"Guardian," by Catherine Mann

Pros: Fun characters, interesting mystery
Cons: I still find military erotic romances a tad overblown/silly; slightly obvious bad guy
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Review book courtesy of Penguin Group

A malfunction during the test of military equipment led to the crippling of a boy and the destruction of a family home. Major Sophie Campbell is prosecuting the case, while Major David Berg, the defendant’s superior, is determined to prove it wasn’t his guy’s fault. The two officers’ attraction to each other is an unwanted distraction as they try to track down the real cause—and the traitor who’s trying to kill Sophie.

I’ll get my negatives out of the way first. I guess since I can’t imagine most of the military people I know fitting into the world of an erotic romance, I can’t help finding the traditional over-the-top manliness and such a bit, well, over-the-top. That said, Catherine Mann’s Guardian (Dark Ops) isn’t any more or less silly than any other military erotic romance, so if you enjoy the genre, ignore my little mini-complaint there. I did find the identity of the bad guy mildly obvious, however it wasn’t a certain thing, so this also wasn’t a big deal. It was hard to believe that Sophie and David could work together on solving this mystery without seriously compromising their positions, since they’re on opposite sides of the case; I kept expecting their superiors to put a stop to it. That said, the author did her best to provide decent justification for why it was reasonable.

Okay, now that I’ve got that out of the way…

The characters were fun. They had some depth to them, and although they drew on familiar archetypes, they also had their own things going on. Making each of them a single parent added nice detail and interesting complications. There was tension to both the romance and the dangers the characters were in, and the romance had some great heat to it. There were also some interesting side characters, such as David’s sister, who livened things up and kept things interesting.

Ultimately, if you’re a fan of the genre I think you’ll really enjoy this one. It has everything—fun characters, tense danger, an interesting mystery, and plenty of sexual tension and romance.