There is a fine balance between romance and action when it comes to books that combine them both. It's usually tough to get it right, and more often than not one overpowers the other - unfortunately, this is what went wrong with this story (well, that and something else, keep on reading).

Gabriel Durrand has lost a man who was in a covert mission in Columbia. Now, he wishes to find him and bring him home, and he needs Eddy Edwards to help him on that. The last thing he expected and needed was for this Eddy person to turn out a woman! One that is very proud, skillful, and yet still very noticeably female. Finding Shepherd will turn out a lot harder than he initially thought...

OK, first, I liked the whole misunderstanding with Eddy's name. I also enjoy tough heroines a lot - although I have to say, trying so hard to prove themselves sometimes gets old nowadays. Still, she was someone a modern female reader could relate with, especially someone who tried working in an all-male environment - been there, done that, and decided it wasn't worth the effort or the possible suicidal thoughts. So I salute her for keeping up with it all and becoming what she became in the end of the book - character growth did wonders for her.

I also found it nice that the happy romantic ending didn't come all too easily when the story came to a close. And yes, the action helped a lot in there, too.

BUT!

The romance could have used a bit more... depth, I guess? It was hard to get into the whole thing with so much going on with the story at once. And that would have been fine, but we're talking about a book that has the romance genre in its main focus as well. See what I'm trying to say? It has been proven that the fine balance I talked about in the beginning of my review CAN be achieved, so I can't really say 'oh, well, it's just impossible to happen'.

Still, what really peeved me to no end, what made me hate reading after a certain page, was Linus. Seriously, I've seen bimbos and nagging main heroines being more thankful than that god damn man! You're being rescued, you stupid horndog! Forget about a woman who has done everything else other than yell it from the rooftops that she's betraying and using you, and be a good rescue victim, grateful for your comrade who risked his ass, his reputation, and everything else in between, to come take you out of that hellhole you ended up in!

As it stood, the story was a solid 4-star maybe in the beginning. But the minute Linus freaking Shepherd started actively talking while being captured, the rating started dropping. Dramatically! Turns out, it is possible for a character to make me do that, huh....

***I was given an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinion stated in this review is solely mine, and no compensation was given or taken to alter it.*** ( )