Average book. Enemies turned lovers through a series of traumatic bonding experiences. Girl with a special gift left to fend for herself helped by a boy and they end up getting revenge on some bad people. ( )

Not one of her best books. ( )

This book and me were not a good match. I'm beginning to wonder if Iris Johansen and I are a good reader/author match.

I mean, apart from the problematic relationship between the hero and heroine (she's 16 and he's an experienced adult) and the dodgy power dynamic going on between them (I mean he fixes some of her mental trauma) and the man-eating tiger owning bad guy it's not a terrible read. It just kept giving me a deep feeling of unease throughout. I didn't actually really enjoy the read and standing back from it I'm not 100% sure I want to read another book by the author. Some of her unquestioned assumptions aren't mine and I'm not sure they're what I want in my reading life.

The story opens with the 16 year old Teresa Casali running away from home and the armed thugs who want to stop her. She runs into Andre Mandak who saves her and offers her a chance at a second life as Allie Girard and a family to care for her. Horrible things happen again and again and they're forced to take the fight to darkest Africa (well actually whitest Africa) and the characters never really came alive to me. I didn't really care if they lived or died and the story just drifted to it's conclusion and I was left feeling that there was more that could have been done with the premise and the characters. ( )

This book had a good plot but not a lot of character development. Once again the Devanets family makes an appearance. This time the ledger has been stolen by a sadistic murderer and Mandak (one of the family) locates and rescues Teresa Casali from a mob boss who wants to use her talent. She is able to read memories and Mandak wants to use her to read memories to help him get the ledger back. The problem is that she is only 16. He takes her to live with 2 retired professors and trains her to use her talent, block memories when she does not to read them as well as teach her to take care of herself. Seven years later events occur that cause Mandak to take Teresa, now called Allie, to Africa to complete the Mission. Of course, romance happens as well. Not one of her best books, but still enjoyable. ( )

***Spoiler***
I could not relate to the characters behavior. The writing was coherent and there is certainly a story here. ( )