Reading Between the Wines Book Club: Review: Cover Me by Catherine Mann

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Review: Cover Me by Catherine Mann

Cover Me
(Elite Force #1)
by Catherine Mann
Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
Published July 1st 2011 by Sourcebooks Casablanca (first published May 28th 2011)
ISBN 1402244959

The 300 pararescue jumpers (PJs) in the world are the most elite force in the U.S. military, trained in high-risk rescue, and have never been featured in a romantic suspense series.PJ Wade Rocha is fast roping from a helicopter into a blizzard to rescue stranded climbers when he meets beautiful Sunny Foster, who insists she can take care of herself just fine. As the snowstorm kicks into overdrive, she and Wade must take to the frozen wilderness in a race against time...and their own explosive passions.

GoodReads
Purchase at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

My Thoughts:
High altitude danger, riveting suspense and scorching romance, Cover Me was a book that I couldn’t put down!

Pararescue Jumper, Wade Rocha, is in Alaska on a training mission when his team gets the call to pick up a stranded group of climbers. When he parachutes down towards the last figure he sees Wade finds the beautiful Sunny Foster and her dog Chewie, who do not want nor need his help. But when somebody takes a shot at them and a lot of the woman’s story just doesn’t seem to add up, Wade decides to stick close to her no matter what she wants. And if he gets to explore the chemistry he feels sizzling between them then all the better.
Sunny Foster does not plan to get close to the handsome PJ who is an outsider to her town and a threat to her whole way of life ‘off the grid’. She is torn between the attraction she feels for Wade though and a duty to her brother. When they stumble upon a frozen grave of former town’s people Sunny knows that she must put her trust in Wade and his military team to discover the culprit behind a sinister plot, even if that means revealing the skeletons in her own back yard.

Wade lives by the PJ motto, “That Others May Live.” Strong, honorable, sexy and determined, author Catherine Mann brings this hunky hero to life from the pages. His character instantly grabbed my attention from the first page; his past demons grabbed at my heart and his heroism made me want strand myself on a freezing cold mountain in hopes that a sexy PJ would come rescue me! Sunny is a guide for her town, living off the grid has made her fiercely independent and protective of her family and town, and very untrusting of outsiders. However, she’s not stupid and knows when she needs help. I really liked Sunny’s personality and her ability to take care of herself for the most part but not being too stubborn to accept help. Sunny and Wade’s relationship developed quickly but it was all very open and upfront, which was refreshing to read. Together they sizzled and I was certain that they would melt the icy mountains around them!
The murder plot added some great tension and though you knew right away who most of the villains were, the story still kept you on the edge with what they would do next and who would come out ahead. Sunny’s secrets did hinder the expectation a little bit and slowed the story down somewhat. Still, Cover Me had the perfect mix of suspense and romance with detailed and authentic world-building for the icing on the cake.
Also, there was a secondary storyline with Sunny’s sister, Misty, and her ex, Flynn, that was quite captivating and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster in itself. I really felt for the pair. The dynamics between Wade’s pararescue team was great with the banter and little jibes between them entertaining, I can’t wait to read more about each team member!

A fabulous start to the Elite Force series that is now on my must-read-series list! You can definitely tell that the author puts her heart and soul into her writing and knows what she is writing about.

Side note; this is one of those books that the cover hussy inside of me peeked her head out for. LoL I saw the cover and made a grab for it!