Woman On The Run by Lisa Marie RiceMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Reading Updates: 20%
I'm glad this is tagged as erotic (and erotica but I think it's more the first) because that is what I was here for. The story is a dime a dozen in rom-suspense. Uptight book editor city gal Julia witnesses a murder committed by a mafia guy and has to go into witness protection. She gets sent to in the boonies small town Idaho and is given the cover as a school teacher(????). There she meets former Navy SEAL now turned rancher(LOVE it, lol) Cooper. He's the looming strong silent type who also comes from a cursed family, for generations women have either died or ran away from the ranch leaving their menfolk and one child they were only able to bear. There's also sinister povs of an assassin who is hunting Julia to kill her and collect on the $1 million (later bumped up to $2mil!) bounty on her head to stop her from testifying against mafia guy and povs from the US Marshall in charge of Julia's case.
It's all a little suspenseful and a little predictable (this was published in 1999 and I think more modern readers are going to guess and spoil the supposed to be shock reveal of the assassin) but enjoyable typical rom-suspense. You even get an O.K. Corral like shooting ending. Fun! I'm getting impatient because I want to talk about what had me reading this book in one setting but there's some Julia finding her place and helping/becoming friends with townspeople for setting and her and Cooper do talk and bond, and when the Marshall's have a flub on their end, he gets to be take charge alpha man and protective of Julia. Per one of my updates, I also learned about the (maybe) fun fact about champagne glasses and Maria Antoinette's boobs and what a fern bar was (I was born in the 80s and must have missed this 70s phenomenon). All cool and will hopefully clench a bar trivia win for me someday.
But honestly, just whatever to all that because, my friends, thank goodness this was tagged as erotic/a because that became what I was solely here for lol.
He’s magnificent, was all Julia could think as Cooper approached her slowly, broad shoulders blocking out the rest of the room. Moisture—condensation? rain?—clung to his inky hair and Julia’s hands itched to run her fingers through the thick dark pelt. His expression was stern as always. She wanted to touch his face, see if she could make the frown lines go away, trace that hard, beautiful mouth with her finger. Cooper came up so close to her that she had to tilt her head. He looked down at her and his face had never seemed more harsh, more angular.
“Come with me,” he said. “Now.”
“Yes, Cooper,” Julia whispered, and put her curried drumstick down on the tablecloth, missing her plate by a good ten inches. Cooper grabbed her hand and dragged her through the door and towards a black pickup. “Where are we going?” Julia cried.
Cooper practically threw her into the cab, got in and pulled away with a squeal of tires. “To your house,” he said tightly. “This time we’re going to get it right. We’re going to fuck all night.”
The curried drumstick not only got put the f down, it didn't even make the plate!!!! Now, I know posting quotes like this out of context can sometimes seem cheesy but as a someone who more often than not loathes insta-lust, again, I was HERE for it. These two had chemistry and as I said in my first update, examples of why they were lusting, it didn't feel empty at all, that heat was there, present, and shown. When he dropped that last line, it was gawd damn! from me. This sweater set woman was clutching her pearls but that hand was SWEATY. I loved it how lusty she was for him and how it was written to deliver emotions and make me the reader believe in their lusty heat.
So, yeah, I finally have an insta-lust story to recommend :)
Also, ol' Coop wasn't just raging hormones:
The only other time in his life in which his hand trembled had been the first time with her. Sally Anderson was slowly undoing him. Then putting him back together. A better man.
Sally is Julia's witness protection alias
I am neither for nor against insta-lust, I just want to understand what each character sees in the other.
ReplyDeleteAnd if insta-lust becomes intimacy of the "the more I learn about this other person, the more into them I am", all the better.
Speaking of, if you are into erotic romance right now, may I recommend Bonnie Dee's "The Countes Takes a Lover"? If you do give it a try, I'd love to know what you think.
I think it was a couple months ago (which could be anywhere between a few months and a couple years) that we somehow got on the topic of Dee, could have easily been me bemoaning instalust, and you recommended Countess. So in the evergreen words: "It's on my tbr, but I haven't gotten to it yet!"
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