Cassidy Santino, watches a bullet rip the life from her brother and can do nothing to stop the vicious mob murder. She’s overflowing with the need for revenge against the four killers. The problem is changing from a naïve, over-protected Librarian to a woman who can dwell in the same Vegas nightclub that’s a hangout for the gang members. Her skills as a boxer, learned from years of fun sparring … sparring with her brother, helps somewhat. Now if only she can get that sweet living fantasy, Detective Trace McGuire, to back off from his protective shadowing so she can put her plans into action.
Detective Trace McGuire’s sick mom is breaking his heart and filling his spare time, he sure as hell doesn’t need another responsibility in his crazy busy world. Weirdly, Cassidy Santino has wormed her way into his head and won’t be shook loose.
He knows as the new bartender at the Lipstick Club, she’s become invested in the seedy place and fears the underworld will eat her alive.
Then he sees her fight.
And wonders if they’ll survive her.
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A Gripping Series About A Sister’s Quest For Justice~
When Cassidy’s twin brother is shot and killed by a gang member, she’s devastated, and becomes obsessed to identify the murderer and seek justice.
But to do this, she needs to be stronger, transforming from the good girl next door into a fearless fighter who puts herself in danger time and time again. Trace McGuire is the detective who’s assigned to solve her brother’s murder. Although the last thing he wants are complications in his life, he finds himself drawn to Cassie, but deeply concerned when she continuously risks her life to seek the truth.
Sparks fly when they decide to work together, and Trace finds himself wanting to protect Cass while falling for her hard. But they each have trust issues, and there are times when they withhold information from each other.
If you crave action, thrills, mystery, amazing characters—and of course captivating, sizzling romance—you’re going to love this series!
Liked it so much I bought books 2 -4 in series, just haven’t gotten to them yet!
This is a suspense filled story of grief, revenge and justice. The author does a great job building the story and keeping you on the edge throughout with the mystery and suspense. She adds in some humor along with a hot romance between Cassie and Trace. It’s an intriguing story,is well written ,moves fluidly and I enjoyed reading.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
She witnessed the murder of her twin brother. Now she is out for justice and our hero can either help or get out of her way.
I found this to be a faced paced action story with a detailed plot that has lots of twists and turns which keep you on the edge of your seat. Both the plot and the characters are well developed and fit together well to make a very hard to put down read. I really liked both our characters and the growing chemistry between them. Both of them have to learn to trust and to share, which adds to the feeling of character growth as the story proceeds. Overall, I found it highly enjoyable and I look forward to reading the next book.
Highly recommended.
Mimi Barbour, ‘Sweet Retaliation’. Mob tracker series, book 1.
As a Hidden Gems ARC reader I received this book for free. And promised an honest review. Here it is. English isn’t my first language. Sorry for errors.
Rating: 4 stars (of 5).
In general: From shy librarian to boxing champ and lover of a police officer.
Main characters:
– Cassidy (Cassi) Santino.
She lives in Las Vegas and is in a bad situation: her mom died when she was young. Her father, a talented boxer, became an alcoholic, lost his boxing career and died several years ago. Her twin brother, Raoul, tried to succeed his father as a successful pugilist but had not his talent. Cassi – on the other hand very talented – became his favorite sparring partner. But she had no ambition to become a boxer and earned her living as a librarian.
Raoul began to realize that achieving a career as a successfull boxer wasn’t possible for him and tried to join a youth gang dealing in drugs. Cassi warned him to no avail. And one night Raoul is shot during a quarrel between gang members before Cassi’s eyes. She couldn’t prevent her brother’s death. A a result of this incident she meets:
– detective Trace Maguire.
He’s a stubborn Irish officer trying to stop the drug wars in Vegas, a very difficult job. He suspects that Cassi wants revenge for Raoul’s death and – as usual – nobody wants to tell the police what happened for everyone is too afraid. So the police investigation progresses very slowly and he fears justly that Cassie starts her own (dangerous) investigation. He admires her looks and bravery; he gradually falls in love with her, so he tries to stop her.
Cassi starts her investigation by becoming a ‘new’ person: a new look, quitting the library, starting a bartender career and sparring with a talented bitch in the box school of an old friend of her family, Rusty.
The author, Mimi Barbour, describes how the relationship between Cassi and the detective develops. It’s complicated because Cassi and Trace have different agenda’s about the investigation: she wants to punish the murderers of her brother and Trace tries to keep her far away from his case because it’s too dangerous to be involved in wars between different youth gangs dealing in drugs. The story has many exciting action scenes, a bit hot love and ends with a kind of cliffhanger for seizing one killer isn’t enough for the wonderful, brave heroine. This reader was only surprised how an experienced, tough police officer reacted sometimes as a smitten teenager thinking about the woman he admires and loves.
All in all for me the book was a pleasure to read and I’m looking forward to the next book in this Mob Tracker series.
R. Huiszoon.
Loved the characters of Trace and Cassidy. The ending is a cliffhanger with three more books to go in their story. Don’t usually bother with these stories but interesting enough to continue. I received this book from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
This book was easy to read, I finished in one day. I liked some of the characters but the main female was hard for me to connect with. She wasn’t as realistic as I would have liked. The action was page turning and well written. I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.
I absolutely loved this book. Another great read by Mimi Barbour. This first part of a series delivers action, intrigue, a sassy female protagonist, a sexy cop, and some old fashioned revenge. Gritty, fast paced, and just a little bit romantic – well worth a read. Looking forward to the next part!
I confess that I purchased this book a while back and am just now getting around to reading it. The blurb captured my attention but the length of the book made me wait until I had time to read it through. I’m glad I waited since I sure didn’t want to put it down once I started. Cassidy is a “good” girl who finds that when tested she has a backbone of steel and the determination to see things through. The death of her brother really brings her out. Trace is the detective on her brother’s case and doesn’t need anymore havoc in his life. They will work together to solve the crime and bring justice but there are obstacles to overcome — some from the enemy and some from each other. I enjoyed the growth both Cassidy and Trace experienced during the course of the story and of course their steamy relationship. Fast paced, with danger and stress, a great read that you won’t want to stop until you’ve finished – you’ve been warned – plan to read it through.
Suspenseful, fast-paced, a feisty heroine and a hero that unwittingly finds himself smitten by a murdered gangster’s sister. Trace’s protective instincts are aroused when Cassidy puts herself in the line of fire and he takes a bullet for her. However, the clinging beauty that refuses let go of him at the crime scene, soon shows that she is not a frightened little girl, but rather a fighter in her own right. The story is well written with an intricate plot that keeps the reader’s interest through to the closing pages. The book is part of series and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, however, for this episode of the series, it does come to a good conclusion. I loved Trace’s protective stance towards Cassidy, without smothering her or discounting her intelligence. Cassidy took more chances than any person, male or female, should take, but her courage at the close of the book did pull on my heartstrings. I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.