Under the Wire
2 Stars

***Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead***

Good action and suspense. Unfortunately, the romance contains too many annoying tropes to be enjoyable.

To begin with, there are two age-related issues in the book. The first, namely that the heroine is 10 years older than the hero, is not a problem in itself, but in conjunction with the second, i.e., he was barely past maturity when they first became sexually involved, creates a sense of wrongness to their relationship both past and present.

Next is the insta-love theme. Lily and Manny are acquainted for 5 minutes before they end up in bed together and apparently fall hopelessly in love over six days. This doesn't make sense, especially considering his age at the time.

Moreover, the hero is an asshat for most of the book. Yes, he believes she betrayed him, but this doesn't stop him from lusting after her while he simultaneously rejects and condemns her. His sudden "forgiveness" and "acceptance" of her is unrealistic and his entire attitude is childish and immature. It is as if he is stuck at age 18, which only makes the age difference even more irritating.

The secondary romance between Adam and Minranda is also disturbing in light of the fact that they are being held hostage, and she has obviously been sexually assaulted.

Overall, there are just too many problematic elements in this book and I am not a fan. Nevertheless, but I am looking forward to Dallas and Amy's book next. ( )

This is one of the few books where the couple is a pair of reuniting lovers that I actually like. I think one of the strengths of the story is that the beginning of their story is told at the first of the book then the action moves to 17 years later so there are no annoying flashbacks. Also the meeting between these two when they were young was very realistic, poignant and moving.

The story where they are reunited and searching for their kidnapped son is good and moves quickly. There is quite a bit of action in other men's POVs which distrupts a bit.

The main disappointment and it's not a real big deal is that the author didn't actually write the scene where the heroine tells her son that his father is not dead. We also don't get to see the son and father getting to know each other. We are just told it went okay after the fact. Those are scenes that I really wanted to read. It seems like the reader is gypped out of some of the emotional payoff of the story. We got to read about all the mistrust and stuff of their reunion but didn't get to read the feel good stuff at the end.

One further thing, because I am older than my husband, I am fond of older woman younger man stories and this one was done well even though he was only 18 at the start of the story. It made sense when the author explained how brutal his life had been and how boys grow up quickly in those circumstances. The heroine didn't however realize about the age difference until she was into the relationship. I was also pleased to see that it was totally a non issue once they were older and reuniting. Not everyone is afraid of an age difference between couples and it's nice to see that fact reflected accurately once in a while in a romance novel. ( )

It was an okay read. Didn't really care for the first half of it. But the second half was better. I found myself skimming over stuff that I didn't really care about. ( )

My favorite of the series. I'll be revisiting Manny again in the future. Just sayin. ( )

Good story. About Lily Campora & Manny Ortega. 5th book in the Bodyguards series.