Review: Traced

Traced by Samantha Wilde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Great romantic suspense plot
but let down by the characters

Traced is book 2 in the Blood brothers series but can be read as a standalone. The book had a great romantic suspense plot but is somewhat let down by an unthinking, stubborn heroine and an underlying theme that life is black and white. Good and evil are easily discerned, and that legal and moral are synonyms.

Tessa has to sell some gold bars on behalf of her father, who has fled danger and an attempt on his life. Selling the gold thus needs to happen in the black market, which is where Dare comes in. He fences goods for a living and is a great hacker to boot. The action in the book is fast-paced, and the chemistry between our main characters are explosive. These are all elements of a good book, in my opinion.

However, Tessa never seems to learn the value of good teamwork. Although they always make it out of tight situations (this is a story, after all), her insistence on being an independent woman and doing what she wants becomes a bit over the top. Any intelligent woman knows when they are out of their depth. Add to this the fact that the author seemed convinced that Dare needs to mend his ways before he can be good enough for Tessa, and you have a book that irks me just a little too much. Yes, going around killing people (in self-defence) may not be the best life, but neither is changing who you are and what you enjoy just because others view it as unsavoury.

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