Review – Under Fire by Rita Henuber

In the course of her own investigation, Olivia meets informant Rico Cortes. He’s mysterious and sexy and despite her reservations, the two share a night of passion. But Rico turns out to be more than a one-night stand. He’s a DEA agent, deep undercover in Miami’s drug world, and possibly the one man who can help Olivia find the justice she seeks.

When Rico realizes his cover is blown, he isn’t sure whether it was someone in the cartel or an inside agent. Olivia is the only one he can trust and together they venture on a dangerous, rogue mission to infiltrate a drug lord’s inner circle…with Olivia as bait.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

I’ve read some Carina Press suspense books that really fell flat for me, but the blurb from debut author Rita Henuber caught my eye and I had to read it right away! This book did not disappoint, and I am looking forward to reading more from Henuber in the future.

Olivia is a helo pilot for the Coast Guard and busts drug dealers for her day job. But every other second she is working on a different mission: finding the man who killed her brother while he was working undercover. When she gets a tip from someone with information, she is thrown into a tornado of a situation that turns her life upside down and inside out.

Rico has been undercover for a long time, but when there is an attempt on his life, he knows his cover has been blown. He turns to Olivia looking to use her as a way out of town, and finds himself using her in more ways than he ever expected. Olivia turns out to be one of the only people he can find himself trusting, and together they work on getting Olivia undercover and working to take down her brother’s killer.

There were so many excellent things about this book, I really liked it. First thing was the action. It felt so real and I could tell the author knew what she was talking about. Even down to the descriptions of the different flight maneuvers Olivia would try in the helicopter’s were exciting and I could picture it all happening in my head. Add in the suspense of the undercover operation and Henuber kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book.

Next was the romance between Rico and Olivia. It was steamy and real and dirty and very, VERY sexy. I loved their moments together, from the first time they met to the sexy dancing scene to the making out like teenagers in the backseat of his car. They meshed together well, and once Rico started opening up to her more and more, revealing more of himself instead of the man who was undercover, it made their relationship more special.

I loved watching the plot unfold, and learning along with Olivia and Rico the extent of Silva’s, the drug lord, organization. I liked the added twist of not knowing who the snitch was giving away the undercover agents, and how Olivia was able to get her revenge for the death of her twin brother. I was really happy with the way the whole story wrapped up, letting both Rico and Olivia get their dues and keeping their integrity and morals intact.

Probably the only thing I didn’t like was how abruptly the story ended. I was glad that it didn’t just end with the big firefight where the suspense portion was wrapped up. But at the same time, it didn’t feel as if the story was really over yet. Yes, Olivia and Rico went off into the sunset (almost literally). But it felt rushed and abrupt. An epilogue or even a few pages more would have been a perfect way to really tie everything together.

All in all this was a wonderful debut from Henuber. This romantic suspense was done so well, the suspense a perfect combination of terror and intrigue. The romance was a great combination of learning to trust in another and steamy stolen moments. I can’t wait to read more from Henuber.

I give Under Fire an A-