Merline Lovelace

Good entry in the Code Name: Danger series. Rafe is on the trail of an international thief with some stolen information when he encounters Dr. Nina Grant. Nina is on a forced vacation after her staff threatened to mutiny if she didn't take some time off. She meets Sebastian Cordell when her car breaks down, and Rafe is quick to use that chance meeting for his own purposes.

The book starts with a tension filled scene and the intensity never really lets up throughout the entire book. We are show more dropped right in the middle of the op, as Rafe and company are watching Cordell. He is suspicious of Nina's arrival on the scene even after it appears to check out as innocent. Thanks to who she is and what she does, he feels that she would be the perfect accomplice to help him get closer to Cordell.

I liked the initial meeting between Rafe and Nina. There are sparks between them from the beginning, and Nina briefly contemplates the idea of a vacation fling. That is until Rafe blackmails her into helping him with his mission. Though it makes her angry, it doesn't do much to reduce the attraction. Once she hears the reasons that Rafe needs her help, she is all-in for doing whatever she can, including having Rafe pose as her former fiancé.

I enjoyed the development of their relationship. Rafe is a loner who has avoided ties and entanglements throughout his career. He is attracted to Nina more than any other woman he's known. He knows he should keep it professional, but his body and heart have other ideas. When the need arises to make their relationship look even more genuine, he has no trouble doing so. He is surprised by the depth of the protectiveness he feels for her, and the way his mind and heart tell him he wants to keep her in his life. Nina is drawn to the strong and sexy Rafe, but wary also. She recently ended her engagement when she discovered her fiancé stealing proprietary information from her computer. She's not sure how much to trust Rafe or her growing feelings for him. But the intensity of their situation and the danger they are in makes them realize just what they have. It was pretty sweet to see the tough guy have a little trouble expressing his feelings at the end, but he did manage quite nicely.

The suspense of the story was good. Rafe needed to find Cordell and stop him before he could sell the information to the highest bidder. Cordell is smart and slippery which is why he hasn't yet been caught. His interest in Nina was because of her business and what he could do with it. Rafe's determination to succeed caused him to go a little overboard in his methods of recruiting Nina, but she eventually understood why he did it. I was impressed with the way that Nina handled herself throughout the whole thing. Though she started out unwillingly, by the end, she was quite coolheaded. The danger to Nina increased as the sale time grew closer. The final confrontation was very intense. I loved that it was Nina who figured out where the disc was and saved the day. show less

I loved this book. Kate and her husband have planned their ideal Italian getaway for years. But between her career and his, and their frequent separations, it never happened. And all those separations have seen them grow apart. So Kate has filed for divorce and come to Italy with her two best friends. She never expected Travis to show up, determined to win her back.

I loved the honest look at what frequent deployments can do to a military marriage. Kate and Travis loved each other, there was show more no doubt about that. But with so much time apart, they felt that they didn't know each other. There was also a bit of trouble instigated by someone else that drove Kate's decision to end their marriage.

I really liked both Kate and Travis. They are each strong, intelligent and determined. When Travis shows up, wanting them to take this chance to see if their marriage can be saved, Kate isn't sure she wants to risk her heart being broken all over again. But she can't deny that she still loves him. I loved Travis's determination. He isn't going to let them go down without fighting for their marriage.

It was really sweet to see the effort that Travis put into making their time together as perfect as he could. With the help of his two friends, he was able to provide some really romantic settings for his courtship. I also liked the way that he owned up to the mistakes he had made in the past and that he needed to make some changes. I also loved the pride he had in her achievements. Kate is a bit of a control freak, but I loved seeing her let go enough to give Travis the chance that he asked for. She has always been very proud of what he does, but the stress of their separations and of not knowing whether he's safe has become too much.

The passion is still there between them and that gives them a starting point. I loved seeing them getting to know each other again and share the beauty around them. It was great to see how they were able to talk honestly to each other about what had been happening. I wasn't terribly surprised about Travis's solution to their issues. The biggest hurdle was Kate facing her guilty feelings over her part in that decision. A bit of danger at the end cemented their feelings for each other.

I loved the big parts that Kate's and Travis's friends played in the book. Kate and her friends, Dawn and Callie, had known each other for many years. They have always been there to support Kate when she needed it. I loved their reactions to Travis's arrival and plans, and how they made no secret of their feelings. It was pretty sweet to see how Travis respected those feelings and had done his best to make their time in Italy good even though he was taking Kate away from them. Travis's friends were of shorter acquaintance, but just as important to him. I loved hearing about why Carlo feels so indebted to Travis. Carlo is quite the Italian playboy and it was fun to see him around Dawn and Callie. Brian also has a big part in Travis's life, and we hear all about his plans. I also loved the way that Brian is such a great dad to his son Tommy. Tommy was a great addition to the book and I loved his mischievous ways. I'm expecting to see all these folks in the rest of the series. I think I've got one couple figured out (Brian and Dawn) but I'm not so sure whether it will be Callie and Carlo or Callie and Joe.

