Julie Rowe

In the first book of the Bandit Creek series, small town doctor Abby is suffering from PTSD from her time as a highly skilled Army medic. To blow off steam and to feel better, she lights up dynamite and throws it in the lake.
Smitty belonged to the Special Forces division of the Marines, and he was assigned to Abby’s med unit as security detail. They became good friends while fighting for their lives in Afghanistan, so when he shows up out of the blue in her little town, she readily accepts his help. What she didn’t expect was for romance to bloom between them or for a mystery military sniper to target her.
Abby is a strong, snarky woman and hides her pain through humor. Smitty is levelheaded, protective, and just the friend she needed.
The story is told only in Abby’s POV and in third person, so the reader gets to understand her pain, regret, and self-contempt. I liked Smitty, but I couldn’t really connect with him. I didn’t feel like I got to know him, so duel POVs would’ve been nice.
The story focuses a lot on PTSD, which doesn’t make this a light read. There weren’t a lot of taglines, so sometimes I didn’t know who was speaking. There were also some typos, and I’m not talking about the use of British English.
Anyway, the sex scenes were hot. Abby and Smitty made for a great couple.
3 Stars… (más)

I really liked Alicia - she was a total badass - and I loved that she was able to out soldier the soldiers - because she was training the Special Forces. I liked Max, he was very respectful of Alicia and it was nice to see him defer to her and defend her authority to the other soldiers. I think this story would've been stronger if there was more character development though. There wasn't a whole lot of backstory for Ali or Max, it was just kind of thrown out there randomly. I think Max's viewpoint on his past could've made this a stronger read. The romance between them was pretty average, perhaps because of this. They just kind of liked each other and jumped into bed, there was no real buildup or depth to it. That said, the plot was insane. I haven't really read many books about scientists and biological warfare and it was a refreshing change of pace. The author provided lots of information on biological warfare and the plot was fast paced and action packed. Overall it was an enjoyable read.… (más)

I found this just that bit too short to really enjoy it. The length just left little time to really develop the characters or the plot and while I liked both Abigail and Smitty I found myself just not really caring. The romance was okay but it wasn't anything special and the bad guy was just random. There was no real build up or explanation of why the bad guy does what he does and I'm not really keen on loose ends - I like to know the whys and the hows. The story moved along fast enough but it was lacking the depth needed to make this an enjoyable read.… (más)

Well this was full on. Action packed to the extreme. I think in some ways I liked the first book more than this one. Kini was both stronger and less knowledgeable and I think I would've liked her better had she been a doctor with proper authority. On the other hand, she was more gungho than Ava which made her a bit more interesting. The plot was fast paced and full of action and not quite as realistic as the first one - but still very entertaining. I liked Smoke and his family. The romance between Smoke and Kini was weaker than Ava and River but still enjoyable. I'll definitely pickup the next book in the series. And DS is back! I love DS.… (más)