ARC-Review: INTIMATE ENEMIES by Joan Swan

She is on a quest for answers; answers that could just get her killed.

Six months after the mysterious yacht explosion that killed Cassie Christo’s mother and stepbrother, authorities still have no answers to the cause. Searching for closure, Cassie returns to her childhood home on the Pacific Coast of Baja, Mexico, where she launches her own investigation into the accident. She never expected to find an adversary in the man who had once touched her heart with kindness in her darkest moment.

Rio’s been fantasizing about reconnecting with Cassie for months. But not here and sure as hell not now. As an undercover agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he’s working the biggest sting operation in all of northern Mexico, and he definitely doesn’t have time for the wild attraction he feels for Cassie.

Not only is his cover on the line, so is his heart. Because as the end of a yearlong operation draws closer, Rio knows if he tells Cassie the truth about who and what he is, it won’t only jeopardize his mission, it may result in him losing her forever. And if he doesn’t, his lies and deception could get them both killed.

Title: INTIMATE ENEMIES
Author: Joan Swan
Series: Covert Affairs, book 1
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Self-Published
Year of release: 2012, July 20
Format: eBook
Source: Received an e-ARC for review from the author

First line:
Cassie Christo navigated the desolate stretch of northern Baja highway, surrounded by the darkest night she could ever remember.

Last line:
“Because I plan to make it stick for a long, long time.”

Memorable Scenes:
– Cassie & Rio’s first time together > very sexy!
– the plot wrap-up chapters > the excitement and tension had me on the edge of my seat.

Make sure you come back Sunday August 5th for a great excerpt from this book and a chance to win one of two e-copies Joan Swan has generously offered for commenters. Please note that comments on this review will earn you an extra entry for the giveaway on Sunday! 

Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Christo is emergency physician. Daughter of a well-to-do mother who married a bad, bad man, now after her mother’s suspicious death she sets out to get justice and kick her stepfather out of her house. Cassie is tenacious, smart and stubborn. Sometimes a bit more stubborn than is good for her.

Rio Santana (real name: Cordova) is an undercover ICE-agent. He’s confident and secretive and a man of mystery and many faces. He’s torn between his feelings for Cassie and protecting her on one side and doing his undercover job and protecting his cover on the other side.

Gangs, terrorists, lethal explosions, human trafficking, an evil stepfather, undercover agents, romance…at first I was wondering how it was all going to link together as there’s a lot of information to process in the first few chapters.

The plot is fairly clear from the start, as you know what Cassie is up against and what’s going on. I must say found this refreshing as many romantic suspense novels have you guessing and I’m bad at guessing. This way I could sit back and enjoy watching the plot unfold and the villain get what he deserved.

The pace is rather slower than I’m used to for a romantic suspense and there were moments in the story (after the first few chapters) I wished it would pick up a bit more in the action as the lusty back and forth yearning between Rio and Cassie took the upper hand. It was here that I struggled a bit with the book but about halfway through the book the turning point came when the action kicked up a notch and the plotlines started to fall into place.

By the time I was at the final few chapters I was reading the suspense with abated breath and taking in the romance with a silent sigh. It played before my eyes like a movie and I could so see this book turned into something for the big screen.

I’m so glad it’s mentioned that this is book one in this series because there are quite some secondary characters that either surprised the heck out of me or really intrigued me and I’m very curious to read their stories.

INTIMATE ENEMIES is a good first book of a series. Despite the slow pace at first this book kept me glued to the pages as I wanted to know the stories behind the subtle clues dropped here and there in the dialogues and POVs. Joan Swan’s writing has a way of hooking you and not letting go until the story is finished.

Favorite Quotes:

(Rio bugged Cassie’s cell and is listening in on a call to Natalie)
“ But I did kiss him,” she continued in that delicious I-couldn’t-get-enough tone. “And oh my God is right. You know how you can tell how good a guy will be in bed by the way they kiss?”
What? Electricity arced through his body. Something about the words how good a guy will be in bed coming out of Cassie’s mouth made him feel like a rocket ready to launch.
“ This guy would be… will be …off the damn charts—the back-arching, toe-curling, sheet-fisting, multi-orgasmic charts.”

Without waiting for Saul to answer, she turned to Rio. Her warm gaze traveled the length of his body, slowly, as if she were taking in every detail. Before he could turn or move behind the chair to his right, she paused at his hips. His muscles tightened with excitement. Maybe nerves. But hell if he knew why. Her gaze lingered there, and her hand resting on the sofa tightened in the soft leather, then released. His body responded as if her fingers had been on his c#ck. An electric shot of lust ripped through his groin and straight up his chest, wrapped around his heart, and pushed it into a quick, tripping rhythm.

He held fast as his own climax shot through him in a brutal, searing blast of pleasure. Ripples of excitement continued long after. Tiny bursts of pure, vivid satisfaction. His chest heaved for air, carrying Cassie on the rise and fall where she lay against him, limp.

Emotion geysered up from deep inside him. So deep he hadn’t seen it lurking. The sensations and feelings ambushed him all at once, a blitz attack that overwhelmed and shattered every barrier.