MarkAlan
I read anything and everything
Kentucky Confidential by Paula Graves
Paula Graves is one of my favourite Harlequin Intrigue and RomSus authors, and this book doesn't disappoint.
What I particularly like about her heroines is that they're strong, but show it in their actions and behaviour, and don't need continual reassurance from other characters.
And Graves is quite good at sneaking in social commentary and feminist viewpoints without preaching. In this case, Here, Risa is 8 months pregnant, yet keeps doing her job and reminds the hero that women have been working and giving birth for thousands of years, thank you very much. And pregnant women can lust! Who'd a thunk it!
Graves' male heroes are more vulnerable emotionally, and more human, then ones in most other men in the genre; there's much less of the alpha in them.
The plot was tense, and ends on something of a cliffhanger, which is to be expected in what is the first book in an offshoot series. There's no kidnapping of the heroine, which is a nice change, and problems are solved by teamwork, and not the amazing heroics by one man.
Here's the blurb:
Captain Connor McGinnis has seen a ghost. Staring at a surveillance photo of a Kaziri immigrant, there can be no mistaking that the starkly beautiful—and visibly pregnant—woman in a head scarf is his wife, Risa. The woman he presumed was dead after her plane crashed into the ocean.
Risa McGinnis, relocated by the CIA when they learned of a price on her head, has settled into the guise of a widowed immigrant. Confronting Connor again resurrects sweet memories and a burning passion. But until this unknown enemy is captured, Risa must focus more on Connor's protection than on their attraction. After all, the strength of her marriage—and the safety of her baby—depends on it…
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