Review: 4.5 Stars....tough topic done really well!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2014
This isn't a breezy, lite romance.  The backdrop of the book is actually hard to think about, although it likely happens more than most of us would like to think.  But Bijou does it so much better than I could have expected and in the end, it IS an erotic romance and it certainly fits that bill!"Gator", or Jake, grew up in the swamps more or less fending for himself, and once he left, becomes,due to lack of any real skills other than killing things, a contract assassin.  And he's a successful one...thinking of settling down for a while and building his dream house in Nicaragua (yes, I said, hunh?, but I've since learned it's actually an up and coming area for people looking for a good, tropical lifestyle without needing to be rich).  Scouting out his last job, he sees Gidget (later she takes the name Mia) through the scope of his rifle and immediately feels she is "his".  Gidget/Mia is a prostitute, with her father her pimp, and Jake finds out pretty quickly she may not be all there.  But he's made the decision and commitment and he's keeping her.I won't spoil the book by explaining the details about Mia, but will make a point to say, since it seems several people missed it or ignored it, that Mia wasn't incompetent, and there was no rape, force or coercion.  Jake would have let her go - she didn't want him to.  And there's a point in the book where she is thinking to herself about the fact that she has all these thoughts she wishes she could express - she just can't figure out how to express them (for those who may have read the book, I was thinking part of her problem may have been damage to her communication abilities).The book is essentially the story of two people damaged very badly in childhood, which should have been a much better time for each of them, the bad things that happen to them or that they do, and how they come together and forge together to become family.  I thought it was terrific....and I read it again....I really liked the feelings the book evoked and highly recommend it to anyone who can see that everyone had a chance at a happy ending!