Title: Her Dark Protector
Author: Carol Stephenson
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication date: March 26th 2012
Source: A HUGE thanks to NetGalley & Carina Press for the review copy.
From Goodreads:
Florida state prosecutor Gail Malloy may have a death wish, but she has no idea how close she is to having it fulfilled. In charge of the case against a notorious drug lord, she’s become the target of everyone on the man’s payroll—and corruption has permeated the highest ranks. Fortunately for Gail, a stranger is keeping watch…
Haunted by tragedy and seeking revenge, business tycoon Jason Hawke joined the Justice Hunters, a secret organization dedicated to maintaining law and order. He’ll do everything in his power to make sure Gail stays alive long enough to put the crime boss away for good. Even if it means keeping her with him day and night…
My Review
Deciding on the rating for this one was tough. I ping-ponged between a 2 & 3 for a while before settling where I did. So I guess now I’d better explain that the reason I did was because I realised I had way more that bugged me about the book, and when I tried to think of what I liked about the book, I struggled. Big time. Even though it couldn’t have been that bad–because I read on, after all.
I guess the plot was okay. I kind of enjoyed the premise behind that. And it wasn’t badly executed.
However (and here come the cons), whilst I thought Angela’s character was well-rounded and pretty awesome, I had a hard time connecting with either of the characters–Jason or Gail–and found too much of it too contrite.
- The sex between them and the connection between them. Neither had any lead up to give credibility to how these could help develop the relationship that blossomed. The connection was there from the off with a singular touch. And the sex? Well … a somewhat shyly-portrayed Gail decided she wanted sex, went and found Jason, and then made him give it to her. There was literally no romantic moments whatsoever, which kind of stole away from what should have been developmental and pivotal moments.
- The action scenes. I spent every action scene wondering what was happening and who was where and who ‘he’ or ‘she’ was referring to. There just wasn’t enough clarity for me to clearly follow and I popped out the other side of each one scratching my head over what exactly had happened in each one.
- The lack of foreshadowing. If asked at around 30%, I could probably have named Dunne as the bad guy in the Alliance. The reader couldn’t have been smacked any harder upside the head with what had the potential to be a shock factor.
- The sudden declarations. After a few days of intensity together (and I don’t mean intensity in the bedroom), Gail decides to propose to Jason before the mission is even finished, in front of his team, because she decided whilst bondaged by the bad guys that she wanted to have his babies. Um …
But … all of that said, there was something almost endearing about the book, because I did read on until the end. Maybe I just needed to see if my suspicions were correct.
Of course, this is just one persons opinion and I always encourage other readers to make up their own minds. 
My rating: 2.5
Have you read this title? What’d you think?
