Review: I SPY by Jordan McCollum (Durham Crest, May 2013)

From Jordan McCollum’s website:

Canada is probably the last place you’d expect to find an American spy. 

But even idyllic Ottawa has its deadly secrets—and so does CIA operative Talia Reynolds. She can climb through ventilation shafts, blend in at the occasional diplomatic function, even scale buildings (small ones). But there’s one thing she can’t do: tell her aerospace engineer boyfriend Danny about her Top Secret occupation.

It worked for a year, keeping Danny in the dark, keeping him away from danger, keeping her secrets. And then Talia finally catches a hot case: Fyodor Timofeyev. Russian. Aerospace executive. Possible spy?

She can make this work, too—until Danny needs her at the same time her country does. And when Fyodor targets Danny? Suddenly her schedule isn’t the only thing suffering. Now to save her secrets and her country, Talia must sacrifice the man she loves.

Audience: Adult (Clean)Genre: Romantic Spy ThrillerLength: 312 pgs

Rating: ***** (Loved it!)

Review: To be honest, I’ve had my eye on this book for a while and for good reason. It caught my attention right off. The characters. The conflict. The pacing. Then about half-way through I could not put it down. Considering everything that should be happening during our move right now, I spent the afternoon on my rear reading a fantastic book. Ms. McCollum does a fantastic job of making everything seem realistic—but seriously, I think she may have worked for the CIA at some point. The tension and rising conflict was awesome. I loved the voice. Loved it. Seriously, I can only think of one thing that I can say bad about it. Talia is a spy with a sixth sense for reading people. It was obvious to me right off that Danny was jealous of her partner Elliot, so it should have hit Talia square between the eyes. The book was full of action and also full of romance. I was SO into the characters. One of the biggest compliments my critique partner can give me is when she tells me she forgets that the characters aren't real people and gets so involved in their problems. That’s the way I felt reading this.

Content: Rated 1-5, 1 being minor instances and 5 being saturated
Violence – 4 (nothing explicit, but there’s a lot—it is about spies—and a lot of description of fights)
Language – 0
Sex – 1 (Kissing)

Source: Won an ebook copy in a contest

Try this love adventurous romance novels? Read ALIAS by Mandi Tucker Slack.