Review: Deadly Fear by Cynthia Eden

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the publisher website:

TWO BRILLIANT AGENTS
FBI Special Agent Monica Davenport has made a career out of profiling serial killers. But getting inside the twisted minds of the cruel and the sadistic has taken its toll: She’s walled herself off from the world. Yet Monica can’t ignore fellow agent Luke Dante, the only man who ever broke through her defenses.
ONE DREAM TEAM
Luke has the unique ability to put victims at ease . . . professionally, he and Monica made a perfect team. Now they’re reunited to catch a murderer who uses his victims’ deepest, darkest fears for sport – but their investigative skills aren’t enough. Luke and Monica will have to face the secrets from their past, the ones that terrify them the most, if they are to have a future together.
But can they catch a killer whose weapon is . . .
DEADLY FEAR

OOh, neat trick.

I’m always thrown off a little when the main characters in a romance look at each other, the sparks fly, and things get very intense from there. My personal preference is for the characters to get to know each other before the clothing comes off. I actually like to see emotion develop.

In this case, Monica and Luke knew each other before their first on-page meeting. They were well acquainted. Very well acquainted. And when they see each other, it doesn’t take long for the sparks to fly. But that connection I value is already there, and I’m perfectly happy for the heat to kick in. Which it did. Really, really hot.

Once you accept the history of the characters (even before their relationship starts), they grow in a manner that makes sense. They have some major challenges to overcome, but hey, this is a romance novel. I think the author pulled it off well.

Hyde (the team leader) was also an interesting guy.  He’s played a key role in Monica’s life up until this point, and was vital to how we learned about the past that haunted Monica. I enjoyed seeing how he responded to Monica and Luke as the story continued.

Most of the other team members weren’t particularly fleshed out, but I think we’ll see more of them as the series continues.  I’m particularly interested in Sam, and hope she recovers from the events in this book.

And oh yes, there was a serial killer. He was pretty scary.

Hachette Book Group/Forever provided this book and is allowing me to host a giveaway for 5 copies of Deadly Fear (click to go to the giveaway post). Thank you to Hachette Book Group!

I read and reviewed this book as part of a blog tour. For other tour stops,  see

• www.libslibrary.blogspot.com 7/26/2010
• www.maryinhb.blogspot.com 7/26/2010
• http://extremepersonalmeasures.com 7/26/2010
• http://SENSIBLESHOPPERS.BLOGSPOT.com 7/26/2010
• http://fictionvixen.com 7/26/2010
• http://thebooktree.blogspot.com 7/26/2010
• http://www.eclecticbooklover.com/ 7/26/2010
• http://booksandmakeup.blogspot.com 7/26/2010
• www.froggaritasbookcase.net 7/26/2010
• http://jeannesramblings.com 7/26/2010
• http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com 7/27/2010
• http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/ 7/27/2010
• www.rexrobotreviews.com 7/28/2010
• http://chaoticbookobbsession.blogspot.com 7/28/2010
• http://mommyreadstoomuch.blogspot.com 7/28/2010
• booksoulmates.blogspot.com 7/28/2010
• booksoulmates.blogspot.com 7/28/2010
• http://paranormalromanticsuspensereviews.blogspot.com 7/29/2010
• http://triciareads.blogspot.com 7/29/2010
• http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com 7/30/2010
• http://www.rundpinne.com 7/31/2010
• http://www.saveyspender.com 7/31/2010
• http://therempels4.blogspot.com 7/31/2010
• http://dkay401-challenges.blogspot.com/ 7/31/2010
• http://mom2mycrazy2.blogspot.com 7/31/2010
• http://bridget3420.blogspot.com 7/31/2010
• www.thebookgirl.net 8/1/2010
• www.amusingmother.blogspot.com 8/1/2010
• justjenniferreading.blogspot.com 8/2/2010
• http://mindingspot.blogspot.com 8/3/2010
• http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com 8/3/2010
• http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/ 8/3/2010
• http://myfoolishwisdom.com 8/4/2010
• http://chrissysworldofbooks.blogspot.com/ 8/4/2010
• my-book-views.blogspot.com 8/5/2010
• http://candidclevercosteffective.net/ 8/6/2010
• http://tweezlereads.blogspot.com 8/6/2010
• http://startingfreshnyc.com/ 8/6/2010
• http://www.renees-reads.blogspot.com/ 8/6/2010
• http://thefictionenthusiast.blogspot.com/ 8/6/2010
• http://simplystacie.net 8/6/2010
• kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com 8/6/2010
• www.tarmyblogspot.blogspot.com 8/6/2010