Review: Bound to Danger by Katie Reus

Bound to Danger
Author: Katie Reus
Reviewer: Gikany & Una
Rating: B

What We’re Talking About:

Bound to Danger is the second novel in the new Deadly Ops series by Katie Reus.  We are enjoying her new military suspense romance series and liked this sequel to Targeted.

In this story we follow Maria, the daughter of wealthy parents who works at a community center for trouble children.  Maria’s mother and a number of Miami’s wealthy citizens are killed in a terrorist bombing during a party.  Maria is the sole survivor, but she cannot remember why she was not inside the mansion when it exploded.  Cade is the NSA agent assigned to find out why Maria survived.  However, Cade also has personal reasons for wanting to be in on this case.  He has never forgotten Maria, the younger sister of his best friend in the service.  Although he feels that he is not worthy of her because of his guilt over the death of her brother, Riel, he feels the need to protect her from this terrorist threat.

Maria and Cade have a strong connection.  We enjoyed the use of past emails between Maria and Cade that established the growth of their feelings while Cade was serving in Afghanistan with Maria’s brother Riel. Although the emails seemed to occasionally start in the middle of a sentence (which was a bit distracting), seeing their correspondence helped to establish the romantic connection between them giving their reunited love story a stronger foundation.  Although some deeply grieving people may turn to physical distractions, Una was a little turned off by some of the romantic scenes and their place in the timeline.  However, the scenes are passionate and continue to build the connection between Maria and Cade. The reveal of Cade’s guilt at the end was a little anti-climactic (the extent of his guilt was a bit excessive, but within character), however it helped to explain his overprotectiveness of Maria and whom he trusted with her.  Gikany found Maria a little too forgiving (abruptly cutting ties is not something Gikany would forgive) but this was also in keeping with her character development.

One item we do want to highlight is Ms. Reus’ antagonist in Bound to Danger.  For the first time we found ourselves sympathizing with the bad guys.  Well, strike that, one of the bad guys.  Ms. Reus did a very thorough job in giving us the character development of one of the main two antagonists and doing so very succinctly.  His story gave us pause as we journeyed through the novel.  We understood his motivations, were touched by his guilt and sorrow at the loss of innocents but understood his mission and the acceptance he had of that weight.  We almost hoped for a role reversal at the end and were dismayed at how the end played out.  Justice was served, but we had hoped it could have turned out differently.

Although there were some odd moments and rough spots for both Gikany and Una, they did not detract from our enjoyment of the novel.  The story of Cade and Maria woven into the terrorist plot was engrossing.  Being able to revisit Jack and Sophie (the previous protagonists from Targeted) was a definite treat.  We feel this is a great series to take with you on vacation or poolside for an afternoon escape.  The action and suspense is balanced nicely with the romance overall.  We look forward to the next title in the Deadly Ops series.

Our Rating:  B, Liked It

About the Book:

At a benefit dinner, community activist Maria Cervantes overhears two men plotting a terrorist attack that could rock Miami to its core. But before she can alert authorities, she’s almost killed in a massive explosion—and wakes up in a hospital with no memory of what happened. As the sole survivor of the attack, she is now a person of interest to the NSA—and especially to Agent Cade O’Reilly. Because Maria is the one woman Cade has never been able to forget.

Years ago, they were closer than either was willing to admit—until Cade disappeared when Maria needed him most. Now he’s sticking by her, whether she likes it or not. Because the memories locked inside her mind could hold vital clues to the next attack. Because terrorists want her dead—and because he never wants to let her go again.

Release Date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: Signet
Series: Deadly Ops #2
ISBN: #978-0451419224
Genre: Military Romance
Format(s): paperback (352 pages), e-book
Book Source: Publisher/NetGalley

Purchase Info:
Bound to Danger (Deadly Ops #2)

Reviews in the Series:
Targeted by Katie Reus (Deadly Ops #1)