“Special Agent Kira Miller's new career at the FBI has started--in translations. It's not the opportunity she was hoping for to show off her skills, until she detects a lead in the paperwork. Now assigned an undercover role, she's in her element as she gathers intel on an art smuggling ring. She's daunted not by the mission but by her cover--posing as a married woman to the fake husband she met less than twenty-four hours ago.
Special Agent Bryce Lambert's assignment to charade as a newlywed couple with Kira has the two of them moving next door to the prime suspects, and a relationship is the last thing he wants, fake or real. With secret auctions, hidden treasures, and a legend of art thought to be lost forever, there's plenty to keep them busy--if only they can play the part their lives and careers depend upon while keeping their own hearts in check.”
Series: Book #1 in the “FBI New Recruits” series.
Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God, Jesus, faith, trusting Him, showing grace, & letting go of bitterness; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; While Kira grew up going to church with her adoptive parents, she doesn’t go anymore and thinks God has been “silent” when she needed Him; She starts to pray as the book continues for God to help her if He is real; Bryce has a faith and share about God with Kira; *Spoilers* Towards the end, Kira realizes it’s time for her to put her trust in God and prays to God about the mission and her doubts *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of God, Jesus, His love, grace, forgiveness, & faiths; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, & a sermon; A few mentions of Christians; A couple mentions of miracles; A mention of being blessed;
*Note: Mentions of luck & being lucky; A mention of a place feeling like a haunted house; A mention of ghost stories.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘stinking’, two ‘dumb’s, and two ‘stupid’s; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Eavesdropping; Fighting, Car crashes (including air bags deploying and passing out), Being ran off the road, Being trapped in a car after an accident, Being attacked and hit, Being kicked, Being grabbed and abducted, Being stuffed in a trunk, Being drugged, Being held at gunpoint (multiple times), Being shot at and Being shot, Gunfire, a flash-bang, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, Being knocked unconscious, & Passing out (semi-detailed); A perilous situation involving a dilapidated bridge over a large abyss (semi-detailed); Seeing deaths/murders happen & Finding and seeing other murdered bodies (multiple; up to semi-detailed); Seeing people shot (up to semi-detailed); Kira and Bryce are given cocktails at a dinner party (Kira takes a sip to confirm what it is, but Bryce avoids alcohol due to having an alcoholic family member and does not drink it; Side characters also drink at the dinner and have many drinks); All about & many mentions of stolen art, smuggling rings, illegal auctions, stealing, thieves, criminals, & crimes; Many mentions of murders, murderers, bodies, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of wars (World War II & Civil War), Nazis, & possible future wars; Mentions of deaths (a car accident, heart attack) & grief; Mentions of weapons, being held at gunpoint, & gunfire; Mentions of car accidents; Mentions of terrorists, mafias, mobsters, & assassins; Mentions of kidnappings/abductions (including a child); Mentions of blackmail & threats (including threatening death/murder); Mentions of money laundering; Mentions of jail & arrests; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of divorces; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, bars, drunks, & an alcoholic; Mentions of an addiction to painkillers, being high often, & rehab; Mentions of tattoos; A few mentions of fires; A few mentions of break-ins & burglars; A few mentions of drug dealers & smuggling drugs; A few mentions of gambling & an addiction to it; A few mentions of cigars & cigarettes; A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A mention of autopsies; A mention of possible poison; A mention of parents fighting;
