Book Review - Taken by Storm

Book Review:  Taken by Storm

Author:  Rochelle Alers
Release Date:  8/1/2008

Taken by Storm is the third book in the series of the Whitfield Brides.  It covers the love story of Simone Whitfield and Raphael “Rafe” Madison. 

Simone Whitfield is a 33 year old, five foot-three inch, petite divorced florist, who is out jogging one morning and witnesses the brutal attack on her friend and neighbor, who happens to be a federal court judge.  As a federal witness, she is placed in protective custody under the watchful eye of hunky lawman, Rafe Madison.

Rafe Madison is a 35 year old, six foot-three inch, two hundred and ten pound, blue-eyed, blond-haired Deputy Marshal from Kansas.   Ruggedly handsome, and extremely athletic, Rafe walked away from a promising career as a pro baseball player due to domestic problems on the home front.  Ever since then, he’d been sworn to “protect and serve.”

I have two words for this book:  Awe – Some! 

I’m not being biased because Rochelle Alers is my fav romance author.  No.  Not at all. 

I will admit I thought there would be more action, maybe an attempt to get to Simone, or something.  To me, this was just a series of family gatherings with a sprinkle of witness protection thrown in to break up the parties.  I still give it a big thumbs up because of the character development.  I love well-written, character driven romances.  And this one fit the bill.  Leave it to me to read the last book in a series, first.  Ha-ha.  I guess because I didn’t read them in order, I kept getting the other characters mixed up.  And there were quite a few characters.  Lots of family members.  One of the things I like about trilogies is catching up on past couples’ stories.  Seeing how things have progressed.  I missed that by starting with the third book.  But I loved this one so much, I don’t care about the others. 

Simone is feisty, quick-tempered, and independent.  She will mouth off at the drop of a hat and hunky-hunk can stop her tirade with just one word:  “enough.” 

Since her business is based out of her home, Rafe moves into her house to protect her until the trial.  In public they pretend to be a couple so people won’t question why Rafe is following her around like a lovelorn puppy.  The pretense turns into reality as Rafe quicky realizes his feelings for Simone are more than pretend. 

I can’t rave enough about this book.  I truly enjoyed reading about Rafe and Simone.  Rafe is my kind of hero:  over-protective without being smothering; assertive without being arrogant and intelligent without proving himself by spouting off the Pythagorean Theorem.   And, Oh-Em-Gee, is he super-fine. 

 

Read my review on Amazon.com:    http://www.amazon.com/review/R329USV4IAFAKA