Risking it all is the classic tale of opposites attract with the delicious Tessa Bailey spin of dirty talking alpha male! Seraphina Newsom is the most wholesome character in all of NYC. If she curses, she makes the sign of the cross. She was trained as a nurse, but then her brother (an NYPD officer) is killed on the job. She is determined to go undercover and find out what happened and make sure that the man responsible pays. But, like I said, she was a nurse, not a cop. So she is in over her head in the underworld of loan sharks, drug dealers, and street thugs. The cops recruit another underworld leader in the city for help getting Sera. Bowen rose to a power position due to the death of his father and he hates every minute of his new 'job'.
This is a great blend of opposites attract, romantic suspense, and seedy characters. Bowen is certainly a dirty talker and paired with Sera's virgin, pure life, they are quite the duo to behold! Sera is obviously in over her head with her ill thought investigation, and Bowen is obviously in over his head with Sera. I always adore Tessa Bailey's characters because they are so dynamic. Not purely one character trait, they are a conglomerate of many things and all those things are interesting. Bowen and Sera play well off each other not just because they are opposites, but because they are smart and dedicated (I mean, they are dedicated to different things, but dedicated none the less!)
The miscommunication trope is a bit prevalent in the story but I did expect that when a character is an undercover cop. Their distrust is understandable and expected, so I while I normally hate miscommunications, it actual made perfect sense for this story. The only thing that sort of bothered me was the Romeo/Juliet tragic love turn the story takes towards the end. Bowen becomes so despondent without Sera that he is willing to die. We all know how that turned out for Romeo...I wanted him to FIGHT.
There is a lot of action and suspense throughout the story (Sera is still determined to infiltrate Hogan's operation and get info to implicate him) but its more than just the action. Bailey balances the sexual tension with the plot tension seamlessly and you find yourself reading long past your bedtime because you just can't put the book down!
- POV: 3rd
- Tears: no
- Trope: opposites attract, secret identity
- Triggers: none
- Series/Standalone: stand alone
- Cliffhanger: sno
- HEA: yes with epilogue
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The Enforcer by Helenkay Dimon, Shattered by Cynthia Eden, Kill Without Mercy by Alexandra Ivy...then you will probably like Risking it All!
See full review on The Book Disciple