Bound to Danger by Katie Reus

Bound to Danger (Deadly Ops, #2)

by Katie Reus

At a benefit dinner, community activist Maria Cervantes overhears two men plotting a terrorist attack that could rock Miami to its core. But before she can alert authorities, she’s almost killed in a massive explosion—and wakes up in a hospital with no memory of what happened. As the sole survivor of the attack, she is now a person of interest to the NSA—and especially to Agent Cade O’Reilly. Because Maria is the one woman Cade has never been able to forget.
 
Years ago, they were closer than either was willing to admit—until Cade disappeared when Maria needed him most. Now he’s sticking by her, whether she likes it or not. Because the memories locked inside her mind could hold vital clues to the next attack. Because terrorists want her dead—and because he never wants to let her go again.
 

Reviewed by EBookObsessed on

4 of 5 stars

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Maria Cervantes is feeling sick as a dog. She’s had a stomach bug for the past week, but she can’t miss the Westwood’s gala. There are too many of her biggest contributors to the Bayside Community Center which she runs and she needs to make an appearance. By the time the car makes its way down the winding driveway, Maria is once again pale and nauseous. Her mother’s friend takes her into a back room and goes to find Maria’s mother. After losing her fight to keep things down, Maria returns to the room only to overhear several men talking, including a voice she recognizes. They are discussing bombing several locations including homes and the Freedom Tower in Miami. After they leave, Maria scurries out the side door but before she can locate any of the suddenly missing security guards, the night turns into day when a bomb destroys the mansion she just escaped, killing everyone inside, including Maria’s mother.

Maria wakes up in the hospital. She is suffering from a concussion and minor memory loss. The Feds want to know why she was the only survivor and what she was doing outside of the mansion but so does Maria. She can’t remember what happened, she just knows that she needs to tell someone…something, something very important. She hasn’t forgotten the bomb and unfortunately, she hasn’t forgotten that the NSA agent walking into her room is the man that broke her heart.

Cade was one of her brother’s best friends and they served together in Afghanistan. Maria was always part of their correspondence back home and she and Cade were growing closer, close enough to think about dating when he returned to the U.S. But after her brother was killed, Cade cut off all contact with Maria. She lost her brother and her love that day.

Cade won’t let anyone else protect Maria. She is in danger. It’s all over the news that she is the only survivor and the bombers want to know why she not in the rubble as well as the NSA. They also want to make sure Maria doesn’t know anything about their plans that she would be sharing with the authorities. Someone she knows is feeding information to the bombers and memories start to resurface, will Cade and Maria be able to stop the bombers before they get to Maria?

THOUGHTS:
This was a good story which kept you on your toes. Although I do like Katie Reus’s writing, this story did have a few annoying and too common plot points. There was the temporary amnesia of only the important information Maria needed to share and what happened the few minutes between the time she got to the party and the time she woke in the hospital. Friends, family, her mother being dead, phone numbers, everything else was unaffected. Just that one important point of who was responsible and what would be bombed next went bye-bye.

Maria was heartbroken that Cade abandoned her when her brother died even though there was a romance blooming between them. Cade gives her a half-truth story about why he did, and said simply that he was messed up and had to deal with his own grief. Although we know he is still hiding something, Maria accepts this statement as the whole story behind his abandonment. Grief affects people differently, and this does sound like a reasonable explanation, and Maria says she understands completely. But Maria keeps going back and harping on “I can’t have feelings for Cade again because he’ll just abandon me again.” You can’t accept his explanation for being grief stricken 8 years ago, and then keep harping on it like he didn’t just give you a plausible reason for it. After awhile, it started to bother me.

When we finally get the full story of why Cade walked away, Maria brushes it off as if it was no big deal. Is this because she has had 8 years to come to terms with her brother’s death or is she so mesmerized by bouncing on little cade that nothing else is important. So the giant wall separating them for all these years, turns out to be not worth the drama.

It was certainly an intriguing story with terrorists and bombings and trying to find them before they can hurt more people. I just found a couple of the plot points were not very imaginative. It may simply be that I have read too many ex-military/FBI adventures and am simply focusing on the commonality. If you read enough of any trope, they become too commonplace.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and easy read.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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  • Started reading
  • 12 July, 2014: Finished reading
  • 12 July, 2014: Reviewed