Trace of Fever by Lori Foster

This is book two of the Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor series and, in my opinion, felt much more like romantic suspense than the first book, and that made me very happy.

Trace Rivers has every reason to be angry, and he’d made it his life’s mission to bring down organizations like the one that kidnapped his sister, Alani. She was taken by human traffickers and ended up in Tijuana where in book one of the series, When You Dare, she was rescued by Dare Macintosh, a friend and colleague of Trace’s.

Murray Colburn is Trace’s current target, and he’s managed to infiltrate the organization as Murray’s number one body guard where he’s able to get information on when the next “transaction” will be taking place. Everything is going according to plan and nothing, nothing is going to stand in the way of Trace making sure Murray pays for his crimes. But, in walks Priscilla “Priss” Patterson, claiming to be Murray’s daughter, and no matter how hard Trace tries to scare her off, she’s not about to walk away. She has an agenda of her own, one that could end up getting them both killed.

So, there were things I loved about this story and things that just didn’t work for me. I think Trace was an amazing hero. He’s incredibly sexy, and just oozes testosterone. He has the edginess and the intense focus on his mission that made him the kind of guy I can believe will get the job done. He’s not stupid, doesn’t take unnecessary chances, but it’s clear that he’s willing to risk his own life to rid the world of people like Murray. And the story worked for me, with the exception of Helena, Murray’s on call sex goddess. She was over the top bizarre and I really couldn’t imagine that someone in Murray’s line of work would keep someone as volatile and freaky as her around, no matter how good her blow jobs were.

But let’s talk about our Priss. She’s another heroine that just didn’t quite cut it for me. I didn’t feel like she was nearly as dense as Molly was in book one, and I truly mean no disrespect here, but I’ve decided that based on the first two books, this series could also be called Women Who Walk the Edge of Stupidity because once again, we have a female who just wouldn’t stay out of trouble, and in doing so not only threatens to expose Trace’s mission, but puts many lives at risk, especially Trace’s. Sure, she had her own agenda, and damn good reasons for wanting to bring Murray down, but still I found myself shaking my head at some of - most of - her choices.

I didn’t really feel a connection to the characters or their relationship. I mean, yeah, Trace loves Priss and Priss loves Trace, so that’s all that should matter, right? Well, when I’m reading a story, I really need to be convinced of what the author is trying to sell, and in this case, I just barely bought into their happily ever after.

Overall, this was pretty good read and thanks to Trace, a solid 4 stars. I loved him and his sexy sexiness, and I’m really looking forward to reading about Jackson Savor in Savor the Danger.

This book was provided to me for review by netgalley.com and had no bearing on my rating.