's back and forth emotions -- one moment he seems to want her and Eli in this life, the next he's pissed and brooding.

All in all, I very much liked this book. I'm excited the pick up the rest of the HOT series -- maybe I'll start with Kev and Lucky's, because she intrigues me with her quiet demeanor, her scars, and her way of seeming on the outside of the wives circle (which is entirely her own doing; the other ladies love her).