I haven’t yet had the chance to read the first book in Ms. Bruhns’s STORM Corps series, but I remember reading positive reviews, so I signed up to review If Looks Could Chill, the second book in the series. I’m glad I took the chance, because I found the book to be one of the best romantic suspense I’ve read recently, and I know I’ll be reading more of the author’s work.

Louisiana State Trooper Tara Reeves is investigating some suspicious wildlife deaths deep in the bayou, so she hires unemployed local Cajun resident Marc Lafayette as her bayou guide. Little does Tara know that Marc is actually a member of a covert special ops team (STORM Corps) that’s trying to track down and stop a terrorist cell working on a biological weapon. STORM Corps believes that the mysterious wildlife deaths are evidence that the terrorists are testing their weapon, but they don’t want local law enforcement interfering, so Marc is assigned to babysit Tara and make sure she doesn’t figure out what’s really going on. What neither Tara or Marc counts on is their intense mutual attraction.

For five years STORM operators Bobby Lee Quinn and Darcy Zimmerman have shared a no-strings sexual relationship, but Darcy is coming to realize that she wants much more than that with Bobby Lee. But she also knows that commitment is something she’ll never get from him, so she decides to sever their physical relationship before her heart gets trampled further. But when she and Bobby Lee are both assigned to the Louisiana terrorist case, she’s not only forced to deal with him on a daily basis, she also has to resist his many advances.

The fact that If Looks Could Chill has four simultaneous storylines, two romances, and is told from six POVs may seem daunting to some readers, but I thought that it worked quite well. All the storylines are related to the main story of eliminating the terrorist cell, although they are each from different angles, and I found every one of the stories to be engrossing. I’m not a special ops person so I don’t really know, but all of the covert ops details felt well-researched and realistic. This is definitely an action-packed edge-of-your-seat book, and I thought the switches between storylines and how they all converge at the end was done quite well. I should warn readers that not every storyline in the book is wrapped up at the end – two will continue in the next book – but I was still very satisfied with how the book ended, and I know I’ll be reading the next one.

This is the second book in Ms. Bruhns’ series, but I thought it stood alone very well. I could tell that there were a couple of storylines carried over from the previous novel, but the author provides enough details to quickly bring new readers up to speed, and I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything. Also, even though there are a lot of characters and the six POVs, I never once felt confused.

There was ample chemistry between the couples and steamy sex scenes, but if you’re looking for a romantic suspense that has its primary focus on the romance, this book isn’t it. That said, the two romances featured were both very engaging, although I felt Bobby Lee and Darcy’s to be the more believable HEA. I didn’t think Marc and Tara knew each other well enough to totally buy into their HEA, but I have to admit that even in spite of this, I still got emotional at the end of their story. And really, that was my only complaint with If Looks Could Chill. If you like a heavy dose of action mixed in with your romance, I definitely recommend If Looks Could Chill.