Pleasure with a price.
A high-profile celebrity wedding in Monaco is the kind of A-list event security specialist Rand Maguire excels at. Everything goes like clockwork, until guests start inexplicably losing all their inhibitions. . . .
Painful secrets from the past.
Rand is no stranger to the effects of Rapture. His chemist father’s attempt at a cure for depression caused Rand’s mother’s death years ago, and put his father away for her murder. Now someone is circulating Rapture in a campaign of terror, intending to manufacture and sell it on a global scale. But with no leads, Rand feels the heat.
Passion with no limits.
Sexy Lodestone agent Dakota North is sent to help Rand kick-start his search, armed only with her uncanny sixth sense. But what they discover in their race across Europe is more far-reaching and lethal than an erotic street drug. From a Barcelona bank heist to a million-dollar arms deal in Paris, Dakota and Rand give in to an insatiable craving for each other in nights of pure carnal delight, no senses left untouched. No Rapture necessary.
I became a fan of Cherry Adair when I started reading her T-Flac Series. I love the action in her novels. The males leads aren’t too bad either. When I first started the T-Flac series, I read them as fast as I could get them (pre-Kindle days).
The male lead in Afterglow is typical of Ms Adair’s male characters. Sexy, hot, somewhat temperamental and did I mention hot? Rand is a former stunt man who has turned to the security business. With his previous contacts, the business is booming. What I don’t like about Rand is he didn’t “stand by his woman”. The break-up with the heroine, Dr. Dakota North (love the name), is just stupid. No face off, doesn’t listen, and by phone. Really???
In my opinion, Dakota really saves this novel. She’s smart, spunky, faces her fears and has attitude. The part bothering me the most is how easily she forgives Rand’s previous treatment of her. Then I thought about it. I would forgive the love of my life a lot but he’d have to jump through some hoops and turn cartwheels or maybe more.
The plot was somewhat believable. I mean, we read based on the suspension of some beliefs right? The characters were okay, with the exception of Dakota, who really caught my imagination. The storyline moved along with plenty of action and what was termed suspense. It wasn’t my terms of suspense. I hate it when I can pick the “bad guy” right off the bat and I did. Even with the twists, I picked him and wasn’t fooled. It kills a romantic suspense for me. I expected more.
When you’ve read an author for a while, you, as the reader, build up certain expectations from her previous works. Afterglow did not live up to my expectations overall. The storyline and the characters felt off somehow. To me, the novel was missing depth. Depth I’d come to expect from Ms Adair. The action was there but not the depth to keep you involved in the storyline.
When I started this book, I knew it was the second in the series. The delay in my review is because I went back and read the first of the series, Hush. I mistakenly thought my feelings about Afterglow were because I was missing something from the previous novel. It was a mistake. I won’t be reviewing Hush because I couldn’t finish it. I stuck with it for a little over halfway. It didn’t add anything to this novel at all! If I had read Hush first, I might not have bought Afterglow. Enough said.
I will try more of Cherry Adair’s novels but, I think I will be very selective in the reading choices.
My rating, a very weak 3 Stars
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