The last thing he wants to do is play bodyguard to the woman who broke his heart.
As the wife of a pioneer in the field of biotechnology, Katherine Stallworth had an up-close view of the ugly underbelly of corporate espionage and the cutthroat nature of competition. When her husband is murdered and her life threatened, she turns to Raheem Miller, the one man she can trust—despite their sordid past.
Years ago, Raheem fell in love with Katherine—older, sophisticated, and way out of his league. And nothing has changed. While he’d rather avoid this assignment, he’ll never forgive himself if anything happened to her. In the middle of conducting an investigation into her husband’s death, he discovers a conspiracy that could rock the very foundation of the United States.
Now he must bring the culprits to justice while keeping Katherine alive and his desire in check. Easier said than done.
Delaney Diamond is the USA Today Bestselling Author of more than 60 contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels, and dozens of romance short stories. She reads romance novels, mysteries, thrillers, and a fair amount of nonfiction. When she’s not spinning tales of romantic fiction, she’s in the kitchen trying out new recipes, dining at one of her favorite restaurants, or traveling to an interesting locale. She enjoys learning about time management and ways to increase productivity and shares her recommendations on her For Authors page at delaneydiamond.com. She also offers self-publishing consultations, leveraging her extensive experience to guide and support authors through the publishing process.
Any man I've met named Raheem was alpha hot. This Raheem give new meaning to hotness. In this story Raheem had to save the woman he used to be entangled with after a tragic event. Katherine had to call on her former lover after her husband had an unfortunate event occur. Katherine's husband was much older with grown sons who did not care too much for his young wife. By the way- what happened to the sons? They just disappeared within the pages. Oh well, anyway, in the process of keeping Katherine safe, Raheem's old feelings left lingering resurfaced in full force. The story is fast-paced, with quick lane changes at maximum speed. You will enjoy this storyline. Cruz and the fellas drop in to assist Raheem take down 'the man' lol😀.
DNF @ 25%. I am NOT feeling Raheem and Katherine. Older woman/younger man romance is one of my favorite tropes but this one is dry, dry, dry. I feel like the attraction is being forced on us cause I sure as hell don't see ANY chemistry. But we keep being told how much Katherine misses Raheem's touch and how turned on Raheem is by Katherine's body, voice etc. Ion't see it. At all. Annnnddd....it's kind of messed up that their previous relationship was a 1 year affair - yep they were getting it in while Katherine was married to another man. Even that was boring.
Plot: Katherine hires old flame Raheem to be her bodyguard when her husband is murdered. Then they work together to uncover high-stakes corporate espionage with a very high body count.
Overall: It’s a little clunky
The premise for this romance is pretty interesting. Not for the suspense plot (which is a standard high-stakes biological warfare kind of situation), but the romance itself. You see, Katherine and Raheem met eight years ago, and carried on a year-long affair. They parted ways when Katherine declined to leave her (much older and very rich) husband. Now Katherine is newly widowed and worried about her safety, so she calls Raheem (who happens to work for an elite security firm). I don’t think I’ve seen many second chance romances between a formerly married protagonist and their affair partner, but lest you get your panties in a bunch, Katherine’s husband turned out to be Not Great, so of course Katherine deserves a chance at love.
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So, a few reasons for the DNF. I don't know how far I got - but all of it was bad.
I don't love bodyguard romances already because IMO they're unethical - the bodyguard [or personal security or personal protection - whatever] - person is distracted and emotionally entangled. And the dude EVEN SAYS SO but the woman is just like "whatever aren't you a professional" which ... THAT'S WHAT HE'S TRYING TO BE, BITCH.
And then she gets all mad at him when he tries to do his job. Which ... uh...
And then - it turns out - so they had an affair a few years ago. He was ~new on the job ... she was ... married to her husband who gets murdered [or was murdered?] like right at the start of the book. Sooooo... yeah. [I'm sure we eventually find out she has a great " " reason for cheating but...]
seriously though it's so annoying - it really read like the ~heroine was treating her personal protecting like a dating service. And ... HELLO SOMEONE IS PROBABLY TRYING TO KILL YOU? It was all just - "just" super annoying and irritating and I couldn't really see how ...
like OBVIOUSLY there was still attraction but there was A LOT of acrimony there and ... then my library loan ended so that was basically decision made.
Hair raising, nail biting, on the edge of the seat excitement. Each twist and turn, car chase or move to keep from drowning raised my level of suspense while wondering if Raheem and Katherine would escape the many attempts on their lives by a ruthless, greedy, power hungry pair of old men. One of which was a misplaced respected politician and the other simply an arrogant, think himself smarter than the average bear who of course was also a greedy and power grasping jealous poor excuse of a human being. I love the way they were all dealt with in the end. A really great suspense novel with some great sex scenes between Raheem and Katherine interspersed between their successful mission to stay alive and protect millions of innocent lives. Just an aside, this so reminds me of what I believe was a manmade virus that so far has taken just shy of seven hundred thousand lives right here in the US of A. Funny how art has a tendency to imitate life isn't it? Score another number one best seller for the great and prolific Delaney Diamond!!!! I am so stoked with this novel.
