Tough Enough [Mass Market Paperback]

Will is an art mercenary assigned to determine who at an art reproduction company is planning to abscond with the fakes to sell on the black market. He works undercover as a reporter interviewing the three employees and discovers that his former college flame Mia, who cheated on him and broke his heart, is one of the three suspects. Not above wooing her for the good of the investigation, the two are soon rekindling their passion. Will quickly learns that it is not Mia behind the theft, but will his deception mean the end to their second chance for romance?

Albert's latest installment in the Avalon stories has the usual baddie, Rainert Van Lahr, and savvy readers won't be a bit surprised at the identity of the forger working with him. Albert's knack for creating sizzling duos, subject matter knowledge, and ability to plot keeps this one afloat. Though it's not as strong as the other novels in the series (and each can stand on their own merit as a separate story), it is still an above average novel, and provides more insight to the shadowy organization of the Avalon art mercenaries.

Overall Rating: 3.85 // Action: 4.0 / Emotion: 2.0 / Romance: 2.0 / Sensuous: 2.75 / Suspense: 3.5 // Laughter: 0 / Tears: 0

Touch Enough: 3.85:
*Tough Enough*, the second book in 'The Avalon Investigation Series' is an enjoyable read and showcases Albert's talent as she spins a tale of romance and intrigue, but it is not a top of the line Romantic Suspense novel. This entertaining and easy to read book failed to generate a nail-biting kind of suspense, nor was the reader entertained with dialogue and emotional interactions between Will and Mia that would explain why it was so easy to re-establish a relationship after a bad break up twelve years ago.

Hero: 3.5:
William "Will" Tiernay: It was easy to fall for this handsome, sharp-dressing, charming, flirtatious agent during his initial introduction. It was commendable that Will not only got on with his life after being jilted by the love of his life back in college, but became a successful Avalon agent. But as the story progressed, and Albert failed to develop the rebuilding of trust that should have been necessary to heal Will's broken heart, his heroic rating fell. Will also lost points because, although he caught Kostandin "Kos" Vulaj in the end, the bad guy proved himself the more honorable man.

Heroine: 2.0:
Mia Shaeffer Dolan: Couldn't develop any kind of connection to this gorgeous, sparkling, museum reproductionist. This heroine was greatly under-developed and the last two nails in her coffin were {1} her puny little apology to Will twelve years after she broke his heart and {2} her failure to accept her friend, Vanessa Sharpton, as she was.

Story Line: 4.0:
Albert made great strides in beginning to flesh out the characters who were members of the Avalon Investigations team as she wrote about Will taking on an assignment to stop the theft of valuable artifacts being reproduced for the owner who was gifting them to the Met. Making Mia (for a very short time) one of the suspects added potential intrigue. The strongest feature to the entire story, however, was the truly intriguing arguments Albert gave voice to from the "bad guys" to justify their actions.

Action: 4.0:
Albert kept the story moving at a fast pace as Will used subterfuge, illegal breaking and entering and called in help from a fellow agent after he realized he increased the danger to Mia by revealing his feelings for her. Could not help but be entertained by the way Will tried to keep up with the thieves, who always seemed to be one step ahead of him.

Emotion: 2.0:
Albert's lack of extensive character development failed to make Will and Mia the kind of hero and heroine that brought forth an emotional connection. The idea that Will and Mia could resolve a bad break up with just a simply little apology did not ring true. Where was the angst and the emotionally draining and then revitalizing reconciliation dialogue?

Romance: 2.0:
Sorry, but just didn't feel the love. Will and Mia apparently still had feelings for each other -- and since they knew so much about the other from the past, they just hopped back into bed instead of discussing how Mia's previous actions had ended their relationship.

Sensuous: 2.75:
Albert showcases her skill by writing heated, spicy, well-written lovemaking scenes. It was probably the lack of emotional connection to Will and Mia that failed to further enhance the sensuality into a flow-blown sizzle factor.

Suspense: 3.5:
Yes, it was obvious pretty quickly who the antiquity thieves were. But Albert kept the suspense alive by leaving the reader to wonder how in the world Will and Mia were going to outwit the bad guys and, hopefully, bring down the Avalon arch-nemesis, Rainert von Lahr.

Secondary Characters: 4.0:
Was very impressed with the way Albert began painting more colors into the picture of the Avalon Investigations team. And while Will and Mia were minimally developed as heroic characters, the other couple in the book, Kos and Vanessa, were very richly developed and added a wonderful contrast to Will and Mia. These two characters really helped make the book more enjoyable.

See Wolf Bear Does Books for a more in-depth, detailed review of *Tough Enough*.

Quote from Harriet:

"this is worth reading by sub-genre fans is the doubt whether Mia is a crook hiding in plain sight of love, an unsuspecting dupe, or something else as Michele Albert leaves ONE WAY OUT for her lead couple."

Therein lies the problem as a reader: does Mia Dolan even represent the face of white collar crime? This is a second chance at love story set under the umbrella of a potential art heist. Haddington reproductions is set to reproduce fake artwork to be sold to a reputable company while the real thing gets sold to the black market for millions more dollars. Will Tierney is given this assignment by Avalon (another secret Agency fighting for the good of the world), only to learn that his former flame is a suspect in the eyes of Avalon, along with two other employees.

As a reader, I just couldn't suspend disbelief on a lot of things the author presents in her story. Like the rekindled feelings after 12 years apart and they had a nasty break up, too. Didn't buy it. Will's doubt of Mia, granted it's been 12 years since they've seen each other but he should know from background check that she's probably in the dark. Yet the doubts "linger" leaving him to say things about Miea that annoyed me. Will is duping Mia and using her past feelings for him to help him bring down her employer. Why they just couldn't work together and say, hey, your employer is so and so and so and go from there. Also, Haddington company makes Will's job just too easy! Never once are they suspicous of his character, or his questions that I found were not very discreet. All in all, I just couldn't believe Ms. Albert wrote this book. The dialogue was a bit stilted, the chemistry between characters was forced and the suspense was rather weak. The book started off well but after the first chapter things went downhill quick. I was anticipating a good read but came away disappointed. My grade was a D for this effort and I hope Ms. Albert next book will be better but alas, every author is allowed their bad book on occassion but I have only two books on my keeper shelf: All Night Long and A Great Catch and I have enjoyed Off Limits but that's been about it.