I'd call this a romantic mystery, not romantic suspense, it's a very good, entertaining book that I happily read in one day, When I grab a story like this I'm looking for several things likable main characters who are believably attracted to each other, interesting details about the setting, plenty of plot that moves well, and a genuine mystery I can care about and puzzle over as I read.
I got all of that here,
Our heroine runs a rising restaurant in Chicago and is consumed by her career, The author loves cooking so the details felt pretty accurate, There were lots of scenes set at the restaurant and the people who work there were welldrawn, I especially enjoyed reading about all the work in the kitchen it made the story feel well grounded, The hero is a police officer whose partner is in a coma from a jobrelated shooting, and the investigation leads to her restaurant, I worried about the fallout of the investigation on the employees and the business, as well as how it effected the MCs relationship, There was plenty of action to keep the story moving, and I was happy to find that the identity of the bad guy wasn't as clear as I'd expected.
I do haveproblems with the story,
Still, those two points were minor in terms of the book as a whole, so I can only knock off about half a point, for,for what's really a very good book, I look forward to reading more by this author,
NB This isin a series, but I haven't read any of the earlier books and it didn't matter, Apparently they are about the heroine's sisters, and don't involve the investigation or anything else in this book, So feel free to jump in here!
Also, I can't but laugh at myself and admit that I once said I'd never read a book with "Colton" in the title.
It's just such an overused last name in romance, I mean it's everywhere to the point that I think it's ridiculous, Fortunately for me, the title on the spine of the book was simply "Undercover Heat" and I didn't realize till later that it included "Colton", So I didn't miss out on finding this author because of a silly prejudice on my part, LOL
Good book Tatum Colton runs the highly successful restaurant True, Still upset by the murder of her father and uncle, Tatum's world is further rocked when Detective Cruz Medina shows up to inform her that he believes her restaurant is a front for drug runners.
Haunted by the fact his partner is near death because of these drug runners, Cruz is determined to catch them, He convinces Tatum to let him go undercover as a souschef in True, to which she eventually reluctantly agrees, She fears if the drug running is made public, it could cause a scandal that will end the restaurant, Of course, the heat in the kitchen expands into their personal lives!
A four star rating for a Colton book, of all things! Anything is possible, folks.
More a.rounded up because, unfortunately, yet again, the length works against it, The middle has some real pacing issues as Tatum repeatedly rehashes the conversation of how she doesn't want Cruz's investigation to ruin her restaurant's reputation, We get it, Tatum! Cruz gets it! Move on! This flagging of the pace took me out of the story and had me picking up on inconsistencies, such as Cruz saying that he's been a detective for over ten years.
He's. Unless he was stationed atJump Street, I'm not sure how that works!
Otherwise, I was impressed by our main characters, They felt like real people, This is the sort of romance I enjoy, where the author shows, not tells, us why the characters are into each other, They actually had interesting conversations where they actually talked about pertinent things in their lives, not just about food or about the other characters in the miniseries, Quite the feat, considering this is set in a restaurant! I believe the murder of Tatum's father and uncle is an overriding arch in the miniseries, as that is not solved here.
But it didn't detract from the story, Instead, it further developed Tatum's character, highlighting her love of food when she shares a story about her father with Cruz, Some dialogue exchanges between Tatum and Cruz made me smile with amusement! I liked the hero and heroine and I was interested in their romance,
The suspense part is secondary, of course, but it worked well, There was some decent suspense, although the identity of the person helping to smuggle drugs was obvious, The intrigue running in the background was enough to keep things ticking over while the romance played out, Things end on an exciting, suspenseful climax,
One other letdown is the ending, This felt like it was missing a chapter! We get the black moment where , and they never even discuss it! Tatum is understandably furious with Cruz and I was too!, but then just randomly forgives him.
This black moment was at the crux of what could keep Tatum and Cruz apart, and it didn't make any sense for this to be brushed over without any sort of dialogue between Tatum and Cruz to explore his motivations or her sense of betrayal.
The book really needed that, and it's completely missing,
Otherwise, this is exactly the sort of story I'm after in this line, It's part of a miniseries that can easily be read as a standalone, the suspense element is secondary, but keeps things interesting, and the heroine and hero really come to life as real people, had interesting things to say to each other, and kept me invested in their relationship.
Anna J. Stewart knocked it out of the park once again, Cruz and Tatum have so much chemistry, This was the first time I figured out "who done it", ok part of it, I could not put this book down, I can't wait for the next installment of Colton: Chicago, This is a great read, I had the culprit figured out in the very beginning but Anna J Stewart put in a curve ball, It was exciting, riveting and thrilling,
I wont retell the story however I WILL tell you what I love about this book and series, IMHO, no one does romantic suspense better than this author, Ms. Stewart kept me on the edge of my seat thru the entire story, The only time I “chilled” out was when she wrote about the food I could almost smell and taste the dishes!
