Moving Target – Cheyenne McCray

COMING OUT OF THE DARK
Ani King left her entire life behind when the Russian Mafia brutally murdered her family. The Witness Security Program has kept her safe for two years, but with one simple phone call her cover is destroyed—and there is only one man left who can save her.

AND IN FOR THE KILL…
Protecting the brave, beautiful Ani became more than just a job a long time ago for Deputy Marshal Daniel Parker. And now, just days before the trial where she’s slated to give a damning testimony, the criminals who want her dead are on her trail. To keep Ani safe, Daniel has to keep her close—and her enemies closer. Because soon there’s nowhere for Ani to hide…but in his arms.

Anistana King (Ani) is the star witness in a trial against the Russian Mafia family that killed her family. She has been in witness protection for the last two years but one mistake leads the Russians to her and now she must literally run for her life until she can testify at the trial.
Daniel Parker is the U.S. Marshal assigned to Ani. When he finds out her identity has been compromised he does everything in his power to keep her safe until her testimony can put her family’s murderer behind bars. And the criminals will do everything to keep Ani from testifying.
But the stakes are higher than just the trial and the testimony. In the two years they have known each other they have fallen in love so it’s not just their lives at stake but also their hearts and Daniel’s job are on the line.

Where I had doubts and wasn’t undividedly enthusiastic about the first romantic thriller I read by Cheyenne McCray, she really outdid herself with this second one.
Maybe it was because of the subject change. The other book was about a protecting a woman who escaped a cult and MOVING TARGET was about protecting a star witness for a trial against the Russian Mafia. I’ve always been fascinated by everything to do with law, law enforcement and trials so this plot was really right up my alley.
Suffice to say that I absolutely liked this book better than CHOSEN PREY

What goes for the plot also goes for the characters if I compare the two books. I loved Ani way more than I did Lyra and the inconsistence in the character development that bothered me in CHOSEN PREY wasn’t present in this book. The characters were great and especially Ani. She was strong, incredibly brave and resilient. She didn’t hesitate to put Daniel in his place when she thought he had done something unforgivable in her eyes but she was also woman enough to forgive him when it turned out it wasn’t his fault. And I could just picture Daniel as the Deputy Marshal in his black suit and dark glasses guarding Ani. He was endearing in his feelings for Ani, but a strong and capable professional at the same time.

The focus of the book is mainly on the primary couple, there are some secondary characters that play a role in the plot and they are well written but not deepened out. This didn’t bother me though because with the plot and the characters there was plenty to keep my attention in a tight grasp throughout the whole book.
The research McCray did into WITSEC (witness protection), U.S. Marshals, law enforcement and court law was thorough and very impressive, providing a believable and very realistic plot. It was an action-packed book with car chases, bullets flying and cars exploding, nothing was shunned to try and get Ani eliminated before she can point her family’s killer. And all this action was perfectly mixed with the romantic aspects of the book, creating a nice balance between heart-pounding and fast-paced action and erotic, lascivious love scenes. The chemistry between Ani and Daniel was sizzling and very explicit as I’m used to by Cheyenne McCray.

Though in my opinion the Magic series still has points over the romantic suspense books I must say that I truly enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more along this line by Cheyenne McCray.

Quote:
Sensations combined to put her on overload. Perspiration coated her body. Fire licked at her veins. Heat burned beneath her skin.