BURNOUT
Series: NYPD Blue & Gold #1
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Author: Tee O’Fallon
Release Date: June 13th 2016
Sexy-as-sin Police Chief Mike Flannery knows the new arrival to Hopewell Springs is trouble. She has a smoking-hot body and a quick wit…and he’ll be damned if that’s not a turn-on. But this former NYPD cop and small-town heartthrob has been burned before, and there’s no way he’ll let that happen again.
New York City Detective Cassie Yates is on the run. A six-month undercover sting in a sleazy bar seemed like a textbook arrest—but now there’s a hit out on her. Armed with fake ID, her K-9 companion, and a police-issued SUV, she flees to a quiet upstate town where she trades her badge and gun for a spatula, finally finding peace in the dream she tossed aside to follow her family into law enforcement.
There’s no denying the fire and ice between them. But as the hired assassin closes in, Mike’s past comes roaring back and secrets are revealed in an explosion destined to tear them apart—if not destroy them.
Who read this book because they were totally lured in by a hot cover?
What? Have you seen those abs? I’m weak, mkay! But I digress…
I love a good romantic suspense, and aside from the extremely hot cover, I was really intrigued by the blurb here. A tough as nails NYC detective meets small town Police Chief that’s running from a painful past of his own? Yes please!
The sparks between these two were instant, but it was a slow burn, which I also appreciated. Cassie may be a cop herself but her aversion to dating other cops makes Mike both suspicious and intrigued. He doesn’t know where the beautiful newcomer came from or what secrets she’s hiding, but he knows that there’s a whole lot more to the story that meets the eye.
Cassie is burned out by her job and her quiet reprieve in the small upstate town is just what she needs. Now if only she can figure out who put the hit out on her after what they all assumed was a successful undercover sting. It doesn’t take her long to figure out that Mike is unlike most cops she knows and she can’t deny the sizzling chemistry between them. She wants to come clean and tell him everything, but can she trust him.
Mike has a history of his own that causes him to mistrust. If anything, this is actually the one thing that ultimately brought my rating down. I didn’t understand his extreme reaction to the situation with him and Cassie. While I get that he was betrayed in the worst ways in his past, the situations weren’t as remotely similar as he was treating them to be. It was over the top and an exercise in frustration waiting for him to finally get his head out of his past and actually see reason. A little too long for my tastes, actually.
Burnout was a well paced suspense plot with just enough romance and steam weaved into it to make it a highly entreating read. There were two secondary characters introduced that I’d love a book for, so I’m hoping this will actually be a series. Tee O’Fallon is a new to me author, but she’s definitely one to watch out for and I’d gladly read any of her future releases.
