Review: Another wonderful story...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 6, 2013
Ann Mayburn just can't stop writing great stories.  She gives us another one with Guarding Hope which I hope will be only the first in the Contego Agency series (Ann promises us Boden's story if a bunch of you wonderful readers buy this one.  You better have your mouse on that one click, hehe, cause I want to read that book!).  This one is about Daniel and Hope, two childhood sweethearts who are separated not only by tragic circumstances but by the machinations of others.  Years later they are thrown together when Hope's father hires the agency to protect her from a mob boss whose wife she helped escape his abuse. After discovering the truth about what happened years before they are offered another chance at love if the Crime Lord doesn't catch her first.While I felt some of the background story of how they got separated was a little weak and  there was flashback sequence that could have been structured better with in the context of the overall narrative, the story was a powerful and very well written.  Ms. Mayburn's heroines are always strong, smart women who take an equal role in the action and whose presence helps the hero to discover hidden depths within himself.  Her heroes are also human with their own flaws as well as strengths.  The characters in this story are no different. Hope is a strong and powerful and is able to hold her own next to her troubled ex-marine hero.  She rescues him as much as he rescues her.  I also like that Ann injects humor into the narrative. Sub plots like the activities of Slasher the cat provide many chuckle worthy moments.While the story is an interracial romance that piece of it takes a back seat to everything else going on.  There seems to be no real tension over the fact that the heroine is black and the hero is white and they are involved with each other on anyone's part through out the entire book.  Personally I felt this detracted in the way from the realism of the story.  It might have made the background story somewhat more believable if the tensions of others over this were a factor in why they were separated.  If you don't focus on that, however, the story in and of itself is a fun and exciting ride.The Contego Agency gets a great beginning, and I'm look forward to #2.  Now press that one click button! ;)