I just couldn't get really excited about this book. It seemed to develop too quickly and a lot of details were left out or we were left to figure them out as we went. It was billed as sexy suspense, but the suspense seemed shallow and the sexy part was meh. The premise seems like a good one but the development wasn't very deep. The characters seemed to be written to have this really hot sexual tension between them, but that just seemed artificial. In the beginning of the book, Macy was convinced that she hated Dante until forever and in a very short period of time, she was considering listening to his side of the story and maybe even wanting him in her life again. It was too fast and happened without any struggle. It made Macy seem like a woman who waffled and caved easily, which didn't fit with the tough secret agent. Too many inconsistancies for me to really get into it.

I like the characters of Macy and Dante, and I love the idea of a scavenger hunt/seduction in a Garden District House in NOLA. The story even has a nice twist that brings together the dissimilar ideas of searching for codes to prevent nuclear war and Dante's exquisite seduction--not going to spoil that one for you.

My only problem is trying to get past said seduction when some very serious codes were needed, but if you can get past that you'll definitely enjoy this fun and quick read. I'm definitely interested in seeing what else Leto has to offer.

The characters seemed to lack an emotional depth I was craving today and, as a result, found myself skipping ahead in the story. Although I technically finished the book, I'm putting this on my did-not-finish shelf because of how many chapters I skimmed. The story itself was ok, though not really race-against-time gripping for me as I wanted it to be, given the plot.

Short, but intense, intriguing & very sexy... Looking forward to the rest of the series for sure.

The final star rating on this book is an average of the three stories and rounded up. Here is my review of each story:

Playing for Keeps
Cherry Adair is an author I see floating around often but haven’t had a chance to read any of her books. I really enjoyed this short story. It started off strong and quick. The heroine, Danica, is in no way trained to “fight bad guys”, but rolls with the punches when she’s put in difficult situations. Her soon-to-be ex-husband Jon Raven is trained and is, in fact, the owner of a security firm. So when Dani is put in danger he is right there to help her out. The ending was a bit clustered for me, but since it’s a short story it’s not like there’s time to go into a bunch of explanations. I got to gist of what was happening and that was good enough for me. 3.5 stars

Nothing to Lose
This was a super-fast paced novella by Jill Shalvis. She is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors and she did not disappoint. Warning: this story takes place all within 24 hours, so there is definite insta-romance. But it works! Jade is a much stronger heroine than she seems at the beginning. And Will is much softer hero than he had seemed. They are good together and bring out the best in each other. This story has heartbreak, suspense, violence, love, and steamy connections. It was great! 5 stars

Dare to Desire
I haven’t read or even heard of Julie Leto until this book. I enjoyed this book and it was a very quick read. Whether or not I would seek out her other books remains to be seen. I’m sure I’ll try at least one out if I have the time and chance. The anticipation of the romance was great, the end result wasn’t as great but was still good. 3 stars

3.8888 average rounded up to 4 stars

Although this book took me more than a week to read, each story took me far less than a day to read. I just didn't read them all in a row. Because these stories move so quickly this is a great book to read when you don't have a lot of time but need an escape.