This review has a couple of little spoilery things in that I wouldn't normally include but I just couldn't write the review without them because I'm on a rant. Sorry.

I'm afraid this book wasn't for me at all. I have begrudgingly awarded it two stars for certain parts of the plot that were suspenseful, but I just could not move past the fact that I absolutely detested the male lead character Bastien. With the passion of a thousand fiery suns.

At first I thought oh, it's okay, he's undercover, this is just his guise as a slimy, moralless scumbag. Any minute now she'll get him on his own and discover the real man underneath.

And she did.

And he was even worse!

I am honestly struggling to find a single redeeming quality for his character. I am willing to accept the fact that it may just be me because I see the book even won an award for "Best Tortured Hero", so clearly other people appreciated his charms a helluva lot more than me. But I would even take issue with that award because, okay his mother was a bit of a cold-hearted cow, but tortured? Where? Where was the torture that excuses his behaviour? I have read many a book with a tortured hero. Like, actually, physically tortured, not just a complex because mummy wasn't nice to him. And those genuinely tortured heroes managed to earn my affection by working past their issues and trying to change their naughty ways (this is a little thing I like to call character development). Plus, they had honour, they were willing to protect what they cared about. This guy was just horrible, ruthless, abusive verbally, abusive physically. He allowed her to be tortured and abused by others without batting an eye rather than blow his cover. He cheated on her. I mean, seriously! Am I missing something here?

*Deep breaths*

The female lead character, Chloe, wasn't a whole heap better. She came across initially as just innocent and naive. And hey, if I suddenly found myself surrounded by a bunch of arms dealers I'd look pretty naive too. But then when she started going all ooey gooey over Mr. Abusive she moved over into the TSTL category pretty quickly. I even laughed aloud towards then end when she gave away her location. She couldn't just keep still could she? Oh no, she had to look for the flash light. What was she going to bloody do with it anyway? Morse code? Gah!

Right, I think I better stop here. Needless to say I don't recommend this book. To anyone. Ever. And this will be my first and last book by Anne Stuart.

2 Stars ★★

4.25/5.