Book Review: Aftershock by Jill Sorenson

Title: Aftershock
Author: Jill Sorenson
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy from publisher via NetGalley
Published: December 18, 2012 by Harlequin

THERE'S A FINE LINE 

As an emergency paramedic, Lauren Boyer is dedicated and highly capable. Until an earthquake strikes, trapping her beneath the freeway with a group of strangers-including Iraq war veteran Garrett Wright...

BETWEEN PERIL AND PASSION

Handsome and take-charge Garrett aids Lauren in her rescue efforts, even as the steely look in his eyes seems to hide dark secrets. When a gang of escaped convicts goes on the attack, Garrett's bravery makes him more than a courageous bystander to Lauren. If they can save the others before time runs out, maybe, just maybe, they can explore the fire igniting between them-if the truth about who he really is doesn't pull them apart forever....

Why I Read this Book: This book has one very interesting and original premise. I’ve been wanting to read a book by this author for some time now and when I saw this book, I knew this was the one to go with.

What I Liked: This book is different from most other romantic suspense novels I have read. As if being in a car on a freeway interchange with another freeway pass overhead during an 8.5 earthquake wasn’t bad enough, the author adds a prisoner transport vehicle to the mix to keep things interesting. So not only do Lauren and Garrett and the other survivors have to concern themselves with trying to stay alive until help arrives, they also have to worry about dealing with dangerous escaped convicts as well.

This was a great cast of characters. Lauren is a paramedic whose natural instinct is to try to save others – as many as she can. Then you’ve got Garrett, the unlikely hero for reasons I cannot go into for it will spoil the story. There’s a pregnant woman whom Garrett pulled from a wrecked vehicle. There’s also a grandfather and granddaughter. If the primary focus was just on the hero and heroine, I don’t think the severity of the situation would have been as captivating. But the author lures your compassionate side in with a pregnant woman who’s ready to give birth at any moment and the granddaughter, 11-year old Cadence.

The characters are stuck in a cavern for days, almost a week, so the setting gets to be pretty monotonous. But the writing was so rich in detail that even with the most mundane things, the author was able to hold onto my attention. It was very interesting to read about the sacrifices the characters had to make and what they had to do all in the name of survival.

There is a conflicting, yet clever, twist concerning one of the major characters. The author doesn’t give everything away all at once; the information is time-released so you really don’t have any idea of what’s really going on until it’s almost all said and done. It really makes you question how you would react and handle the information that is dropped like a bomb.

What I Didn’t Like: I have a hard time with characters declaring their love so soon after their initial meeting but in this case, it worked for me. These were different circumstances; Lauren and Garrett were thrown into a life or death situation and that amps up the intensity of things – including attraction and emotions.

Overall Impression: Aftershock was dark, gritty and raw. The outlook for these characters is bleak so it’s not a happy-go-lucky type of book. There were moments where I caught myself holding my breath.

Brianna’s Rating: