REVIEW BY SARAH! FADE TO BLACK BY MOLLY KATE GRAY (@transcendsdreams, @Crimson_Romance, @MollyKGray)

BLURB:

Working undercover is nothing new for DEA Agent Rory Johnston. In the years following her sister’s death, she’s been involved in investigations in more high schools and colleges than she cares to count. The case in Bourland is different, though. Not only is she supposed to find the source of the drugs on the college campus, she also has a secret assignment - find the dirty cop within the department who has been responsible for having their informants killed.

Zachary Rowlins is the officer Rory must work with in her new assignment - but for all she knows, he might be the dirty cop. When Zach is unexpectedly pulled from the case, he discovers that the corruption within the department goes much deeper than either of them suspected. Zach finds himself in a race against time to save his partner knowing one thing - if he loses Rory, he’ll lose more than just a partner. He’ll lose his future as well.

REVIEW BY SARAH:

Rory Johnston (a.k.a. Kennedy O’Donovan) is an undercover agent going into a university to find out who’s dealing the ecstasy that’s been killing students, including her twin sister. Her partners, Christian O’Donovan and Zachary Rowlins, the lead detectives on the case in the narcotics unit, aren’t too happy to have her there. Christian is pissed because she’s his half-sister, and Zach is upset… well, I won’t reveal too much.

As Rory gets deeper into the university, into the party scene, and into the theater department, she gets deeper into trouble. While the mystery is a little shaky, the romance between Rory and Zach is fiery hot.

Rory, who is only 22, is one of those wish-I-could-be-her characters, in a totally good way. She is an undercover agent (though not a full cop), a genius, and a brilliant actress, but she has enough flaws to keep her balanced – including claustrophobia and a fear of water. Zachary, while totally hot, sexy, and smart, has his flaws as well, rounding him out to make him believable. Overall, the characters in this book are great, though I wish the antagonists had a little more motivation. Or, that it was developed more.

The plot was a little slow. There was so much great character development, though, that it keeps you turning pages. A little adjustment to the mystery, throw in some minor catastrophes, and Ms. Gray’s got a real winner for sure. One thing I think Ms. Gray did really well -and it’s not an easy thing to do well either – is switching the point of view to different characters to give different points of view. I was never confused about whose eyes we were looking through.

As a romance, I give this book 5 Zs, and as a mystery, 4 Zs, for a total of 4.5 Zs. Definitely worth reading. I am definitely recommending this book to my friends when it comes out!

Rated 5 Z's