2.5**

From the book jacket: It’s bad enough that Tara has to go on trial against the mortgage-frauding “Tennis Racketeers” who cheated banks and homeowners of millions in between doubles matches. Now she has to go undercover – in a strip club – to strip the sleazeball owner of his indeed illegal livelihood. At least she’s working as a bookkeeper, not a pole dancer. And who needs tips when her undercover crush, Special Agent Nick, is the club’s bodyguard?

My Reactions
This is book five in the series featuring IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway. I haven’t read any of the others, and picked this one strictly to meet a challenge for a pink cover.

I like that Kelly has given us the premise of a strong female heroine – intelligent, resourceful, powerful – but she doesn’t really deliver. I could do with fewer segues to think about what Tara and Nick might be doing in bed, and more concentration on the professional woman. In fairness, the hot-pink cover, not to mention the title, was a pretty good clue that this would be a lighter, fluffier “crime” novel.

It’s a fast read and mildly entertaining, but I’m in no hurry to read more of the series. ( )

Well, I'm not sure about then ending, but the rest of this book is excellent! Great characters, snappy dialogue and excellent story lines.

I enjoy the way the author goes between two or more story lines in these books, each story lines is a nice break from the other and it keeps things interesting. The main plot line was intense, so the secondary plot offered a breather and I enjoyed reading about the individual agencies working together.

The sexual tension between Nick and Tara is excellent and the author does an excellent job with the writing - enough to be steamy, not *so* much as to be veering into erotic writing.

This has been a strong series from the beginning and I'm looking forward to the next book, which luckily is only a couple of months away. ( )

I liked the general plot of this book- going undercover to catch the bad guys, while dealing with the day to day of the usual casework, throw in a hot partner and there ya go. I didn’t know this was a 3rd or 4th book of a series, or I would have been aware of the fact the main character is in the IRS, and talks way too much about taxes and people getting over on the government. I, myself, am not a fan of taxes, so that was a bit distracting to me and decreased my level of enjoyment a bit. Most readers would know about that ahead of time though, and wouldn’t have issues with it.

Nick, Tara, and the others are engaging, believable, have a great chemistry, and work well together throughout the book. I did find it a little hard to believe that although Tara is working undercover on one case, she was allowed to testify for a second one and be recorded for news bits in the same town. I get Dallas is big, but strippers and drug runners watch TV too right? Wouldn’t you try to avoid the risk of getting caught and avoid the trial altogether, let your partner handle the face to face? On a side note, I enjoyed the visual of Nick with his 80s mustache, and Tara in her 80s leg warmers.

As for heat rating, the buildup of heat and tension between the two leading up to their “special night” was a nice change from the usual romance and made me think how fun it would be to plan a “no nooky” month in my house for a little while, just to see what kind of alternatives we could come up with…

Rating: 4

HEAT Rating: Hot

Reviewed By: Daysie W.

Courtesy of: My Book Addictions and More ( )