*Note: Kira lived in a Russian orphanage for some of her childhood until she was adopted by an American family (because of this, she can “adapt to any situation” and make herself appear how others want, but feels like that anyone in her life could leave her if things gets tough; She knows this is not true and her parents have loved her unconditionally, but still struggles with this thought as she remembers overhearing as a child in the orphanage that no one would want her; After being adopted, Kira struggled with the notion that she had to be just how her adoptive parents wanted or she would be returned to Russia even though they never set any expectations or implied this would happen); Bryce comes from a broken home and was never good enough for his deadbeat father and has his father’s voice in his head telling him he won’t amount to anything; *Spoilers* His mother left when he was young and his father is an alcoholic who is addicted to gambling; His father kicked him out seventeen and while Bryce has tried to help him throughout the years, his father has resented him and they do not get along; Bryce’s father also betrayed Bryce by draining his savings account; Bryce has scars from what others have said about him when growing up (such as “trailer park trash” and “hoodrat”), but mostly from never being good enough for his father and his father’s hurtful words; Bryce feels guilt for not trying harder to help his father, but Kira tries to encourage him; Bryce believes his father might be gaslighting him about the past and believes that his father suffers from “mental and physical illnesses”; At the very end, Bryce’s apologizes what he has said and done & Bryce forgives his father *End of Spoilers*; Kira comments to her friends about living in the “age of equality” but some men at Quantico still being livid to be outperformed by a girl; Mentions of painters (Cézanne, Rembrandt, Veláquez, Caravaggio, van Gogh, & Degas); Mentions of brand names & items (Harley-Davidson, Barbie, iPhone, iPad, AirTag, Glock, Spanx, Band-Aid, Clue, & Maglite); Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of movies & a TV show (Indiana Jones, The Goonies, & Downton Abbey); A couple mentions of Google; A couple mentions of yoga; A mention of Hallmark movies; A mention of a vampire; A mention of a panic attack; A mention of depression.
Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, a hand kiss, two cheek kisses, a head kiss, an almost kiss (semi-detailed), a semi-detailed kiss, and a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Remembering kisses & almost kisses (up to semi-detailed); Staring at lips; Touches, Hand holding, Tingles/Sparks, Warmth, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing (up to semi-detailed); a ‘sexy’, a ‘smoking hot’, and four forms of ‘hunk’; A married woman tries to flirt with Bryce (while he is undercover as a married man; *Spoiler* The woman was part of a ploy and did this to be able to blackmail Bryce *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of kisses, kissing, making out, & almost kisses; Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, exes, & cheating; Mentions of flirting & a married woman making moves on a married man; A couple mentions of crushes; A mention of making sure a man keeps his hands to himself (around his beautiful work partner); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Bryce got divorced after a short marriage and is not interested in another relationship (she left him and filed for the divorce); A mention of a woman’s low-cut dress.
-Kira Miller, age 33
-Bryce Lambert
P.O.V. switches between them
320 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{Add up to a full star for Older Teens interested in the FBI, criminal justice, and/or suspense books.}
After hearing this book would be about two FBI agents posing as a married couple, I was instantly reminded of my favorite episode from ‘Sue Thomas: FB Eye’ where Sue and Jack have to pose as a married couple and live next to a couple with potential terrorists ties. I knew this book would be different, though, so I tried not to hype it up in my mind to give it a fair chance. I did really liked the plot and different elements like the art smuggling, art museum scenes, and the pretend/fake marriage, but I wasn’t a fan of our main characters or how they were written. Characters can make or break a book for me, so this affected my overall enjoyment of this story.
Bryce was a little too interested in Kira right off the bat which felt a little strange because he would notice how attractive she was, but then quickly think how he had too much baggage for a relationship. This happened a few times in just the beginning chapter. There were also a few times where Kira didn’t want to talk about her past, but then would drop a very vague comment that would obviously catch Bryce or someone else’s interest so they would ask and she would explain. A lot of their dialogue felt stiff and awkward because of it. And perhaps that’s because they’ve just met each other, but it distracted me while reading because it felt unnatural.
The ending was very Indiana Jones-esce—which, funny enough right after I thought that, a character also thought “what in the Indiana Jones [is this]?” and made me laugh when the scene was supposed to be intense. It felt a little far-fetched for the book. I have a few questions about some loose threads at the ending as well. Overall, this wasn’t a new favorite romantic suspense book, but I am interested in continuing the series.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment