With great glee I noticed that Trent and Reed (from Rarer than Rubies) are back - and tumble right into their next adventure. The same elements that I liked so much about the first book are here as well: a romantic location, some good old-fashioned action and adventure, a mystery that includes missing agents and antiquities, and a lot of romance. Actually, even better than romance, this was as much about Reed and Trent struggling to develop a meaningful relationship as it was about the mystery. While that served to drive the story and ‘test’ their trust, the main focus, for me, was how they related to each other and struggled with figuring out their roles in the partnership that Trent’s wishful thinking defines so differently from Reed.

Trent is such a great character. He was all lost and insecure in the first book, not that this stopped him from getting into all kinds of trouble, after all, he wanted to help, right? Now he has found a new goal and that is to help Reed in his job as a ‘spy’ - FBI agent, really, but spy, to Trent’s romance writer’s imagination, just sounds so much better. I loved Trent’s attempts to support Reed, and his inability to follow ‘orders’ was not just fun to watch, but actually supported Reed more than Trent could have hoped. Everyone underestimates him, but that too, can turn into an advantage…

Reed is a different man since he got together with Trent. There are still major issues to deal with, and he still tends to isolate himself and is bad at expressing emotions, but he is getting better. Trent has opened his eyes to a whole new world – and not just that of fashion and eating out. Reed is still protective of Trent, and wants to keep him out of everything, especially because the most recent case he has been sent to solve involves his ex-partner Peter. There is a lot of bad blood still, and added to all the other things that start happening as the simple mission to find a missing agent turns into a major case involving all kinds of international bad guys, the hunt is definitely on.

If you like mysterious international criminal plots set in exotic places, writer-types who get in way over their heads and secret agents who try to keep them safe, and if you are up to following Trent and Reed into their next grand adventure, you will probably like this book. It will definitely keep you entertained, and just slightly breathless.




NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )

This was probably a decent romance novel, but the mystery/investigation aspect of it frustrated me too much for me to appreciate the story. It just didn't work for me.

This was probably a decent romance novel, but the mystery/investigation aspect of it frustrated me too much for me to appreciate the story. It just didn't work for me. ( )