2.5 Stars. Not my favorite pacing for the romance. I can see the argument that meeting under heightened circumstances might accelarate their feelings, but it just seemed to me as though they’d barely interacted and already thought they were in love. It’s the sort of scenario where the feelings are so big and so certain so quickly that as a reader I felt sort of like I’d missed some crucial scenes that didn’t actually exist. It’s a personal preference issue and my preference is almost always a slower progression of emotions.

Burke, due to his past, doubted he was good enough for Lila, so it seemed like there maybe should have been more signs of resistance on his part. His willingness to spend time with Lila didn’t entirely mesh with what I’d imagine to be the personality of a man so prone to flashing back to the darkest times of his life, that didn’t exactly scream sociable, for the same reason, their moments of banter didn’t really fit him either and had a somewhat forced feel.

As for the mystery/action aspect of this one, to me it felt like there was a little too much time spent laying out Burke’s past and not enough time really tangling him up in the present situation or justifying why the guy even needed to be undercover to get the job done.

I liked that Lila gets in on the action a little bit, more than that I enjoyed how proactive Lila was in her own life, taking control and spreading her wings was easily my favorite aspect of her character, more invigorating to watch unfold than any of the cops and robbers stuff, I only wish that had occupied a larger portion of the book.

While I haven’t read the previous novels in this series and therefore went into this unfamiliar with the background stories of Lila’s friends, their scenes of friendship and support were the other highlights I found in this one, I just really liked the warm, caring vibes between these young women, and would have heartily welcomed more of their interractions. ( )

overdrive tricked me into reading spiritual fiction when I thought I was getting a trashy romance. well played overdrive. ( )