Review: Seduction under Fire, by Melissa Cutler

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Genre: romantic suspense

Publishing date: October 2012

Synopsis: Camille Fisher is a tough as nails police officer that has been mostly relegated to desk work following a severe leg injury five years ago. When a child, Rosalia, is reported missing, she's called by her boss to publicly represent the San Diego police department in a conference call, where she announces that the prime suspect is Rosalia's biological father, a member of a Mexican drug cartel.

Aaron Montgomery is a Park Ranger that recently joined a regional joint task force to combat drug, guns and human trafficking through the Southern California desert. 

What do these two have in common? The fact that Aaron's best friend is married to Camille's sister and not much else. Actually, they have been successfully avoiding each other for the past two years. But when the drug cartel kidnaps them both and takes them to Central America, they are forced to work together to survive, and they discover that they may have something in common after all...

Offensive content: violence, explosions, shots fired, and sex scenes, though not too graphic. 

Ok, the plot was interesting and the story started really well. I liked Camille's practical side and Aaron's need to protect her. But after a while, it became...sort of unrealistic. I can't believe reputable law enforcement agencies would let their operatives take down drug cartels and save Rosalia alone, with the arrangements being made via cell phone. Really?

But then, most cartel operatives (the "bunch of Mexican mobsters") are portrayed in the book as either dumb or mentally unstable, so maybe that's why Camille and Aaron's task is not that difficult. In my opinion, Mexican drug cartels are serious criminals and I would have preferred the author to address them as such, instead of a bunch of idiots. This kind of ruined the suspense side of the story for me. 

As for the romance, yes, the sex scenes are hot and there is a happy ending, but the whole thing felt a little forced and lame. There was some magical connection missing between the two main characters, or maybe it was just the reflex of the weak background story. This book has a solid 5 star rating on Amazon, but, honestly, I would not give it more than three stars. I've definitely read better. 

Enjoy your reading,

(book cover from Amazon.com)