Code Name: Bikini (Code Name, Book 5)

CHRISTINA SKYE

Synopsis: Ex-cop Gina Ryan traded in her Smith & Wesson to follow a dream. Now she's creating decadent desserts aboard a luxury cruise ship in the Caribbean. But a gorgeous passenger is about to send her perfect world up in smoke...

Trace O'Halloran is a hard-edged navy SEAL, under strict orders to take some high seas R & R. There's a shipload of women in bikinis eager to help him unwind, so why can't he take his mind off the stubborn pastry chef with an attitude the size of Montana?

When a dangerous assassin from Trace's past appears, Gina and Trace must join forces to save the ship’s guests. The clock's ticking, and they'll need every weapon at hand – from body armor to chocolate ganache!

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 2007; 375 pages; received from a BookCrossing member.

My thoughts: For the most part, I've enjoyed this series of books. As the books progress, there is more of a paranormal element to them, with the Navy SEAL heroes all being part of an elite group who are genetically enhanced. I didn't anticipate that, and it didn't really show up as a major plot point until the third book, which was a bit of a let down for me. But the fourth book was very appealing with it's desert island setting. So I wasn't sure what to expect.

Fortunately, it was quite enjoyable. Gina is a likeable heroine, and Trace, who we met in the previous books (he's the sister of book three's heroine and best friend of that book's hero), is a satisfying hero. That being said, neither really stood out from the pack, with neither character being much different than the heroes and heroines in the previous books.

Trace is basically on the cruise ship for an enforced vacation, but also as possible back up for the ship's security officer, who has his own ties to the organization Trace is with. Gina is the ship's pastry chef, and she loves her life of traveling with the cruise ship, and the family she's created around her among her staff and other members of the crew. But she has her own issues of course, knowing that she has a condition which is slowly causing her to lose her sight, which will eventually end her career.

Like all of the Foxfire men, Trace has invested himself completely in his work and has never regretted the decision to join the elite group, even though it means virtually no life outside the group and their missions, and no personal relationships beyond the occasional visit home to see his sister. But Gina of course gets under his skin from their first accidental meeting. Gina has also invested herself in her career, and she has a nemesis on board the ship who appears to be trying to sabotage her, and she has no interest in a relationship. But of course Trace gets under her skin, yada yada yada, you know where this sentence is going.

Since Trace is still recovering and building up his strength after nearly being killed in his last mission, his chips (the genetic enhancement all the Foxfire men have in common) have been inactivated for the time being. The chips were my least favorite plot points of previous books, and I liked this little twist, which left Trace a more vulnerable than the previous heroes. There's also a side plot line about a girl who Trace rescued in a previous mission having died, listed as a suicide but suspicious to Trace, and her ghost occasionally manifesting and trying to tell him something. I would have liked her to actually be more involved and make more appearances than she did, but she was almost like an afterthought thrown into the storyline.

There is also a cat, young triplets, and Izzy even gets a storyline with some family drama. According to the author's bio on her website, she is working on the sixth book in the series, and I'm sure I'll want to read it as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Code Name: Blondie (Code Name, Book 4)

CHRISTINA SKYE

Synopsis from back of book: Miki is living every woman’s fantasy – stranded on a desert island with a rugged Navy SEAL. But little does Miki know she’s a suspect in an international high-tech robbery, and her steely-eyed companion is ready, willing and able to do anything to make her talk…

Navy SEAL Max Preston doesn't buy one word of his gorgeous captive’s rambling story as he carries her up the beach. Yeah, she’s got curves in all the right places, but Max has a nose for a con – and there’s no way he’ll let his iron control waver.

Now a hurricane’s headed their way, and for Max and Miki time is running out fast. Can they team up as friendly forces – and use Max’s amazing canine companion to escape before a deadly villain takes his twisted revenge?

First line: Why did sex sound so noisy when it wasn’t happening to you?

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 2006; 379 pages; received through BookCrossing.

My thoughts: Right off the bat, I was caught up in Miki’s adventure. We met Miki in the previous book as she is Kit’s best friend and spent some time with Kit and her dogs during their story. The way Miki and Kit’s brother, Trace, were arguing at the end of that book, I anticipated him being her hero. But now we’re introduced to Max, a newer member of the elite team that Wolfe and Trace belong to.

