Review: 3.5 stars. Action, Suspense, Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2013
"Everything worth doing is frightening."I have to say I had to read the first page three times to make sure I read it right. Yeah it starts out with a very surprising scene. It took me a bit to get into the first chapter and get acclimated to the jungle setting. But then it started to intrigue me.Garrett is a female Entomologist leading a team to study insects in jungles of Borneo. Unfortunately, they are left without a guide. She is strong, a natural born leader, intelligent, and determined.(Quote)That confirmed it. These weren't men. They were useless. The only one with a set of balls in this groups was a woman. Interesting.Aidan is a man who spends half his time in a larger city as investigator and enjoys communing with nature in his time off and revisiting his upbringing in the jungle and his step-father's Iban tribe. He sees only disaster in store for Garrett and her team and begrudgingly offers to help.(Quote)They were babes in the woods, at least one was. The others, mostly, from what he could see, they were just idiotic.Aidan is aloof, quiet, at home in the jungle, closed off and harbors wounds from his past. He is not the friendliest face to meet in the jungle but they have no choice but to follow him.(Quote)He belonged in the jungle, yet the elegance and grace came from somewhere else. An enigma. Dangerous.So it turns into a journey into the jungle, mysteries deepen surrounding crimes being completed in the jungle, suspense,danger, and action build, and a romantic connection develops.I enjoyed Aidan and Rett. They immediately sparked off of each other with distrust, sarcasm and a clash of ideas. They tried to fight their connection, but their interest and chemistry builds and eventually they soften towards one another. They had reasons not to be together and felt like they were too different and their lives were too far apart. But as the journey went on it was obvious that their differences were not as great as they first appeared. I loved seeing the strong Aidan at his more vulnerable times. Rett was actually too strong for her own good and I wanted to shake some sense into her at times. You can feel the intensity between them and the need, but the sex scenes are not detailed and are more implied.(Quote)When they mate, they mate for life. Aidan had been talking about the hornbill. Yet the words had been so intimate. And she had dodged the implication despite an attraction like none she had ever felt before. She was so sure that it could never be. Now, she wasn't so sure.(Quote)She was everything he wanted in a woman and yet she didn't belong here.Along the way we are also hearing a POV from one of the bad guys and I kept thinking that the author was giving too much away. But there was still enough suspense and surprises to keep it interesting.Overall, I enjoyed the characters and the story line was unique and a departure from my normal read. It had murder, mystery, suspense, betrayal, action and romance.Thanks to AToMR tours and Ryshia Kennie for providing me a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.