Review – With No Remore by Cindy Gerard

Publisher: Pocket
Publish Date: July 19th
How I got this book: Simon & Shuster Galley Grab

This was my first Gerard read, and I’ll admit that the moment I finished reading this one, I went to see if my local library had the other books in the series! I enjoyed the premise of the Black Ops, Inc. team and look forward to going back and reading the rest of the stories.

Luke is on the final leg of his vacation, and dreading getting back to work. After his last big mission when he was shot, he is having a harder time getting into his work. When men with guns board his train and try to abduct a fellow passenger, Luke finds himself putting his life on the line to save her. It isn’t until they are on the run that he realizes the woman is non other than the woman of his dreams, super model Valentina.

Val is trying to find herself after the horrible media circus surrounding her divorce from her congressman husband. She has a hard time trusting people, and the fact that she is having both a hard and an easy time trusting Luke is throwing her off. With everything that’s gone wrong, she really doesn’t know which way is up anymore. When more of her plight comes to light and secrets are revealed, Val will need to take charge and Luke will have to face his greatest fears: falling in love.

Like I said, I really enjoyed the concept of the Black Ops Inc. team and enjoyed all the different characters in the book. I really like Luke, he was everything I’ve come to look for in a sexy ex-military hero. He was strong, possessive, and a little tortured from his past. I always love when my military heroes struggle a little with their past and don’t treat some of the horrific things they have gone through as “no big deal.” I liked that Luke didn’t have rose colored glasses on, but at the same time was able to joke and laugh and do what needed to be done to deal with his past.

For the most part I really liked Valentina as well. I think in the beginning she really struggled with herself, her past, and her place in the world. I was impressed with the way she handled herself during the chase through Peru, especially when it came to her bucking up and doing everything Luke told her to, regardless of his directive. I wish that Gerard would have gone into her past a little more, especially her childhood trauma and how that affected Val’s life. While it was touched on multiple times, I wish we would have been able to see Val and Luke deal with it a little more.

There were times I wanted to shake both Luke and Val when it came to their relationship. I could totally understand why they were both hesitant to get involved, but at the same time I wanted to smack them both for their hesitancy. From the moment these two met, you knew there would be sparks flying left and right, but they both held parts of themselves back, and then they would break down huge emotional barriers, just to build them back up again. At times it drove me a little crazy!

The suspense sub-plot was well done as well. Not my favorite, as the villain was known to us throughout the book, and I always like a little mystery with my suspense. But, at the same time it was good, there was tons of action and I liked the way the plot moved quickly through the story. It was nice that in the epilogue we also got the chance to see Luke and Val in an everyday normal setting, which was something we really didn’t get to see at all during the main story. It was a nice refreshing sense of normalcy and a breath of fresh air.

All in all I really enjoyed my first Gerard read. The hero and heroine were real characters that were easy to love and just flawed enough to be normal. The action moved quickly and kept me engaged up until the very end. While there were times the romance drove me crazy, I was happy with Luke and Val’s HEA.

I give With No Remorse a B+.