Review: Necessary Force – D. D. Ayres

As a favor for a friend, photojournalist Zoe Kantor agrees to do a photoshoot for a sexy calendar to raise money for retired K-9 animals. A favor she’s happy to do, especially when she can’t take her eyes off one of the police officers participating. But when she’s targeted by a deadly assassin who wants her dead, Zoe finds that her gorgeous cop is the only one who can help.

Eric Lawson is a man with a lot to prove, so when he and his K-9 partner are assigned to protect the pretty photographer, he’s determined to keep things professional. He just didn’t count on sparks flying.

Series: K-9 Rescue 0.5
Release Date: July 1st 2014
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Source: Provided by Publisher
Reviewer: Elizabeth
Rating:

Buy the book at:

Reviewer’s Thoughts

The premise of the book is what enticed me to pick it up but after finishing it; I was left with more concerns than enjoyment. Well, first off, the names in the synopsis are different from the names in the book. I hope this is fixed soon because it’s only going to mislead readers. Secondly, I don’t think the book title works for the book. After reading it, the title just doesn’t fit for me. I know what you’re thinking, these are superficial issues and you’d be right. That’s not what really bothered me about the novella.

The main issue I have is that this romantic suspense just had suspense. Granted, I absolutely enjoyed the suspense. It was exciting and kept me engaged in the story, but I found the romantic aspect of the book…lacking. Because of the length of the novella, there is not much room for a romance to grow. And it’s not really a romance, it’s two people having sex and thinking it feels like more, but nothing ever develops. The page time that the hero and heroine shared was mainly in regards to the suspense and not the romance. The sex scenes were pretty glossed over as well.

I know this is the beginning of a series but I would have loved for this story to have been written as a full length novel. There was so much promise and so much room to expand on the story and when it wasn’t, I ultimately felt cheated. But I did appreciate that the author didn’t wrap up the romance with confessions of love or a happily ever after which did leave room for growth in future books. I just wish some of that growth would have happened in this book to make the chemistry between the couple believable.

I think it’s a great start to what’s going to be an engaging romantic suspense series. I just hope that there is an equal balance of romance and intrigue.