Candace's Book Blog: Lori Foster

Getting Rowdy (Love Undercover #3) by Lori Foster

Mass Market paperback, 448 pages

Published: September 24, 2013 by Harlequin

Source: Publisher

An alpha hero's attraction to the one woman he can't have could draw him into a killer's snare in the sizzling new novel from New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster.

Charismatic bar owner Rowdy Yates isn't the kind of man women say no to. So when he approaches waitress Avery Mullins, he fully expects to get her number. However, the elusive beauty has her reasons for keeping her distance-including a past that might come back to haunt them both.

Avery spends her nights working for tips...and trying to forget the secret Rowdy is determined to unearth. But when history threatens to repeat itself, Avery grows to rely on Rowdy's protective presence. As the sparks between them ignite, she will be forced to choose between the security she's finally found...and the passion she's always wanted.

I don't read many contemporary adult romances (or anything that could be labeled as 'romance'). They just don't work for me much of the time. But I've been wanting to try Lori Foster because so many people rave about her books and I knew it was time to step out of my normal genres (even though I'm an eclectic reader, there are a few genres I very rarely pick up). I hadn't read the previous books in the series, but since they are companion novels I decided to go for it anyway. And it worked out fine. While it was clear to me who the previous books were focused on, this was it's own story.

I really liked that Rowdy and Avery already knew each other when the book started. They had already started on the whole flirting thing. At first I thought that I would be extremely frustrated and angry at Rowdy because he was a big time player and why would be mess around when he clearly liked Avery? But it turns out that he really thought he didn't have a chance with her, so I guess I get it. Sort of. I mean really, if you like a girl you should prove it to her by stopping the sleeping around. But that wasn't Rowdy's way and I found myself able to move on from that particular issue pretty quickly.

I liked both Rowdy and Avery, even when the familiar tropes were in play (I love you, I hate you...) it seemed like things got resolved between them quickly, that they didn't stew in their 'issues'. They were able to open up to each other pretty quickly with less drama then usual.

My favorite part of the book was the thriller (ish) aspect. Someone is watching them, making prank calls and generally just being scary. We can make a pretty accurate guess as to what is going on pretty quickly, but we don't have a clue how it will play out, we just know that something big is going to happen. We also get brief bits of the bad guys POV which gives us a better idea of why this is happening. It's pretty intense and this aspect had me flying through the book much more quickly. When it comes down to that final showdown though, I found out that not all my guesses were completely accurate. Total win on that aspect of the book!

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of how romances play out in books, I found myself flying through this book and finding everything pretty interesting. The drama wasn't too bad for me, but when it was I found myself getting over it quickly as the characters did as well. In the end this book was a total win for me and I would definitely consider reading more of Lori Fosters books.

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes, all opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

About the author:
Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a Waldenbooks, Borders, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. She also received the Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Series Romantic Fantasy and Contemporary Romance.

Lori believes it is important to give back to the community as much as possible, so she routinely arranges events among authors and readers to gather donations for various organizations.