#CBR9 Book 34: "Trust Me" by Laura Florand

Page count: 274 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

This is the third book in a trilogy, and while you can read each of these books completely independently of each other, this book references an pretty significant event in the previous book, Chase Me, and readers who want more details may want to check that book out first (it's also the better romance of the two). Be aware that I spoil part of the plot of that one in the very first paragraph of this review, though.

Lina Farah has had to fight her entire life, to prove her worth and make it in a deeply competitive business. At the age of 26, she is the top pastry chef at a two star Michelin restaurant and she can hold her own against anyone who wants to go up against her. When a Muslim extremist cousin of hers attacks the restaurant where she and her best friends work and try to kill them all, Lina didn't hesitate to defend her loved ones. Throwing the liquid nitrogen she was working with at the terrorists, she helped make sure that no one was lethally hurt and the guilty parties were brought to justice quickly. Now she's been questioned by not only the police, but a number of French and American security operatives. As a Muslim woman, with a family connection to the main terrorist, Lina is worried that they may suspect her as well. Why else would one of the burly special ops guys take it upon himself to follow her around, observing her every move?

Seeing her very best friend (and said friend's new lover) injured and hospitalised, while she herself escaped unscathed, is not easy for Lina, and with their restaurant closed, she's going a bit stir crazy. She's working on ice sculpting with a chain saw to work off stress, but most of the time ends up decapitating the ice dragons she's trying to create. She has always been proud of her resilience and self-sufficiency, now she is scared of every shadow and sudden noise. Having a silent, six-foot, be-freckled ginger escort, who may or may not be trying to prove she has terrorist leanings, is not making her rest easier.

Special forces operative Jake Adams has been a soldier for a long time, and seen some pretty scary situations. He first laid eyes on Lina Farah when the woman acted with grace under (literal gun-) fire and threw liquid nitrogen at her cousin. As all the restaurant staff now get security escorts for the next six months, in case they draw the ire of other extremists, he takes it upon himself to guard Lina. Having never really stayed in one place for very long, and having seen first-hand more than once what a secret agent life like his can do to long-term relationships, he's never really had more than causal hook-ups and for a long time, he enjoyed himself a lot. Now, after all these years, Jake is getting ready for something more serious and permanent, and so when Lina approaches him and proposes a short-term hook-up to help her deal with her PTSD, he is actually rather hurt, having wanted to be more than used for his body with this formidable woman that he's so come to admire.

There is very little outside conflict in this book, just Lina having to deal with the aftermath of the brutal attack that left her physically unharmed, but deeply emotionally scarred. She hates being afraid and unable to sleep through the night. She hates seeing her best friend in a hospital bed and tries to deal with her fears by beating them into submission, and by creating new and wonderful dessert creations for Violette, Chase and the assorted special ops guys in Chase and Jake's crew, who all seem to congregate at the hospital every day.

Jake, while he's a big and capable soldier, who as an army sniper has dealt death to countless people all over the world, in missions he can't ever tell anyone about, is clearly a protector, and more of a beta hero than an alpha. While Chase was all loud, brash self-confidence and macho bravado in the previous book, Jake is a much more quiet and laid-back guy. He's also a lot more insecure on how to actually approach a woman he cares about, in large part because he's used to women throwing themselves at him and his team mates every time they go out - he's never had to work to impress someone. Now that he's mightily sick of one-night stands and being used for his hot body, he wants to connect with Lina, and he's at a bit of a loss as to how to do it. That Lina herself is adamant that she prefers "shy, nerdy guys" doesn't help, nor does the fact that most of Jake's team mates do their best to charm Lina as well, at least until he makes it very clear that he's not just flirting, but deadly serious about her.

While there is a lot to like in this book, it's also a bit slow and much of the early part of the book, before Lina and Jake really start to communicate properly with each other is rather frustrating. I liked the second part of the book a lot better, and I am very glad that Florand chose to have a Muslim heroine, making her strong, capable, intelligent and driven, as diversity and representation is so very important and I can't recall coming across all that many Muslim heroines (or heroes, for that matter) in my books.

I continue to enjoy Florand's contemporaries and while this isn't one of her best books, she's still more than entertaining enough that I don't regret my pre-order of this. There's still a whole bunch of Chase and Jake's team mates who can find love in future books and I look forward to their stories (especially if they involve food in some way - Florand writes about food and cooking in a marvellous way). I always want to re-visit Paris and eat myself sick when I've finished one of these novels. TL, DR - not one of her top efforts, but very enjoyable nonetheless and extra points for a Muslim heroine.

