Force of Nature and new review style

Since it appears that most of my posts are going to be written in the wee hours of the morning I've decided to try some different review styles to see if I can't get a handle on my ramblings and actually write something that makes since.

Force of Nature - Suzanne Brockmann

The Plot - Ric Alvarado is an ex-police officer who is now working as a private investigator. He has just hired Annie Dugan, his best friends younger sister to work as his receptionist/assistant in the office. Unfortunately for Ric, Annie doesn't want office work she wants to assist him in the field. In an effort to keep her from quitting Ric allows Annie to accompany him on what appears to be a routine missing persons case and they end up being "escorted" to the home of one of Florida's most dangerous crime bosses Gordon Burns. Ric and Annie end up being hired on to protect Gordon's less than intelligent son Gordie Jr. Meanwhile in Washington DC FBI agent Jules Cassidy has just been informed that Gordon Burns is planning to smuggle an Al-Quaeda operative into the country to carry out a very large terrorist attack. So Jules hops a plane to Florida where he discovers 1) that an ex-police officer he's worked with before was seen at the Burns mansion and 2) the "in the closet" actor he's been in love with for years just happens to be attending the Sarasota Film Festival and is their best chance at infiltrating Burns' lair. Once Ric and Annie learn what Burns is possibly up to they agree to work undercover to stop the potential terrorist attack.

The Hero - Which one? No really I mean there were three in this book. Let's start with Ric - he's very much a Brockmann hero - Alpha without being a jerk, capable, gorgeous, protective, smart and very kick ass. I thought he was great although I was hard pressed to find any faults with him so he was a little too good to be true. Jules - I've always loved Jules and have been waiting for his story for a long time (of course isn't that always the case with Brockmann). Robin - Well where Ric was too good to be true Robin had so many issues I was worried about Brockmann being able to convince me he was going to be worthy of Jules. Not only is he in the closet thus not being able to have the open relationship Jules needs but he has a serious drinking problem a very very serious drinking problem. Of course I worried for nothing Brockmann did a fabulous job with Jules and Robin.

The Heroine - Annie - what can I say about Annie. Annie Dugan is not your beautiful, skinny, long haired temptress - she is curvy, with short curly hair and she after spending 6 months building stone walls she isn't exactly what you would call delicate :) However, Annie seemed to be the least developed of all the characters. I mean everyone else in the book kept saying how great and wonderful she was but I didn't see it. There was nothing bad about her she was just blah.

What Worked - Jules and Robin. I'm pretty sure they were the secondary romance in this book but man did they take over the book. I've read quite a few M/M romantica e-books that had very hot sex but I was never able to buy into the love story. I bought Jules and Robin - there was so much emotion involved with their relationship along with the crazy hot sexual tension they far out shadowed Annie and Ric. The plot also worked and kept me reading into the early morning. In typical Brockmann fashion these were not card board cut out villains. They were serious baddies and there was plenty of suspense. The last half of the book flew by with me thinking - OMG how are they going to turn this around it can only end badly - even though I knew I would get my happy ending.

What didn't Work - Annie and Ric's relationship fell a little flat for me. Annie's mistaken belief that Ric was a total hound dog was kinda hard for me to buy. I mean she knows this guy so well they can communicate whole conversations with a mere glance at one another but she doesn't know his history with women? and then even when she's told by one of his best friends who knows all the details of his past relationships that he doesn't hump everything that moves she refuses to believe it. Like I said I didn't buy it. The conflict between these two just seemed too contrived for me. Thank God for Jules and Robin.

Should you read it?

If you haven't read previous Troubleshooters Books I would recommend you go back and start with the first book Unsung Hero. There are so many plot lines that are stretched out over this series it would take away sooo much from the book if you didn't read those first. If you have read them and haven't been that happy with the previous few books I'm not sure if you will love this one. I really enjoyed it but every troubleshooters book has been an A read for me. If you have been dying to read Jules's story then this book is totally worth reading even if you hate everything else about it. They make this book.

Rating 8/10