Series:
Coltons of Colorado (Book 7)
He's undercover
She's under his skin
Detective Philip Rees is shocked by his new assignment:
going undercover on a Western-themed reality TV show. Nonetheless, he's
determined to complete his mission to take down a contestant suspected of
leaking confidential information. To find the culprit who is sabotaging the
competition, Philip gets close to producer Naomi Colton. As Philip and Naomi
begin to trust one another with their secrets and hearts, will he manage to
keep her safe, on and off the set?
Good blend of suspense and romance. Philip is looking
forward to some time off after a tough undercover case when he gets pulled back
to work. His covert talents are needed to stop someone suspected of leaking
sensitive information. Philip soon finds himself working as a carpenter on a
western-themed reality show. When one contestant gets hurt before filming the
show, Philip is tagged to take his place. It quickly becomes evident that there
is more going on behind the scenes than he expected. Not the least is his
attraction to the show's producer, Naomi Colton.
Naomi is the youngest of the twelve Colton siblings and
the one who seems to fight the hardest for her siblings' respect. After years of
trying, Naomi finally got the coveted executive producer job she wanted. The
bonus is that she can film her reality show on her brother and sister's ranch,
giving her the rare opportunity to spend time with her family. It's not all
sunshine and rainbows, though, thanks to personality conflicts and accidents.
The last thing she needs is her inconvenient attraction to Philip.
The suspense of this book grabbed me from the start and
kept me hooked to the last page. It starts with Philip's mission to watch Brad,
the contestant suspected of selling secrets. He's working out the best way to
do this when he first spots Naomi and is instantly fascinated and attracted to
her. Naomi picks him to be on the show when one of the contestants is injured.
Philip isn't sure how it will work out, but it puts him in a better position to
watch Brad. On Philip's first night with the contestants, a fire destroys his
and two other tents. While it is deemed accidental, his cop instincts are
aroused by the details of the fire, and he decides to keep a watchful eye out.
Over the next few days, there were several other suspicious "accidents."
Philip is also kept busy trying to keep track of Brad's activities. When Naomi
catches him out of bounds late one night, he's forced to take her into his
confidence. It was evident that the accidents were likely an inside job, and
there wasn't much question in my mind about who was responsible. Even so, the
final confrontation was intense.
Philip's primary mission was to figure out what Brad was up
to and how he would carry out his scheme. Brad was quickly disliked as he was
rude, arrogant, and misogynistic. He alienated just about everyone on the set
with his attitude. I had to laugh when he "blackmailed" Philip into
helping him, which gave Philip an easy way to know Brad's plans. But when the
final confrontation came, some unexpected changes put Philip and Naomi in danger.
Complicating matters was a twist I didn't see coming but made a very intense
situation even more so.
I enjoyed seeing the relationship develop between Philip
and Naomi. Their connection and attraction were immediate, surprising both of
them. Because of his undercover work, Philip has never looked for anything
serious, but Naomi has him reexamining his priorities. Naomi avoids
relationships because of her poor opinion of men, beginning with her father.
Philip is all-in from the start, realizing that his feelings for Naomi are
unlike anything he's felt before. I laughed out loud at some of his flirting
and double entendres when he was with her and how it flustered her. Philip was
also very protective of her, which showed when he confronted her assistant producer.
There were some delightful scenes when he would find a way to be with her. Naomi
didn't know what to do with her feelings for Philip. She was starting to care
for him but couldn't see how anything could come of it. Both have a lot of
self-reflection to do before they can make any decisions about the future but
eventually find the solution that works for them.
I enjoyed the setting of this book. The reality show
theme was intriguing and gave a wide range of characters. The various contestants
and their stories were interesting, as were their reactions to the multiple
challenges. Grace, the beauty queen, was a formidable contestant determined to
show up the men. She was also quite aggressive in her pursuit of Philip, and it
was amusing to see his attempts to keep his distance. I laughed out loud
several times at the posturing among the men as they trash-talked each other,
mostly in good fun. On the other side, we had various members of Naomi's
family. She loves them all, but as the youngest, she suffers from a surfeit of
unwanted advice. I felt her frustration over the apparent lack of respect they
show for her work. There were fun scenes with Naomi and her sisters as they
shared "girl time," and she talked about Philip. Her brother Jasper
got some excellent page time between his issues with one of his (female)
employees and the effect Naomi's problems are having on the ranch. I'm looking
forward to his story.
No comments:
Post a Comment