Published: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0425273777
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Print
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address: Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com
FOUR-1/2 HEARTS
Jessica Harlow and John Shepherd met six years ago in the most
unlikely of places—the FBI academy. It
wasn’t quite a love match…more like a hate at first sight match. Highly
competitive, both determined to be the best in the class, they were a prime
example of oil and water…not to be mixed.
Now, they meet again.
This time it is in the aftermath of Jessica’s divorce and John having
walked in on his girlfriend in the middle of sex with one of his best friends.
Worse than having to work in the same office, they are assigned to go
undercover together to bring down a corrupt politician. Can they put aside their personal distaste or
each other long enough to do the job?
I read and enjoyed one of Julie James’s earlier books several
years ago so when I saw THE THING ABOUT LOVE I thought I’d give it a read. I’m
glad I did.
THE THING ABOUT LOVE can be read as a straight contemporary
romance or you can take in the deeper nuances of not only the relationship
between John and Jessica, but their own personal challenges.
James writes a terrific character driven story. I loved how James developed John Shepherd’s
personality. He’s not just an absolutely gorgeous hottie, he’s one of the truly
good guys. She gives him a vulnerability
that makes you want to reach into the pages and be there for him. When he walks in on his girlfriend in bed
with his friend he’s hurt and angry—and moves on. But he not only moves on, he
takes what he experienced and offers some solid advice to Jessica. He opens
himself up to her despite their heated past. He’s not afraid to confront his personal
demons and to go after what he wants, even if he could get hurt again.
Jessica as well has a wonderful inner strength but sometimes is
so busy fighting to be the smart, independent one that she forgets it can be
okay to let someone else step up and help you get where you are going. Jessica and John are two sides of the same
coin and James has some terrific character development through their
relationship with each other.
While I enjoyed the descriptions of the different FBI divisions
and the training the agents go through for each of them, there were points that
the straight narrative did get a tad boring. I wanted to get back to what was
going on with Jessica and John rather than read the procedural narrative.
A fun read with great characters and a super story line.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment