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For the most part, I really enjoyed this book. The plot was intriguing and fast-paced, the narrative was compelling and thoughful, and the hero was probably one of the most interesting I’d come across in a long time. The Bride’s Protector is the first in a series of novels in the Men Of Mystery series, which focuses on men belonging to an elite CIA organination. If the next books are anything like this, I can’t wait to read them. So why did this mostly great little book only get a C+? Well, despite everything that made this book wonderful, there were two major things that made it not so wonderful – the heroine and the romance itself.
Lucas Hawkins, known as Hawk in the External Security Team, is a govermental assassin. This means he’s paid by the U.S. government to kill its enemies and Hawk has done this difficult job gladly, without question, knowing that it was a job that someone had to do. However, when a co-worker is murdered and the government refuses to do anything about because of the political implications, Hawk takes matters in his own hands and assassinates the person responsible for the crime. Though his employers can’t prove he did it, they are looking for a reason to drum him out of the organization, and he is let go. Hawk feels bereft as the organization and the friends he developed in it have been his entire life. But that all changes when he meets Tyler Stewart.
Tyler is an aging supermodel left impoverished when her agent died and she discovers that her money has been mishandled for years. Desperate to find something or someone to cling to, Tyler has rushed into a hasty engagement with Amid Al-Ahmad. However, at the last minute, she has a change of heart and decides she needs to have a talk with her fiance before the wedding. But, when she walks into his room, she witnesses the murder of her fiance’s father, leader of their Middle Eastern country. The killer sees her and Tyler is on the run for her life. Fortunately, she runs right into Hawk, who is immediately moved to protect her.
As I said, I really enjoyed this story. It moved along at a fast clip and the action scenes were exciting and well written. Lucas Hawkins is a very interesting hero, like none I’ve ever read about. He is in a sense, a killer. Yes, he’s paid to do it by our goverment, but he’s a killer none the less. Consequently, he’s a very tough, very hard man and this comes out in the way he talks (or doesn’t talk) to the heroine to their love scenes, which were a little edgier and rougher than I’m used to reading in a category romance. The writer handled the moral questions of our own goverment hiring someone to perform murders well, showing all sides of the issue and giving them both weight and depth. I also enjoyed the secondary characters, particularly Claire Haywood, a tough attorney who will undoubtedly turn up in her own story. It’s too bad she couldn’t have been the heroine of this one.
I found Tyler to be a weak heroine, mostly because she just sits around and waits for someone to handle her problems. She was marrying because her fiance was wealthy and could protect her. When that didn’t work out, and she met Hawk, she fell in love with him (practically instantaneously) because he was such a protector. I would think that after all she’d been through because she couldn’t stand up for herself and take care of her own problems, she would learn that. But except for a brief moment, she couldn’t handle life on her own. I was disappointed by that and felt that Hawk deserved a much stronger heroine.
The romance itself isn’t very well developed. These characters are completely mismatched and I didn’t buy their relationship for a minute. But, maybe I would have if it had been given the time and space to grow. However, the plot is very complicated and takes several chapters to set up. Wilson also spends a lot of time introducing the supporting cast, who will have stories of their own in future novels. So, there was little room to develop a believable love story. The characters spend a lot of the book away from one another and there are really no quiet moments of them simply talking and getting to know one another. In fact, in most of their scenes together, Tyler is sleeping, Hawk is taking care of Tyler’s wounds or they are having sex. So just when did they fall in love? I could see a weakling like Tyler doing it, but not Hawk. Plus, I just could not see him going from the dark, hard life he’d known to living in a small town, getting married and having kids.
Still, I did enjoy this book and will read the future installments. The author tells a great, fast paced story and handles moral questions about our government’s actions – something generally not seen in series romance. She also creates interesting, compelling characters that you care and want to know more about. It’s just too bad that she couldn’t have done that for the heroine.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 02/05/99
Publication Date: 1999/03
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.