REVIEW: Cover Me by Catherine Mann

Title: Cover Me (Elite Forces, #1)
Author: Catherine Mann
Format: ARC, 323 pages
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: July 1, 2011 by Sourcebooks Casablanca

The 300 pararescue jumpers (PJs) in the world are the most elite force in the U.S. military, trained in high-risk rescue, and have never been featured in a romantic suspense series.

PJ Wade Rocha is fast roping from a helicopter into a blizzard to rescue stranded climbers when he meets beautiful Sunny Foster, who insists she can take care of herself just fine. As the snowstorm kicks into overdrive, she and Wade must take to the frozen wilderness in a race against time...and their own explosive passions.

Why I Read this Book: This book had me at romantic suspense and ‘pararescue jumpers’. I’m reading everything labeled romantic suspense I come across that strikes my fancy. This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I was checking out the author’s backlist and it seems she writes quite a bit of military toned romantic suspense – my cup of tea!  

What I Liked: I liked both Sunny’s and Wade’s characters. Sunny is extremely independent, self-sufficient and smart. It’s difficult for her to rely on others and with Wade it’s no different. Wade is an alpha hero and in the military. He’s determined, perseverant, strong and smart.

I liked the secondary story arc surrounding Misty (Sunny’s sister) and Flynn. I was interested to find out if they were going to rekindle their relationship.

The ending was really suspenseful. I didn’t want to put this book down until I found out how everything unfolded.

What I Didn’t Like: There wasn’t enough foundation was set up in regards to Sunny’s past or her family history. The story behind the village she lives in and the reasons why she and her family are living there off the grid aren’t thoroughly explained. I got a bit of reasoning later on in the story but it wasn’t enough for me to empathize with Sunny’s character.

There were some other holes in the story that weren’t filled in as well. We don’t know what happen to Sunny’s brother; he just up and disappeared. The ending in regards to her brother was rather inconclusive.

There was a bit of inconsistency regarding Sunny’s age. (I usually don’t catch small stuff like this but I’m always trying to pin down a main character’s age when I’m reading.) On page 25 (of the ARC), Sunny says she's 27 years old. However, back on page 11, Sunny’s dog Chewie is described as a “seven-year-old malamute-husky mix” that she got as a puppy on her 18th birthday. That would make Sunny 25 years old. The math doesn’t add up. Again, this was in the ARC of Cover Me so it could very well be that this error was caught in final edits and therefore is not a problem in the final draft.

Overall Impression: Because of the bumps in the road mentioned above, it took me a while to get into Cover Me. While I didn’t love this book, I enjoyed the story enough to want to read Hot Zone, the next book in this series. In fact, after reading the first chapter of Hot Zone (included at the end of the Cover Me ARC), I’m really looking forward to reading it. It was on my mind for days – and that was just from reading one chapter!

 

The Book Vixen’s Rating: