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Book Review of Show No Mercy (Black Ops, Bk 1)

Show No Mercy (Black Ops, Bk 1)
Show No Mercy (Black Ops, Bk 1)
Author: Cindy Gerard
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
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Helpful Score: 3


This book features two characters dealing with various emotional scars, who are forced to team up to combat not only external forces, but also their own inner demons.

Jenna is a hotshot, globe-trotting reporter who is struggling to come to terms with an event that left her questioning, on very fundamental levels, who is she and if she'll ever be able to reclaim her sense of self.

Gabriel is a man scarred both physically and emotionally. A true alpha male in every sense of the term, he is take charge and intensely focused and skilled in matters of combat. He is also dealing with a profound loss, and extreme guilt and anger that have left him closed off emotionally.

While less capable authors would take the aforementioned factors and use them to create a novel that is little more than unrelieved melancholy and characters who are (voluntarily or otherwise) self-centered, Gerard allows her characters to be very real, in terms of being simultaneously flawed and honorable, grief-stricken and truly funny and snarky.

As Jenna and Gabe grow closer (whether they like it or not), their romance does not in any way take away from the action and danger, and the almost palpable suspense, and the reverse holds true, as well. What the reader is left with, then, is a novel that is equal parts action and romance, which is a rarity this day and age, as all too often authors allow one aspect or the other to languish undeveloped or virtually ignored while the other receives most of the attention.

Fortunately, Cindy Gerard has proven that she is adept at handling everything from explosions and gunfights, to passionate love scenes and intensely emotional conversations. This is a very well-written book that is a truly great kickoff to what promises to be a fantastic new series.

**Gabe & Jenna's story begins in Cindy Gerard's book "Into the Dark". To better understand their history, I would suggest reading that book first.**