Anne Dirty Girls' Good Books's Reviews > Flirting with Disaster

Isabelle West is a loner. She’s an artist living out in the country in Montana. She’s also living in hiding from her previous life. When U.S. Marshal Tom Duncan knocks on her door she thinks it’s all come to an end. Then it turns out he’s only there to protect one of her neighbors, and her secret is safe after all. It would probably be wise to keep her distance from him though, right?

Tom’s gut tells him there’s more going on with Isabelle than it appears. He should probably wait to see her again until he’s done with her background check, right?

“The Big Secret” is one of my least favorite tropes in romance, but it really worked for me this time. I suppose that’s because Victoria Dahl wrote it and I feel like she writes books that were made just for me! The big secret in this case was believable to me, and even very close to the end of the book I wondered how in the world this could possible work out for Isabelle and Tom. Of course it does, and how it worked out turned out to be believable, too.

Isabelle is a great character. Despite all the crap that’s gone on in her life, she’s very confident sexually. She knows what she wants and feels no guilt about going after it. I LOVE that in a heroine!

Here’s a sample of Isabelle talking with her neighbor:
“I talked to Tom about it last night.” [Isabelle]
“Oh, you did? Now that is something I hadn’t heard.”
Isabelle shrugged. “He comes to see you, too.”
“Yes, but I’m luring him with food. What are you luring him with?”
“My tits. And my sparkling personality, I’m sure.”
“No, it’s your tits. They’re gorgeous.” (p. 76)

Isabelle also has a small circle of friends, and I always enjoy that. Dahl writes female friendships well. This book is #2 in the series, and Isabelle’s friends featured in previous books, but I think this one would stand alone just fine.

For his part, Tom is happily surprised and totally turned on by Isabelle’s confidence. Very cool. Tom has some issues of his own to work through, including quite a savior complex. He’s both into Isabelle and wants to help her with the trouble he thinks she’s in, even if he doesn’t quite know what it is. It haunts him that she’s so independent and not reaching out for help.

The dialog is awesome. The sex scenes are hot and well written. I recommend it for readers who like contemporary romance.

*I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.