What a book about nothing! Now, I don't object to books about nothing - I've read my share of series romances that were simple getting to know you stories and fluffy as can be, but those were usually romantic comedies. This is a serious book where the hero and heroine are supposed to be in danger, but from the way they act you wouldn't believe it. They mostly moon around and boink a lot. And as thin as this book (the eighth in the A Year of Loving Dangerously miniseries) is, I suppose that last sentence is a spoiler.

SPEAR agent Marcus Waters is hanging around the Wedgewood Falls Resort with some of his his fellow agents. Simon the terrorist has been sighted in the vicinity and they are keeping an eye open in case he makes a move. SPEAR knows that Simon needs money and they expect him to try something.

As Marcus walks along the beach, he sees what looks like a bundle of seaweed, but when he goes to investigate it, it turns out to be a young woman. Marcus takes her to his cottage, washes the salt and weeds off her, getting thoroughly aroused in the process.

The young woman is Jessica Burke, a PhD. student who has been studying the local coral reef for her dissertation. When she comes to, she tells Marcus that she was kidnapped by a couple of men who mentioned working for Simon. Marcus tells her that he is in law enforcement and the plan is for her to let her parents know she is safe, but she has to stay in the cottage and out of sight to lure Simon into the open.

Well, you can guess what happens. The vast majority of the book goes something like this:

Marcus: "I'm too old, I'm too jaded, I'm no good for you."
Jessica: "I want you."
They make love.
Marcus: "I'm too old, I'm too jaded, I'm no good for you."
Jessica: "I want you."
They make love.
Repeat several times.

As has been the case in almost all the books in this series, there is very little action and it all happens off stage. We don't see Jonah the mysterious head of SPEAR at all, and Simon is absent - they talk about him and he was behind Jessica's kidnapping, but that is all.

Marcus is a stick figure without a particle of originality. He has the saving quality of not being a jerk, but that's about it. Jessica is a little better, but not much. She is intelligent and brave, but there is nothing to distinguish her or make her at all memorable. The two of them spend almost the entire book in a fog of hormomes that at times make them both act TSTL. If you are in public and know there is the chance that a terrorist is nearby and you are the bait to lure him, would you be alert and watchful or would you be thinking about how all you want to do is rip off your clothes and boink right now?

The next book in the series takes place in a cattle station and the heroine is the daughter of an enemy agent. At the rate this series is going, I'm not getting my hopes up, but I do remain optomistic that sometime it has to get interesting. So, I'll see you next month. Stay tuned.