Betrayed By a Kiss by Kris Rafferty

Item: Betrayed by a Kiss
Rating: 3
Author: Sparkles

September 6, 2016 Sparkles Book Review 0 ★★★

Betrayed by a Kiss by Kris Rafferty
Series: An Unlikely Hero #1
Published by Entangled Publishing on August 29th 2016
Genres: Suspense
Pages: 270
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Marnie Somerville is sure Dane MacLain is just another bad guy. Her job as resident investigator at Whitman Enterprises is to track down the owners of delinquent accounts, but something about Dane’s case is off, and Marnie can’t resist a good mystery. The secret files and cover-up she finds after hacking her boss’s computer are more than she expected, and now she’s fleeing her former employer...right into Dane’s arms.
Former detective Dane MacLain has spent the last year gathering intel against Whitman Enterprises, the company he believes responsible for his wife’s death. When a beautiful and intense woman shows up with information, Dane is willing to accept all she has to offer, especially when the help comes in such a sexy package. Caught in a deadly cat and mouse chase, Dane must do everything he can to protect Marnie as they run for their lives.

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Betrayed By a Kiss is certainly a strong book in the action and suspense front with its secret conspiracy plotline, but I must confess that it fell off the mark in the romance department for me. Do you remember that old action movie with Silvester Stalone and Sandra Bullock where you just don’t buy into them ending as a romantic couple? Well, that was kind of my feeling here.

The story starts with a bang, literally, when we meet Marnie with a gunshot wound escaping her shooter and trying to warn Dane about the company she was working at. A former hacker, she was trying her hand at honest work… only to find out nothing was as it seemed. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t set to correct the wrongs she had been unknowingly responsible for until she made sure Dane was safe from the same people that were now gunning for her.

Dane is more than taken aback by the exotic beauty that seemingly comes to his rescue. It takes some serious action for him to believe in Marnie’s warning, but soon the veracity of her claims is more than confirmed.

Now a reluctant team, Marnie and Dane will have to work together to uncover the truth behind this evil corporation and gather enough hard evidence for justice to prevail. This turns more difficult than either had ever foreseen as the web of deceit they’re caught in gets more and more complicated.

Dane was a good hero. As an ex-cop, in the beginning, he had some reservations about Marnie’s way of going at their problem. Soon though he is changing his tune, as the intrigue goes deeper and he doesn’t know who he can trust. He was set on freeing his family, or what was left of it, from the reaches of these people. And if Marnie was the only way to get them, then he’d do whatever he had to.

“Sorry. Having an identity crisis. Preventing crime was my job – now I’m the criminal. I’ll adjust.”

Marnie had grown in the streets, giving her a tougher than steel attitude and a gigantic penchant to keeping people at a distance. She was rough around the edges, mouthy and smart, but hid a softer than marshmallow caring heart.

Though her attachment to Dane was done in a believable way, I never really connected to either of them, making their relationship hard to accept. For this reason, their time together to me felt like a lot of telling I was nowhere near involved with.

In a nutshell, Betrayed by a Kiss has a great action/suspense story that would translate brilliantly to one of those action movies that keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing at what’s going on from start to finish. As a romantic suspense novel it’s ok, with likable characters and enough intrigue to keep you turning the pages. All in all an interesting enough read to pass the time.

Sparkles’ Rating: 3 “I still don’t get the title” Stars