Review: Great book!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 12, 2013
First of all, I LOVE this title - talk about a perfect double entendre! Roni, a police officer, is worried about her cover being blown when she runs into an old flame, Matteo, while working undercover to bust a drug syndicate. Matteo happens to be a criminal himself. Despite their intense attraction and steamy chemistry, how could a relationship ever work between a cop and a criminal? Even though they both know that they have no future together, they can't deny their desire for each other, and give in to it quite often and in many steamy and explicit ways - hence the other meaning of the title.I always feel challenged with novellas because it is difficult to fully explore the level of character and plot development I appreciate in a full length novel. I think the author did a good job at developing a complete story with interesting characters who you care about in such a short number of pages. At the same time, I think this is a novella with a great premise that has the potential to be expanded into a full length novel. There is enough room here to delve further into the motivations and back stories of the characters (especially Matteo) and the criminal plot line could be beefed up and some more action thrown in. It's not to say this story suffers from the lack of these elements, just that there is the potential to explore these in greater depth.I really liked Roni - she is strong, confident, no-nonsense and doesn't delude herself with romantic notions. She is honest with herself and stands by her convictions, regardless of the hot piece of man candy who is heating up her life and her bed. As attracted as she is to him, she knows she could never compromise her principals to be with him. I would have liked to get to know Matteo better - get inside his head and learn more about his background, why he made his choices in life, and further explore his relationship with his brother. I feel like there is a lot of character development that could be expanded on with Matteo. However, this just means he is an interesting character worthy of further exploration.I struggled a bit with the rating on this book. I enjoyed it, it got me hot and bothered, and I really liked the characters - enough to want to learn more about them. Where it fell apart for me a bit, is when Roni acknowledges that her relationship with Matteo is built on a foundation of lust and physical attraction. At one point in the story, they have an awkward moment where they realize they don't have much to talk about when they aren't naked. I actually thought this was a really honest and refreshing moment, and I liked it quite a bit. However, it seems to be forgotten by the author, or not sufficiently addressed to my satisfaction, when things wrap up so differently from this in the end (although I enjoyed how it ended).Ultimately, I think a lot of people will like this story. It's got some compelling characters, an interesting plot, and a lot of spice. I liked it enough that I would like to see it more fully explored. However, the gap in regards to the physical vs. emotional relationship caused the rating to slip a bit off of a 4 star. But don't let that deter you - put this one on your To Read list.