Review: Love Me If You Dare

Love Me If You Dare
Carly Phillips
Contemporary Romance
Bachelor Blog/Book 2
Harlequin/August 2010

From the back cover ~

When hostage negotiator Rafe Mancuso takes a bullet to save Sara Rios, his former partner, his actions make him a bona fide hero - and New York City's newest most eligible bachelor. Then Rafe admits that Sara is much more than just another woman he's rescued. Suddenly, a firestorm of gossip turns him into exactly what he doesn't want to be: the Bachelor Blog's newest hot topic. His only solution is to leave town and get himself out of the spotlight, and sexy, jaded Sara out of his mind.

NYPD officer Sara Rios has Rafe to thank for saving her life, and Rafe to blame for the media chaos surrounding her. She wants to throw herself back into duty at full throttle, but until her injuries heal, she's on leave and in search of her rescuer. From the moment she finds Rafe and meets his large, boisterous family, she's hooked. But mutual attraction doesn't always mean happily-ever-after, and these two have a long way to go to find their fairy-tale ending...

The second book in the Bachelor Blog series features another bachelor who would rather eat nails than have the attention of the single and not so single women of New York. What's a guy to do but get the heck out of Dodge. Rafe Mancuso heads home, to his big, crazy family and his house on Lake Ontario. He needs to recover from his injuries and try and get his mind off of his ex-partner. The fact that Rafe and Sara had a history, a working history, added some depth to their relationship. It not only gave them insight into how the other thinks but made them aware of the chemistry between the two.

Sara Rios needs to get out of town to but for a different reason. Her life may be in danger and she's also recovering from injuries sustained at the same time Rafe received his. When Sara goes looking for Rafe, she can tell herself she doesn't want anything serious but I think deep down she wanted him and knew that things could get very serious away from work and at Rafe's home. Sara's a firm believer that cops make bad marriages. But she also knows that Rafe believes in marriage, family and commitment. So obviously if she gets involved with him, she should know he's in it for the long term.

There is a secondary romance between Rafe's brother Nick and his estranged wife, Angel. It's sweet and sad, with Nick and Angel dealing with a profound loss in two different ways. They spend much of the time at odds with each other with Rafe trying to help but not get caught in the middle.

Sara and Rafe were a good match once Sara got rid of her negative thinking but it took a kick in the rear for her to finally admit that she loved Rafe and wanted to be with him. Rafe had a heck of a lot of patience with Sara. The one thing he didn't do is completely give in to her terms. He let her know what he wanted. But he was a little too perfect in that regard. Sara hurt him and I would have liked to see him get mad a little more.

The suspense storyline was merely okay. It did surprise me how slowly the cops were to figure everything out. The secondary suspense story line with Rafe's Uncle Pirro was just a little too silly for me. The big, crazy family of Rafe's was enjoyable and added some much needed levity to the story. And the sexual tension between Rafe and Sara held up well throughout the book.

I was expecting to like Sara more than I did. I did like Rafe a lot but again, a little too perfect. Overall, a good solid read. I'm not sure who will be next on the Bachelor Blog, maybe one of New York City's hunky firefighters? It's hard to go wrong with firefighters. :)

Rating: B