I also loved the Italian setting. The descriptions of the sights were so good that I could picture them, As it was a place that Kate and Travis had wanted to visit for so long, I loved seeing it through their eyes and seeing the effect it had on them and their love. show less

Good, fast-paced, and action-filled story. Liz's assignment: find and stop the man they suspect of selling secrets to the enemy. But not everything is what it seems to be. I loved her ruse to get close to him, and the surprise effect it had on her. However, the confrontation doesn't go as planned, and she discovers her suspect is the victim and equally determined to find the traitor.

Dave is the creator of the endangered technology and is furious about the threat. He and Liz team up by show more pretending to be a couple, using it to conceal their actions. Neither expected the sparks that flared between them. Each has been burned by failed relationships, so they are wary of moving too fast. As the book only covers a couple of days, I like that they acknowledge something is there and that they want to pursue it. They just need to survive to do so.

The suspense was good. It kept me turning the pages to see how it would end. I'll admit to figuring out the culprit pretty quickly, though I wasn't sure how the theft would take place. The ending was intense and had me on the edge of my seat until it was over.

I loved the conclusion, and the last page made me laugh out loud. show less

Lovely conclusion to the trilogy. Callie is the third of the three friends who made a trip to Rome to fulfill a long held dream. Her wish at the Trevi Fountain was for her dream hero to sweep her off her feet. In the first book, I Do...Take Two!, I thought she might fall for the Italian pilot, prince and ladies' man, Carlo, but she was too smart for that. In the second book, Third Time's the Bride, it became obvious that there were some sparks between her and security expert, Joe. Those show more sparks flared up when he realized that she was in trouble and insisted on helping her.

In the opening of this book, Callie is staying with Dawn and Brian, where she is safe, while Joe tracks down the person behind the threats. Callie has realized that she cares a great deal for Joe, but isn't sure what he feels for her. When he returns, with the threat to her taken care of, the passion between them flares. Joe is ready to tell her that he needs her in his life, but the tough guy is missing a few of the essentials when he tells her.

Callie wants more than to be Joe's "port in a storm". He's what she wants, but until she feels like her feelings are truly returned, she's going to continue with her plans. Wanting something different than what she had back in Boston, she has accepted a job with one of Carlo's charities back in Rome. She's excited to start a new phase in her life, and if Joe wants to be part of it, he'll have to accept it.

I loved Joe and Callie. She is smart, independent, and has a huge heart that wants to help people. I loved seeing her settle in to her new job and start connecting with the people who need her. I also loved the way she stood up to Joe, letting him know that she loved his protectiveness, but not at the expense of her independence. She wasn't mean about it, but she was adamant. I loved seeing her make sure he completely understood where she was coming from. Joe is great. He's protective, passionate, and completely bowled over by Callie. He's also a little too used to being in charge and having things his own way. It was fun to see him have to deal with Callie's reaction to his attempts to ensure her safety.

The development of their relationship is pretty sweet. Joe is a very private guy who keeps his past hurts to himself. He also takes past failures personally and they affect who he is now. I loved seeing Callie break down his walls. I also loved how he did things for her that helped her live her dream of being in Italy. The trip to Naples on her first weekend was awesome. His work on her apartment to keep her safe pushed the envelope a little, but she understood his reasons and was able to make him see her side also. I really liked how they talked out their issues rather running away from them or letting them pull them apart. I loved their big moment at the end.

There was a bit of suspense in the book that involved a threat to the center where Callie was working. I loved seeing the work she did, with the realism of helping women refugees who have fled from the threats against them. It was heartbreaking to hear what some of them had been through and knowing that those things really happen. Joe was determined to keep Callie and all the women at the center safe. The culmination of the threat was exciting and nervewracking, especially when it caused some stress between Joe and Callie. It definitely had an exciting finish.

The secondary characters were fantastic. The fears of the young woman, Amal, and Callie's attempts to help her were very emotional. I ached for her fears for herself and her baby. My favorite was Callie's boss, Simona. She was quite the "dragon lady", but it was easy to see how much the women at the center meant to her. I loved the conflict between her and Carlo and would love to see more of them. I also liked seeing more of Kate and Dawn and their husbands, showing that their happy endings have continued. show less