Action packed. Loved the pacing of the story and the twists and turns. The romance between Raheem and Katherine wasn’t really my cup of tea. I didn’t have the desire to see them end up together. Maybe because it started from cheating. Or maybe it’s the fact that whenever they were together, I really didn’t get to understand the reason why Katherine cheated in the first place on her husband, if Raheem even considered her cheating a character flaw, or whether he felt even guilty for cheating with her. It all seemed that the cheating was normal with no inner reflection. I don’t know but I just couldn’t invest emotionally in them as a couple. Why should I believe that either won’t cheat when things get a bit rough in the future? This is the first time I’ve read a book from DD where I didn’t feel the couple at all. However, that being said, the entire plot overshadowed my lack of investment in the romance plot. It was an amazing action thriller. I actually liked the storyline.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Delaney Diamond has provided us much to think about when it comes to scientific research, implementation and its impact on the world. While Raheem and Katherine are the center of this epic suspense romance its the backdrop of chemical Warfare, greed and threat to humanity that draws you in. From the onset your mind just takes you on the journey of possibilities, especially in this current climate of COVID-19. It has you look at things in an entirely different light. However we understand the balance of good and evil. Go on the journey of Raheem and Katherine to see how masterfully Delaney was able to intertwine a hot button topic along with how at its core can bring out the best and worst.
This book was absolutely fantastic. I have read hundreds of books and many authors need either a better editor and or just a plain overhaul of the story line because it is so unbelievable and or just bad writing. I have read all 3 books and was not let down by any of them. I loved the characters and their power. The women were beautiful, intelligent and strong. My only issue... is there were not other books already written for me to enjoy. I stayed up until 3am trying to see what the end would be. I am hooked on this journey.
This story just made me more cynical about overly ambitious politicians whose obsession for power and wealth know no bounds! They are a danger to the world.
True love always manifest itself in ways that restore my romantic belief in the circle. Everything comes back to the beginning. Lovers with history have a bond that is never truly broken.
Another masterpiece by one of my favorite authors! Two thumbs uo! 😊
The Cordoba Agency is the BEST, they are not playing. They fight till death. Raheem Cruz’s Best Friend, got a call from a old friend he never thought he would here from again. Katherine was the love of his life but she was married..when they finally stop seeing each other, he was broken hearted. But now her life was in danger and he would protect her with everything he have. Omg this book is good, suspenseful and action filled.
This series continues with the entertaining and suspenseful activity. The characters are passionate while keeping their romantic relationship anchored to keep safe. Scenes are described realistically as the chase of the fake "Brad" through the city, and crushed by a bus. The author's writing style continues to mirror a movie playing in my mind. I was intrigued because I am a scientist of 40 years and was happy that "Katherine" was a microbiologist.
This author always seems to do and excellent job blending suspense and romance. This story had espionage, murder for hire, lots of clandestine operations and a politician who believed he was untouchable. There was a nice tie in to the previous book in the series and appeances from all the characters. The romance was good and showed chemistry with a bit of heat. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
Wow…. this book good from start to finish. It had my heart racing to see what would happen next. Raheem and Katherine’s chemistry was hotter than what was cooking in those laboratories. Delaney, you did the darn thing with this book. Congratulations on another great story.
Raheem was not living his best life with the love of his life going back to her husband years ago but what a shock hearing from her in over 7 years asking for help. And he delivered! He would never let anything happen to Katherine!
The guys are back from the Cordova Agency and in for another wild ride…,,
What an exciting story of twists and turns. I am getting ready to read book 4, but I am a little disappointed that this series will end. Delaney Diamond does an excellent job of taking you into the story with her descriptive writing. I thoroughly enjoyed Raheem and Katherine’s adventure.
Katherine and Raheem's story is a action packed second chance romance. Though it is a work of fiction, it touched on real life situations. I enjoyed how Ms Diamond interwove the deadly virus drama into the romantic drama. It added meat to the story and was even more believable because blatant corruption exsit on all levels in every country. Excellent Story!
All the men are hot and tuff. Love their style and the military background. They are worst group around but are so loving to there women. Trying to save the world but also saving the love of their life. This is a really good series. On yo the next book. 📖
Cruz and the Cordoba Agency did their thing fast quite and professional as for Katherine and Raheem's relationship was flat it just didn't grab me. Would I recommend this series, yes
Excellent read, Raheem and Katherine are former lovers. When Katherine needed protection after the murder of her husband, Raheem became her bodyguard. There was lot of action in this novel.
This is an excellent series! Besides the fact that this installment was as great as the first two, the potential for more stories is tremendous. Raheem peaked my interest in the Plan B books and getting his HEA was inevitable.
Love the fast-paced action…the lively and colorful cast of Córdoba Agency series. Raheem and Katherine’s rekindled romance was not as SIZZLING and exciting as Cruz and Shanice’s romantic adventure. However, I’m still looking forward to the next book in this series.
Ms. Diamond does it again. A thrilling read with sensuous over tones. Great read. Couldn’t. Put. It. Down. Lol. Once I read the first chapter the craving for more started. Can wait to read all her books.
I really enjoyed the book. Im glad they finally got the people that tried to destroy the country. Its amazing how couples can reunite because love has a way with our hearts. Katherine and Raheem found each other again and their love.
The chemistry between these 2 were off the charts. Action, drama, romance, comedy ... it had everything. Loved that DD dared to write about a woman who had an affair with a younger man. Bravo!
This story was filled with mystery, greed, murder and renewed love. It really makes you think in stories like this ofall the backroom deal that are made in politics. I enjoyed the Cordoba series and wait patiently for what's next.
I enjoy this story of reconnecting with the love of your life. To see that person and those same old feelings start to brew within your body. I also love the danger, thrill and all consuming love this book offered. A wonderful job as always Delaney!
The author did it once more..the drama, suspense, and covert operations plus the romance and relationships under extraordinary circumstances was exciting and had me hooked to the very end. This is one of my favorite authors.😊
This story kept me engaged and wanting more! I was constantly turning the pages to see what was going to happen next! I love Raheem and Katherine was perfect for him! On to the next book! I’m loving this series!
The tension, drama, and excitement was not as intense as in book in book one and two. Yes, the agency did their to perfection. The relationship between Tandem and Katherine was lackluster. I am ready for book 4.