Full Speed Ahead - Merline Lovelace (Merline Lovelace - Sept 2025)

She came to catch a traitor. What she found was trouble, temptation—and a man too dangerous to resist.
 
At the elegant Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama, the world's top scientists have gathered for a high-stakes summit. But behind the scenes, a covert task force hunts a traitor ready to sell America's secrets to the highest bidder.
 
NCIS Special Agent Elizabeth Stanton is sharp, relentless, and used to getting her man. So when she spots the suspect her team has been on the lookout for, she doesn't hesitate to act—with a takedown that lands biotech executive Dave Andrews flat on his back.
 
Only Dave isn't the enemy. He's the developer of the sensitive technology now in danger, and he's just as determined as Liz to find the real mole. With the clock ticking and tensions running high, Liz and Dave form an uneasy alliance that quickly sparks into something hotter than the Alabama sun. But trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Especially when secrets, and lives are on the line.
 
Good, fast-paced, and action-filled story. Liz's assignment: find and stop the man they suspect of selling secrets to the enemy. But not everything is what it seems to be. I loved her ruse to get close to him, and the surprise effect it had on her. However, the confrontation doesn't go as planned, and she discovers her suspect is the victim and equally determined to find the traitor.
 
Dave is the creator of the endangered technology and is furious about the threat. He and Liz team up by pretending to be a couple, using it to conceal their actions. Neither expected the sparks that flared between them. Each has been burned by failed relationships, so they are wary of moving too fast. As the book only covers a couple of days, I like that they acknowledge something is there and that they want to pursue it. They just need to survive to do so.
 
The suspense was good. It kept me turning the pages to see how it would end. I'll admit to figuring out the culprit pretty quickly, though I wasn't sure how the theft would take place. The ending was intense and had me on the edge of my seat until it was over.
 
I loved the conclusion, and the last page made me laugh out loud. 

 
 
 
 

Hunted on the Bay - Amber Leigh Williams (HRS #2230 - May 2023)

Untangling her past
With dangerous consequences
 
When Desiree Gardet finds herself on the shores of Mobile Bay, she's there to claim what's rightfully hers. But soon she is engulfed in a mystery about her past…with handsome bar owner William Leighton as her only guide. If Fairhope once seemed like a refuge, what insidious forces compelled Dez to flee there? And can she trust kind, sexy William with the entire truth?
 
Good book with intriguing characters. Desiree arrived in Fairhope with one thing on her mind - retrieving the car that should have been hers after her mother's death, even if that meant stealing it. But the heist didn't go quite as she had expected, and Desiree finds herself absorbed into the local community and learning things she never knew about her mother. However, someone from her past has other ideas.
 
William spotted Desiree trying to take his car and stopped her. But instead of turning her in to the police, he talks her into sticking around and finding out how and why her mom's car ended up there. There's something about her that draws him in.
 
I loved watching William and Desiree's relationship develop. He is patient, kind, and an all-around nice guy. Desiree's past left her believing she can only depend on herself and trust no one. I loved his easy way of watching over her, encouraging her without pushing her, and being the support she needs and hasn't had in a long time. I loved seeing her lose some of her wariness and discover that she no longer had to be alone.
 
The suspense was good, more of a psychological suspense than a whodunit. Her mother's past and secrets caused problems for Desiree that she'd been running from for years. Here, she had the opportunity to have those questions answered and put that past behind her. However, someone has their own version of the past and is bent on revenge. The escalating attacks put more than Desiree in danger, and there were multiple occasions where survival was doubtful. The final confrontation had me glued to the pages until it was over.
 
I will watch to see if William's brother Finnian gets his story.