In Her Sights (A Montgomery Justice Novel) [Paperback]

This book drove me crazy. Robin Perini's bio states she has won awards for writing romance books and teaches competitive small-bore rifle shooting. With all this in mind, her romantic writing skills were the pits! Here is a quote page 7 "He knew she loved her sex hot and her whiskey straight. He knew she couldn't stand cantaloupe or cauliflower, but was addicted to butter rum Life savers. He knew she liked her showers scorching, her kisses gentle and she purred in the middle of night when he splayed his hands along her hip and nuzzled her neck." I swear I broke out laughing and I thought I had a great comic novel on my hands. I couldn't read her sex scenes at all with a straight face, however when the sex turned rough the words became believeable. Go figure?

The action scenes were good and I liked her female sniper Jazz. For the most part Ms. Perini's use of guns was accurate, but..... I will come back to this later.
As for the mystery, well it was just okay. I kind of figured it out half way thorough the book.

Good points: the book is short and reads well. The idea of a female sniper was neat. The action was ok.
Bad points: writing of the love scenes is a hoot. The mystery is fair but not very interesting or new.

There are two things that really really got my goat. One was that Denver was such a hot bed of violent crime that it had two crimes within 24 hours that reguired swat. Next the idea that a professional sniper would not check her rifle before shooting some one was stupid. Plus this really big bone head mistake: at the end of the book Jazz is carrying a Beretta and Ms. Perini writes " Jazz pointted the .357n at Lisa." A Beretta is 9mm and .357 is a revolver bullet thatn can not be fired in an automatic. This from a rifle teacher.

So this is an okay book. If you love romance novels then this for you. If you lilke comedy this is for you. Other wise run.

This was an amazing and very suspenseful story. I couldn't put it down! Luckily, I picked this up on a Friday evening because it was 1:30 AM before I hit the final page and let out a sigh of relief. This was an extremely fast-paced romantic suspense novel (with a very heavy emphasis on the suspense).

Jazz Parker has reinvented herself after a horrible childhood as the daughter of drunken prostitute who was beaten to death by one of her clients. This same client came back the next morning to beat and rape 10-year-old Jazz and she managed to kill him with the baseball bat that she was supposed to use to defend her mother. She is guilt-stricken because she was unable to protect her mother. After years bouncing around the foster care system, she finds herself fifteen and on the streets trying to survive. She is rescued by a friendly sheriff who she is very reluctant to trust because of her previous experience.

Jazz changes her name, has her juvenile record expunged, and starts a new life as a police officer herself. When the story begins she is the only female SWAT sniper for her county. She is part of the SWAT team but holds herself aloof from her colleagues because of real trust issues. She is under investigation by Internal Affairs in the person of the spoiled son of the County Sheriff who was beaten out for the SWAT team by her. He is out to get her and, since she hasn't tried to be part of the team, her teammates aren't on her side.

Enter Luke Montgomery. He is a former Army Ranger turned investigative reporter. He is also Jazz's former lover. She walked away when it looked like he was getting too close to her secrets. Luke is a very black and white sort of guy. He is determined to find and report the truth no matter who it hurts. He is currently investigating corruption in the police department. One of his suspects is the officer who has targeted Jazz.

When Jazz and Luke meet again, sparks fly. Neither has gotten over the other but both still have the same reservations. He knows she is lying to him by not talking about her past; she is still intent on keeping her past a secret. Both of them have trust issues. His are because he has been betrayed before by colleagues. Hers are because of her childhood. Otherwise, Luke is part of a large and loving family that is very supportive of him. One of his brothers is Jazz's only friend on the SWAT team. Luke is also the father of an adorable three-year-old daughter. He didn't know she existed until his former girlfriend died. She had left him because he was so determined to put himself in danger doing his investigations which certainly didn't help with his trust issues.

Jazz has also become the target of someone from her past who wants revenge on her. At first, the two cases seems separate but soon it looks like Jazz's enemies and Luke's corrupt cops are getting together. Luke and Jazz have to solve both problems before they can work on their relationship.

The story was an excellent, page-turner. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good romantic suspense novel.

My Review:
This was a fabulous book and surprisingly, a first book by this new author. This book is about Jazz, Jasmine Parker, who is the lead sniper on a SWAT team. The book starts when she is 10 years old, so that as the reader, you know a bit about her history that she has worked diligently to hide and escape from her entire life.

Luke Montgomery is a man from her past. He is an investigative reporter and she left him when she realized that he could never forgive or get past a deception, knowing that she was hiding her entire history from him. But now he has been tasked with writing a series of articles about her and is digging.

The first story features her front and center on the first page after a shot that she took, saved the governor's young daughter. That first article puts her on someone's radar that knows her past and wants Jazz to pay.

It's been two years since Luke and Jazz have been involved, but the sparks are still there for both of them, but the closer Luke gets to Jazz, the more that he realizes that he never really knew her when they were involved two years ago. But as they become closer, the more that Jazz realizes she is putting Luke and all of his family, including his young daughter in danger. That is not an acceptable risk to her so she keeps pushing him away.

Jazz is a really complex character. She has learned methods for how to separate herself mentally from stress and emotion which serves her well as a sniper, but not so well in relationships. She's overcome a lot in her life to get where she is and through the book, she starts to see all that work crumble which is absolutely devastating for her.

On the other side is Luke. Two years ago, he went after one of his best friends in an investigation with no mercy and that is what scared Jazz away from their relationship. Since then, he has realized his mistakes with the friend and the handling of Jazz. He realizes now that he would always let her deflect his questions rather than getting to know more than the physical side of Jazz.

Both of these people are learning and growing throughout this book, but at the same time, they are going through some amazingly difficult times together. The suspense and the action in the book is phenomenal!

There are a lot of possibilities for the bad guys that keeps you guessing up until almost the very end. The story is fabulous too. I fell in love with these characters and was completely immersed in the outcome of their story, including the side characters. When Gabe (Luke's younger brother) got hurt...OMG, my family just had to stop talking to me for a few pages. Yes, it really is that good.

This book was so good. I read it over the Thanksgiving holiday, and kept having a hard time pulling myself away from it to interact with my family. It is riveting. It is suspenseful. It is sexy. I adored the entire Montgomery clan and really hope that this new author is already writing the other Montgomery boys stories because they all have some fabulous possibilities.