Off Limits
Grade : B

Off Limits has, hands-down, one of the ugliest covers I've ever seen. It's a shame, because this is not the goofy comedy about creepily grinning deformed people the cover might make you think it is. It's darker and grittier, both a romance between two great characters and an intriguing cop story, and one of the better contemporaries I've read this year.

Emma Frey heard plenty about Detective Bobby Halloran when she joined the New Orleans Police Department, none of it good. Known for playing loose with the rulebook, he's exactly the kind of cop the by-the-book Emma has no use for. He doesn't dress like any cop she's ever seen, and shows up at work looking like he's just stumbled in from partying all night. It doesn't help that he's too good looking - and he knows it.

So she's not exactly thrilled when they're paired up on a burglary case. The victim is a friend of Bobby's who's since disappeared, making it more than a little difficult to get a statement. It doesn't take Emma long to figure out the case is more complicated than any simple burglary, and so is her partner. Working with Bobby makes it clear that while he may not follow the rules, he is a good detective, but also one walking dangerously close to the edge. The longer they're together, the harder it is for her to fight her attraction for him, and also her concern. He cares too much, and is coming too close to burn-out. Emma knows solving the case will be tough. Saving Bobby may be tougher.

The mystery at the center of Off Limits is cool, filled with interesting facts and information related to some ancient artifacts and allowing for the return of characters from the author's last book, Getting Her Man. But it's the author's treatment of the hero and heroine that shows just how smart the story is. Emma is a terrific heroine: a strong, capable detective, a good athlete, but also unmistakably a woman. She's allowed to be tough, but still human. I don't think I can express how much I appreciated that the author didn't stoop to the too-typical authorial trick of developing a tough heroine, then dumping a sad backstory on her and making her cry to soften her. Emma remains uncompromised in that respect. Just when I thought I couldn't like her more, she'd do something else, whether it was jumping into a police department basketball game and showing what she's made of, the way she went toe to toe with Bobby, or how she reacted when an old and philandering boyfriend reappears in her life. She's strong and confident, completely self-assured, and I liked that about her.

I also liked the way Albert deepens Bobby's character without backtracking from what's already been established about him. He's still charming and smooth, but now he has some added dimensions that offer a more complete picture and reveal an even more heroic side. Together, the two of them have good chemistry and generate quite a bit of heat as they clash and butt heads while investigating the case.

The result is an excellent mix of good character development and believable police procedure. While it is a story about cops and an investigation, it's still more contemporary romance than romantic suspense, which allows the author to do more with the characters than I'm used to seeing in this type of story. More than once I paused to think about just how good it was, how much more of the characters I was getting than I was used to. The secondary characters also add a lot, especially the offbeat Chloe, who proves to be a thorn in Emma's side but isn't as bad as she'd probably like everyone to believe.

There are some slow sections and the pace does have a tendency to drag at times, primarily in the first half, surprising for a book with this much dialogue. Off Limits delivers a smart, satisfying romance between two great characters, coupled with an interesting and unusual mystery plot. All in all, a truly good read.

Reviewed by Leigh Thomas
Grade : B

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : August 30, 2003

Publication Date: 2003

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