Doe Bay Publishing | September 11, 2015 | Contemporary Romance
Grayce Walters, book 4
★★★★
SOURCE: TASTY BOOK TOURS
Maddy Jeffers has never failed as a Marine, but she is about to face the ultimate challenge of her career. Ordered to infiltrate a Seattle terrorist cell, she must go undercover married to Hunter Hines. The terrorist cell might not intimidate the seasoned soldier, but pretending to be a wife to the rugged, macho Marine just might be the most demanding and daunting mission she’s faced.
Hunter, a career Marine, has devoted his life to duty and discipline. Yet being in constant proximity with the beguiling blond Maddy, is making it impossible to fight his need for his pretend wife. When Maddy’s life is threatened, protecting her becomes the only mission that matters. And Hunter will break all the rules to save her.
As the danger heats up around these two veteran heroes, they discover their shared bonds of love and duty.
{ about jacki delecki } .
Descended from a long line of storytellers, Jacki spins adventures filled with mystery, healing and romance. Jacki’s love affair with the arts began at a young age and inspired her to train as a jazz singer and dancer. She has performed many acting roles with the Seattle Opera Company and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Her travels to London and Paris ignited a deep-seated passion to write A Code of Love, a romantic mystery set in the Regency era. Jacki is certain she spent at least one lifetime dancing in the Moulin Rouge.
Although writing now fills most of her days, she continues to volunteer with Seattle’s Ballet and Opera companies, as well as leading children’s tours of Pike Street Market. Her volunteer work with Seattle’s homeless shelters influenced one of her main characters in An Inner Fire. Jacki’s two Golden Labs, Gus and Talley, are her constant companions. Their years of devotion and intuition inspired her to write both dogs as heroes in A Code of Love. A geek at heart, Jacki loves superhero movies—a hero’s battle against insurmountable odds. Fortunately, her heroines don’t have to wear a unitard to fight injustice and battle for the underdog. Jacki’s extraordinary heroines love and heal. Visit www.JackiDelecki.com for more information.
{ excerpt } .
His dark, piercing eyes studied her every step. Did she imagine it, or had his Marine posture stiffened and his dark olive skin flushed when he saw her? Perhaps she wouldn’t be the only one to suffer today.Dressed in a dark suit with an open, oxford-blue shirt, long, inky black hair brushing the collar, he looked the part of a billionaire playboy or techie mogul—the cold devil looked mighty good. She tried to ignore the fact that he was sexy as hell and remember he was a pain in the ass.
“What the—” His eyes narrowed, and she waited to hear the censure in his voice. “You don’t look like a Marine.”
What was a Marine working undercover supposed to look like? And why was it always an issue for a woman, but never a man? He didn’t look like a Marine today, either.
The young saleswoman at Macy’s told her this was an office dress. How would Maddy know what women wore to their jobs? She had never worked in an office and hoped to God she never would.
Her chin hitched up an inch. She was immune to his snide, unanswerable remarks. “Good morning, sir. My instructions were to report out of uniform.” No matter what she wore, she was a Marine, through and through. “I’m blending in.”
“Blending in? You call that sexy getup blending in?”
She looked up at him with her best innocent face. “You think it’s sexy?”
She pulled at the snug dress riding partway up her thighs.
He watched her movement with his usual eagle eye focus. She didn’t miss the hitch in his breath and the way his muscular throat rippled when he swallowed. “Think what?”
Hunter Hines lost for words—she was already feeling better.
{ review } .
This story had it's moments for me --
Moments where it was extremely on par and I was super engrossed, and others that had me squinting my eyes at the quickness.
One thing to remember when going into this story is that, while not really well, Hunter and Maddy know one another outside of the Marine Corps. Maddy is best friends with Hunter's half-sister, so he knows her a little bit -- that alone allowed me to be ok with his sudden love for this blond spitfire he's being thrown into a pretend marriage with.
I enjoyed Maddy's independence, but often felt that she was too pushy with it. As a Marine, she should be well aware and quite understanding, of having a partner in missions. When given this assignment with Hunter, she fought it tooth and nail; when he starts in on the (necessary) PDA, she puts up walls even though she wants to melt... but rather quickly, she becomes warm to the idea.
I felt that the timing was quick, but aside from that, I enjoyed the characterization and felt that the dialogue was well done. For a shorter story, I felt that Jacki did an A+ job of giving larger scenes in shorter spaces, choosing to by-pass dialogue and putting a summary of events, and I thought it was done correctly.
I would have enjoyed this being a fuller story, and likely would have rated it higher with that. However, I felt that with the length given, the amount of story was well done.
Moments where it was extremely on par and I was super engrossed, and others that had me squinting my eyes at the quickness.
One thing to remember when going into this story is that, while not really well, Hunter and Maddy know one another outside of the Marine Corps. Maddy is best friends with Hunter's half-sister, so he knows her a little bit -- that alone allowed me to be ok with his sudden love for this blond spitfire he's being thrown into a pretend marriage with.
I enjoyed Maddy's independence, but often felt that she was too pushy with it. As a Marine, she should be well aware and quite understanding, of having a partner in missions. When given this assignment with Hunter, she fought it tooth and nail; when he starts in on the (necessary) PDA, she puts up walls even though she wants to melt... but rather quickly, she becomes warm to the idea.
I felt that the timing was quick, but aside from that, I enjoyed the characterization and felt that the dialogue was well done. For a shorter story, I felt that Jacki did an A+ job of giving larger scenes in shorter spaces, choosing to by-pass dialogue and putting a summary of events, and I thought it was done correctly.
I would have enjoyed this being a fuller story, and likely would have rated it higher with that. However, I felt that with the length given, the amount of story was well done.
for other reviews & tour goodies,
{ series } .
AN INNER FIRE
iBooks | Kindle | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay
WOMEN UNDER FIRE
iBooks | Kindle | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay
MEN UNDER FIRE
iBooks | Kindle | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay
Thank you for hosting MARRIAGE UNDER FIRE!!
ReplyDeleteI hope your readers enjoy this introduction to Maddy and Hunter! Thanks for hosting.
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