Miki is on a remote island taking photographs for a calendar. On the last day of the shoot, the crew and the models take off in one of the two helicopters. Miki’s boss, a complete ass, insists on her taking a few more scenery shots before they board the second helicopter. Which ends up crash landing in the ocean, killing the boss, and wounding the only other person on board, the pilot.

Max is on another remote island, with his service dog, Truman, tracking Cruz, the villain who has managed to escape capture in the previous books. He sees the crash, and rescues Miki and the pilot, bringing them both ashore. But he’s suspicious of them, thinking Miki may be working for Cruz, so he promptly ties her up and hustles her and the unconscious pilot to his hidden bunker.

While the pilot drifts in and out of consciousness, Miki spends most of her time trying to figure out how to get away from Max and find help, only to be recaptured. Having nothing to do with Cruz of course, she doesn't understand his questions or accusations, or much of anything since Max doesn't tell her why he’s on the island or what he’s doing, giving her a simple cover story of “microscope and chemical assay for hire, world wide”.

Like the men and dogs in the previous books, Max and Truman are both genetically enhanced. Max’s special skill is touch and odor recognition – when he touches someone with his bare hands, he can detect, for instance, lotion or perfumes used recently, stress, etc. He can also touch the ground or a door and pick up chemicals and clues as to who’s been there before him.

To be honest, the whole storyline with Cruz kinda went right through me, without my retaining most of it. My attention was more riveted on Miki and her interactions with Max and Truman.

Overall, this entry in the series is more entertaining than the previous one, and I’ll definitely continue with the last book, which is in my TBR pile.

Code Name: Baby (Code Name, Book 3)

CHRISTINA SKYE

Synopsis: Navy SEAL Wolfe Houston is on a mission of national security: protect one stubborn – but gorgeous – civilian in charge of training valuable government assets.

But tracking down four genetically enhanced service dogs and guarding their furry backs 24/7 is going to take all of Wolfe’s tactical skills. The dogs’ unsuspecting trainer, Kit O’Halloran, doesn't know that deadly mercenaries are determined to kidnap her charges. With hostiles to evade and bullets to dodge, there’s no time to waste – so why is Kit pressed against an adobe wall by moonlight, reveling in the hot magic of Wolfe’s slow, skillful hands?

Wolfe is fascinated by Kit’s devotion to her puppies, especially Baby, the incorrigible runt of the litter. But two other trainers have died under strange circumstances – and a foreign government has just posted a staggering bounty for Kit’s capture. Before Wolfe can explore their white-hot attraction, the two are on the run, forced to decide which of their secret contacts is friend…and which is deadliest foe. Only Baby can lead them through the storm to safe haven in each other’s arms. Good dog!

First line: The dogs were howling.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 2005; 378 pages; purchased at Half Price Books.

My thoughts: Having enjoyed the first and second Code Name books, I went into this one eagerly, but was quickly thrown for a loop. The hero, Wolfe Houston, a military man as are the heroes in the previous books, is part of a very elite group who all have some sort of psychic ability. I was not expecting that touch of the paranormal and it took my mind a bit to adjust to it. However, I then got involved in the story pretty quickly, for awhile anyway.

Kit is a dog trainer who contracts with the military, and is currently working with four Labrador pups. The dogs are very quick and incredibly intelligent, and while sometimes Kit wonders to herself stuff like how in the heck did he move so quick, it of course would never occur to her that the dogs have been genetically enhanced.

Wolfe has also been genetically enhanced, as has Cruz, the villain of the story. Cruz had gone crazy and Wolfe and the rest of his team were told he died, but now Wolfe has learned that Cruz is still alive and has gone rogue. He is sent to protect Kit and the dogs, but his real mission is to capture Cruz.

Conveniently for our story, Wolfe lived on the ranch with Kit and her family as a teenager, when Kit’s mother took him in to help him escape his own abusive home. He looked upon Kit as a younger sister, but she’s had a crush on him ever since. Now of course Wolfe is very attracted to Kit, but in his chosen career a relationship is out of the question, and he has to force himself to remain detached and impassive.

There are lots of descriptions of Wolfe using his enhanced psychic skills, Cruz using his own powerful enhanced psychic skills, Kit angsting over Wolfe being back in her life, Wolfe angsting over his attraction to Kit, the dogs being cute and amazing, etc.