Tatum Colton is the owner and chef extraordinaire of True.
Cruz Medina is a detective undercover for this story with the Chicago Police Department investigating illegal activity in his city, Colton:Undercover Heat was written with enough intrigue and suspense to grab you in the first few pages and to not make you stop
reading until youve read The End.
Add in the sizzling chemistry between Cruz and Tatum and I couldnt put it down,
I loved the cast of characters in the restaurant, I loved both the Colton and Medina families, And Cruzs fellow officers were perfect not stereotypical characters, And I gave my heart to Tatum and Cruz loved this book!
Fantastic book that grabbed me from the start and kept me hooked to the last page.
Tatum Colton, chef and owner of Chicago's trendy restaurant, True, lives and breathes her job, Ever since the murders of her father and uncle, True is where she can forget for a little while each day, That relief takes a hit the day Detective Cruz Medina shows up to tell her that he believes her restaurant is being used for drug running, Cruz is determined to stop the cartel responsible for putting his partner into a coma, Convinced that the restaurant is at its center, he wants to go undercover as one of her employees to investigate,
The sparks flew between Tatum and Cruz from the moment they met, She is adamant that her people are innocent, and he is just as sure that someone is not, Though her first instinct was to tell him no, eventually, she knew she had to do the right thing, I laughed at her "training session" with him and her surprise at how easily they worked together, It didn't take long for them to acknowledge the attraction they felt and realize that doing anything with it would be a bad idea, I loved watching their interactions both in and out of the kitchen, As the investigation heats up, so does Cruz's protectiveness, which creates a few awkward situations, There's a great scene with Tatum's mother and aunt and others that involved her staff, But as the investigation hurtles toward its conclusion, Cruz's duty clashes with his feelings for Tatum, I ached for them both as Tatum's worst nightmare came to pass and drove a wedge between them, It takes an unexpected twist that puts Tatum in lifethreatening danger to bring them back together, I loved the ending.
The suspense of the story was terrific, Cruz won't let anything get in the way of bringing down the drug cartel, and that includes his growing feelings for Tatum, I loved watching him make a place for himself in the restaurant, There are plenty of possible suspects, and Cruz trusts his instincts in the investigation, The intensity ramps up when Tatum becomes the victim of several attacks, and she becomes as determined as he is to get at the truth, I had my suspicions about who it was and followed eagerly along as Cruz pursued his leads, I was glued to the pages as it all came together, and Cruz got his man, Unfortunately, Tatum was in the wrong place at the wrong time as an unexpected twist put her in extreme danger, I loved seeing her take control of her fear and do the unexpected to save the day,
I thoroughly enjoyed the diverse secondary characters, Tatum's staff at the restaurant were fantastic, I loved the sense of family they exuded and how they watched out for her, Sam and Ty were my favorites, Tatum's mom and aunt were great, Their continuing grief was evident, as was their love for their family, I also liked Cruz's family and had to laugh at how he helped his younger sister,
Though the murders of Tatum's dad and uncle were mentioned a couple of times, there was little mention of its investigation, An exhilarating continuation of the Colton: Chicago series! With book three, Anna J, Stewart picks up the Colton reins as the search for answers continues in UNDERCOVER HEAT, This story revolves around an undercover op at Tatum's restaurant and has a solid, exciting story of it's own outside of the family mystery, Unfortunately the continuity timeline doesn't hold up in this book and a couple of glaring discrepancies had me distractedly flipping back to book one to prove to myself I wasn't remembering incorrectly.
In book one, Cruz is brought into the storyline at a family dinner with Tatum before the murders occur but in this book he isn't even introduced to Tatum until weeks after the deaths.
Also in the first book, Cruz is currently partnered with Sean's former partner Harry but in this book he mentions Harry, but is most recently partnered with Johnny, The overall book was a solid storyline, but my enjoyment was definitely skewed following up the inaccurate match ups, Better as a stand alone than as part of the series for this reason,
Tatum is a sympathetic character, She's struggling with the death of her family, yet not letting her restaurant suffer during her distraction, I liked her gumption and her good heart,
Cruz is an attention grabbing character, He's determined to get to the bottom of this case he's working on and is willing to put himself out on whatever limb he has to in order to bring the bad guys down.
I recommend this series to anyone who likes an intense storyline with solid family relationships and friendships being a core back bone of the series, .
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Anna J. Stewart