I don’t typically read series romance, because the abbreviated length tends to impede the character and relationship development that is (hopefully) deeper in full-length novels. Jill Sorenson, though, doesn’t need those extra 200 pages. Tempted By His Target is short, but definitely not shallow.
Isabel Sandborn used to be a socialite, bikini model, and party girl daughter of a rock star, in the vein of Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton. However, after a drug and alcohol fueled blackout she wakes up next to the dead body of her drug dealer who, unknown to her, is the son of a drug cartel leader. Instead of calling the police she flees to Mexico, and has spent the last two years in hiding, both from the authorities and the cartel. In what she believes is a chance encounter, she meets Brandon North, a US tourist who shares her passion for surfing.
Brandon isn’t a tourist, and their meeting isn’t coincidence; he is a US Deputy Marshal charged to bring Isabel back to the U.S. under suspicion of murder. They save each other from attacks, and together depart on a trek towards Guatemala. As Isabel and Brandon get to know each other, he starts to realize that Isabel is probably innocent of the crimes of which she stands accused, and has become a very different person than the wild partier she used to be.
Both Brandon and Isabel are wonderfully complex characters, Isabel especially. She has a rough past, but her change and growth are visible even as young as she is (a few years younger than the average heroine at 23). She and Brandon have a palpable chemistry, one that goes beyond just the physical. This is a story I felt in my gut in the best possible way. Brandon, too, has his dark spots, and his struggle between his job and his attraction to Isabel was more realistic than other heroes in his situation who simply throw rules to the wind, professionalism be damned. It’s a true struggle for him, and he handles it better than most.
If there is a weakness to this book, it is that the suspense plot falls a bit short. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with it, it just wasn’t particularly memorable. Jill Sorenson is a wonderful writer, and Tempted By His Target is a great book.
Grade: B+
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Publication Date: 2011/10
Recent Comments …
Sounds intriguing!
My favourite one by Lucy Parker is Headliners. It would be in my top 10/20
A seditious affair and His at night are not in my top five, but they would be in my ten…
The Black Hawk was among my ten favourite romance novels, but alas! I had to choose only five. All the…
Yes. Although Bujold is more a science fiction novelist, I think that some of the books in the Vorkosigan saga…
Brockmann’s The Admiral’s Bride is also a 5-star book for me! Amazing how good some category romances can be.