Review: Caught in the Act, by Samantha Hunter (Blaze)

I listened to Caught in the Act on audio, but it is available in paper and e as well. It is the second in Harlequin’s Dressed to Thrill series, whose plots are kick started by a completely incompetent costume shop employee who  keeps sending out the wrong costumes, leading, as one would expect, to hot sex and true love every time. The others are:

• Feels Like the First Time (2009) – Tawny Weber (which I review here)
• Hold on to the Nights (2009) – Karen Foley
• Santa, Baby (2009) – Lisa Renee Jones

In this installment, set in Florida, Gina happens to get a sexy cabaret costume instead of the ghost costume she ordered, which she needed for the purpose of infiltrating a big costume party at Mason Scott’s house. Mason is the hot shot divorce attorney representing Rio, Gina’s soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law. Mason has incriminating photos of Gina’s impulsive, always-in-hot-water sister Tracy, and her lover, who happens to be a very evil crime boss.

Sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, Gina happens to be mistaken for a hired performer (the real one happened to have canceled) and is forced to go on stage at the party and sing (which she happens to do pretty well), where she catches Mason’s amorous attention. He happens to track her down in his home office where she is looking for the photos, and they happen to have the best desk sex of their lives.

The next night, Gina has to go back again to get the photos, and more sex ensues, until Mason figures her game out (Gina should have paid more attention to knot tying at summer camp) and they both realize they are dealing with a very serious situation that has put everyone in danger. Instead of going to the authorities, they decide to “let the FBI sleep”, and have more sex until morning, by which time all hell has broken loose.

We then follow Mason and Gina, the FBI, Tracy and Rio, Tracy’s ex-lover, and a bunch of gun totin’ heavies through swamps, tourist towns, and storm tossed waves, including a detour on a sponge harvesting expedition, until it all gets wrapped up in a dramatic finish.

Caught in the Act was a very par-for-the-course Blaze, and I did enjoy listening to it. Despite a couple of truly TSTL moments on both Mason and Gina’s parts, the author was able to balance a pretty convoluted suspense plot with Mason and Gina’s developing relationship, and even throw in a marriage-in-trouble subplot. Although there was a light sketch of Gina as “the staid/boring sister” who needed sexual awakening and a more optimistic, risk-taking attitude towards life, there was almost no tension, sexual or romantic, in the relationship, with external conflicts presenting most of the drama. I happen to like more psychological action and internal tension, but that’s just a personal preference.