When Cruz and Wolfe finally have contact with each other, Cruz keeps saying that the experiments and testing performed on him had caused his breakdown, and that the same thing would happen to Wolfe and the rest of his team. I thought that this would become an important plot point, and that perhaps in the end Wolfe would even discover this to be true or would at least try to investigate it further. Since the team members are forbidden to be involved in an actual relationship with a woman and cannot have families, it would have provided the perfect resolution for Wolfe and Kit to be together in the end. But it was glossed over, and while of course they got their HEA, or at least an HFN, no explanation was really given for how Wolfe is suddenly allowed to deviate from the rules against relationships.

The story just didn’t appeal to me the way the previous books did. I liked Kit and her fierce devotion to the dogs, but I never really connected with Wolfe. By the final quarter of the book, I just wanted it to be over and get to the HEA/HFN already. I think the psychic components, the genetic enhancements, just weren’t my cup of tea. At one point Kit falls asleep watching “Casablanca” on TV, and Wolfe picks up the remote control and begins playing with it, marveling at it and the high tech television set. I realize he’s been living in isolation with the military for awhile, but a remote control and a TV should not be that fascinating to an elite military man. And he’d never seen, or in fact seemed to have heard of, “Casablanca” – that’s just too unreal.

Code Name: Princess (Code Name, Book 2)

CHRISTINA SKYE

Synopsis: Two FBI agents are dead. A top-secret government lab animal has been stolen. Now Hawk MacKenzie just walked in on a naked woman in his hotel shower. She says she’s royalty and has the attitude to match. Whether this arousing female is a true blue-blood or not, the combat-trained Navy SEAL isn’t letting her out of his sight.

Actually a hotel investigator in disguise, Jess Mulcahey can’t believe she’s being held against her will by this gorgeous commando who’s about to blow her cover. Lucky for her, she’s good at narrow escapes. But just when she hits the road, dodging bullets and outwitting cold-blooded pursuers, her luck bottoms out…and Hawk is her only hope of protection. A few stolen hours in a stalled elevator show Jess a different, more sensual side to the hard-edged SEAL. Now the two are closing in on their missing government secrets and trying to hard to ignore their memories…But they’re about to discover that the most dangerous revelations come from an unguarded heart…

First line: Something was wrong.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by Dell Books, 2004; 256 pages (not including excerpt in back); purchased at Half Price Books.

My thoughts: I read CODE NAME: NANNY back in 2010, before I started blogging, and the only note I made about it at the time was:

I really enjoyed this. I gather there are a lot of romances now about CIA agents and Navy SEALS and the like, sort of a new mini genre, but this is the first one I've read. I picked up a couple more books in the series though and plan to continue it, as well as keep an eye out for other books by the author. 

The heroine in CODE NAME: PRINCESS is the twin sister of the heroine from the first book, but the girls are very different. Summer is an FBI agent, while Jess is a civilian. Though Jess is only a few minutes younger than her sister, Summer has always mothered and worried over Jess, trying to take care of her. The girls were put in the foster care system as teenagers, but their paths diverged there, with Jess having behavioral issues and being sent off to have them worked on. That experience had a profound impact on her life and her character.

Hawk is a Navy SEAL, recovering from broken ribs earned on his last mission, and on a new mission to help rescue a very valuable stolen lab animal. There was a side plotline about Hawk being given experimental drugs for his broken ribs, which cause his hormones to go crazy, likening him to a horny fifteen year old. I thought this part of the story was a bit stupid and unrealistic and didn’t really contribute any worth to the story, but others may disagree.

Jess finds herself thrown into the middle of Hawk’s mission, and they part company more than once, only to have circumstances thrust them back together. I loved both Jess and Hawk. I don’t know people like Hawk in real life, but I felt I got a look at how hard it would be to be involved with someone who can’t talk about his work or share his day with you. Hawk has always been a loner, indulging occasionally in casual sex but never in a real relationship, and seeing him have to put his feelings and emotions aside to focus on his mission and his orders, I could understand why he chose to live that way.

By the middle of the book I was in don’t-want-to-put-it-down mode, and last night, even after taking Nyquil around 10:30, I stayed up past midnight to finish the book. While I felt the resolution was a little too drawn out, it was very satisfying.