Judging a book by its cover: I know that Laura Florand self-publishes these, but still think she could have found a better stock photo to use for the cover. While at one point in the story, Lina does wear a hat to go out, this whole silly, dragging it into her eyes fits badly with the contents of the book, giving a much more light-hearted and frivolous impression than the story warrants. I also don't think the cover model appears much like the descriptions of Lina in the book.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

#CBR8 Book 42: "Chase Me" by Laura Florand

Page count: 246 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Violette Lenoir is twenty-eight and a two-star Michelin chef in her own restaurant. Don't worry if you don't remember that, you will be reminded at least five times over the course of the narrative. Of course, she has every right to be proud, having worked her ass off in kitchens since she was fifteen, fighting sexism and discrimination every step of the way to prove herself. When a stranger breaks into her restaurant late at night, as she's about to leave, she's not intimidated in the slightest, and doesn't hesitate to show him that she can take care of herself.

Chase Smith (very much not his real name) is on a black-ops counter-terrorism mission in Paris. They suspect that someone may be planning a ricin attack, using Violette's restaurant and he needs to investigate how easy it would be for a stranger to get access to the kitchens, as well as distract the stunning blonde who's throwing knives at him. It's pretty much love at first sight for Chase, and he feels extremely bad about the fact that to save her life and that of countless others, he and his team will most likely ruin her life, at least short term. Because when Violette shows up to work after taking the fast-talking and very handsome American "security consultant" home for what she planned to be a one night stand, she discovers that someone has shut it down, claiming a salmonella outbreak originated there.

Violette's reputation, already shaky as a young female chef in a severely male-dominated and cut-throat profession, is possibly destroyed forever, and she KNOWS that the mysterious Chase had something to do with it. So when she meets him again, she punches him, promptly fracturing her hand in the process. Chase feels extremely guilty about his operation shutting down her restaurant (not that it wasn't absolutely necessary to save lives), and what is worse, he can't breathe a word about it, having to continue the fiction about being a private security consultant, even though they both know it's untrue. After a hell of a meet-cute, their fledgling relationship has a hell of a complication to work through on the road to their HEA.

Violette and Chase are both extremely skilled at what they do. Both are completely devoted to their chosen careers, to the point where any romantic relationships they've attempted in the past have never made it past the initial first dates. Violette is used to men being put off by her self-confidence, long work hours, her need to be in control and frankly, intimidated by (and possibly jealous of) her success. Chase is a black-ops soldier, used to shipping off for months on end, working on missions he can't tell even those closest to him about, in areas where people are most likely trying to kill him and his friends. He puts his life on the line to keep people safe and even when he's on leave, he's used to living a double life. He's a very dangerous man, which doesn't mean that he doesn't want a partner to share his life with at some point, maybe even children.

Chase actually proposes marriage to Violette the first evening they meet, after she's thrown not one, but two knives towards him. Violette is a passionate woman, who will frequently fling things at Chase when she's provoked, knowing full well that he can handle it, while he finds it adorable and tries to rile her up as often as possible. Understanding very quickly that Violette enjoys being in a temper, he keeps saying and doing outrageous things just to see how she'll react. He's physically so much bigger and stronger than her, but never uses it to dominate or threaten her. Being a soldier, he's used to compartmentalising his emotions, having to shut certain parts off when he's on a mission, possibly needing to kill people. Nonetheless, with each new encounter with Violette, he feels the softer sides of his emotions leaking out.

Florand writes excellent banter, and at her best, she writes such entertaining romances. It's always fun reading about people who are extremely good at what they do. Confidence and skill is attractive and I like that both Violette and Chase are very secure in their own skins and supremely certain that they are bad-asses in their own fields, without becoming overbearing or insufferably arrogant about it. This book was initially meant to be a lot more frothy, but took on a darker note after the various terrorist attacks in Paris and other parts of Europe in the last six months. The counter-terrorism plot was supposed to be more in the background than it is now, but I don't think the added levels of real-world relevance in any way damages the story.

More often than not, I really enjoy Florand's books and there is more than enough sequel-bait set up over the course of this story. Florand has promised that Violette's friend Lena, as well as several of Chase's army buddies will have stories of their own in future books. So that's something to look forward to.

Judging a book by its cover: The cover here isn't particularly remarkable. The Eiffel Tower features in the background, because how else would you possibly know the book was set in Paris? To be fair, there is in fact a scene in the book that involves Vi and Chase looking at the Tower, so it's not entirely out of place. The woman on the cover is attractive and blond, so fits the description of Violette. Both her boots and jacket are leather, which again fits with the contents of the book. As romance covers go, it's not particularly exciting, but it's certainly not as egregiously bad as they sometimes are either.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.