Cindy Gerard

This book features two characters dealing with various emotional scars, who are forced to team up to combat not only external forces, but also their own inner demons.

Jenna is a hotshot, globe-trotting reporter who is struggling to come to terms with an event that left her questioning, on very fundamental levels, who is she and if she'll ever be able to reclaim her sense of self.

Gabriel is a man scarred both physically and emotionally. A true alpha male in every sense of the term, he is take show more charge and intensely focused and skilled in matters of combat. He is also dealing with a profound loss, and extreme guilt and anger that have left him closed off emotionally.

While less capable authors would take the aforementioned factors and use them to create a novel that is little more than unrelieved melancholy and characters who are (voluntarily or otherwise) self-centered, Gerard allows her characters to be very real, in terms of being simultaneously flawed and honorable, grief-stricken and truly funny and snarky.

As Jenna and Gabe grow closer (whether they like it or not), their romance does not in any way take away from the action and danger, and the almost palpable suspense, and the reverse holds true, as well. What the reader is left with, then, is a novel that is equal parts action and romance, which is a rarity this day and age, as all too often authors allow one aspect or the other to languish undeveloped or virtually ignored while the other receives most of the attention.

Fortunately, Cindy Gerard has proven that she is adept at handling everything from explosions and gunfights, to passionate love scenes and intensely emotional conversations. This is a very well-written book that is a truly great kickoff to what promises to be a fantastic new series. show less

Into the Dark
3.5 Stars

This is the final book in Gerard's Bodyguards series, and to be honest, it is disappointing.

To begin with, the intense chemistry that characterized Dallas and Amy's initial connection in book #3 has evaporated and turned into a "woe is me, I'm not worthy" angst fest.

Second, it is never a good thing when the romance between the secondary characters overshadows that of the primary pair. This is the case here with Gabriel and Jenna's whose love/hate bickering is excellent show more and endearing. The emotions involved in their relationship are far more real than those between Dallas and Amy.

The action and suspense plot are pretty good although the whole Nazi experimentation concept has been done before, and there isn't anything particularly original here. That said, the book was published in 2007, so it is somewhat dated in this regard.

In sum, while Dallas and Amy have some sweet moments together, I was expecting more from their romance. Gabe and Jenna's story continues in the spin-off series and I hope that it fulfills its potential. show less

Prissy Chrissie Travers just discovered the find of a lifetime up for sale at a charity auction – the personal things, including a possible treasure map, of the city’s most notorious outlaw. But right before the bidding is closed, Jake Thorne snatches it from her just to get her riled up. Ever since she was his therapist after an accident at an oil fire, Jake has enjoyed needling her, and he uses the outlaw’s things to get Chrissie to try a walk on the wild side.

I liked the show more characters and the way they interacted, both when Jake was teasing Chrissie and when the two realized their desire for one another. The motivations for the character choices are nicely explored and explained. They genuinely seemed like people rather than caricatures. But I didn’t like the fact that after the initial few chapters both of the characters seemed to completely forget about, or at least ignore, the colossal historical find – and the possible treasure. I assume this will be explored in the later books in the series…but it still bugged me that that entire plot line got swept under the rug. I was looking forward to the two of them playing Indiana Jones.

A nice, quick read with some really smokin’ chemistry, but a pretty weak plot taken as a stand-alone. show less

I liked this book. Cindy Gerard does a good job with military romantic suspense. I liked the set up of a guy who was an expat because he had been dishonorably discharged from the military and whose brothers in arms despised him. Eva buys into his bad press and thinks he got her husband killed in the action that earned his less than honorable discharge. She kidnaps him to get him to tell her the truth. Mike and Eva have good chemistry together. Mike is a damaged guy but he's chaming and smart show more and capable and, of course, not really guilty. The two have to work together to capture the real culprit.

It did remind me a lot of Suzanne Brockmann's [b:The Admiral's Bride|414647|The Admiral's Bride (Tall, Dark & Dangerous, #7)|Suzanne Brockmann|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1174532570s/414647.jpg|745388]. The hero and heroine end up going undercover to an antigovernment survivalist compound where they pose as a married couple. One where the men are the bosses and the women subservient mice. But that was about all the similarities.

Gabe from the BOI series was in this one. Kind of to kick off this new series. CG does a really good job segueing from one series to another. I'm looking forward to reading more about the other guys from the One Eyed Jacks. show less