Extreme Measures tried my patience for a goodly amount of time. While I don’t object to mental lusting, I do object to it when combined with animosity. I can’t stand the I-hate-you-but-you-are-hot-so-lets-have-wild-monkey-sex scenario and that’s just how this book started out. But just when I was reaching the teeth grinding stage, the characters settled down, began to talk to each other, the book smoothed out, and thankfully became better to read.

Faith O’Malley is the daughter of a prostitute. She has dedicated her life to helping the children of prostitutes and runs a home for them. When the local banker, father of one of her wards, calls in her loan early, Faith goes to the best gambling saloon in town, acts like a naive little waif, then deftly cheats the table out of $2,000. Unfortunately, she is caught by the owner, Andre du Bois.

Andre was born to riches, lost them, then regained them. He made a fortune gambling and now runs a high class saloon where his faro dealers are ex-prostitutes. Andre gives women a chance to make a living without selling themselves. Above all things, Andre hates to lose money so he locks Faith in his office. But she escapes, takes the money to the bank and pays off the debt.

Even so, Andre comes after her and tells her he will turn her in if she doesn’t pay the money back. To help this process along, he offers her a job in his saloon. Faith thinks Andre wants her to be a whore, but she is most surprised when she finds out about how he employs women. As for Andre, he is touched when he discovers Faith’s orphanage. They quit snarling at each other and fall in love. But there is someone from Andre’s past who shows up to complicate matters.

Once Andre and Faith quit snarling and lusting at each other, they become likable characters. Faith’s experiences as the daughter of a prostitute have shown her there is nothing glamorous about the life. But she’s not censorious. There are a couple of scenes featuring women who willingly went back to prostitution because they liked the “glamorous” trappings provided by the Madams. Faith does not condemn them; she offers help and a sympathetic ear. Because of her distrust of sex, I had some problems with Faith’s mental lusting at the very beginning when she did not know Andre. But once she did get to know the real man, that problem disappeared and the love scenes were tender and passionate.

Andre began as a fairly cardboard character, but as soon more is discovered more about his background he, like Faith, came into sharp focus. Andre grew up in New Orleans in a wealthy family. He lost everything in the war and now is obsessed with making money. To paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara, he has sworn that he’ll never be poor again. As the book progresses, Andre comes to realize that people mean more than money, and Faith has become indispensable to him.

Often a book will begin well, sag in the middle, then pick up at the end. Extreme Measures began slowly, picked up in the middle, then spun out of control at the end when Faith, while not acting TSTL, did act in a way I found puzzling.

Extreme Measures is Renee Halvorstan’s first book. She has a good touch with her characters and her love scenes are very nice indeed. If she can develop a good beginning and a plausible end to her books, she will be a writer to watch.