Montana Heat: True to You by Jennifer Ryan | Review

Publisher: Avon
Release Date: February 27, 2018 (TOMORROW!)
Source of my copy: publisher
Series: Montana Heat #2
My rating:

Synopsis
A Montana Man risks everything for the woman he loves...

Undercover DEA Special Agent Dawson King spent five months in a Montana prison establishing a fake identity to take down a ruthless drug dealer and put him behind bars. Except there’s a wild card... the killer’s beloved daughter. Cara Potter may appear to be on the right side of the law, but King has learned the hard way to trust no one—even someone as tantalizing as the coffee shop owner. She’s irresistible... but is she also dangerous?

From the moment he enters her life, King makes Cara... nervous. The handsome drifter says he wants to get his life together . . . but there is something about him that doesn’t quite ring true. Cara wants to believe in him, yet she holds back despite the way he awakens dormant dreams and leaves her breathless with his sexy smile, steamy kisses, his every touch.

When the explosive truth comes out and she’s betrayed by the ones she loves, Cara must decide—can she trust her heart, or should she listen to her head?

True to You is the second book in Jennifer Ryan's new Montana Heat series, but it stands nicely on its own so feel free to pick it up even if you haven't read the first book in the series. 

Jennifer Ryan is a new-to-me author in that I've read only one other book by her (which was Escape to You, the first book in the series). If you're only looking at the book covers of this series, they kind of fool you into thinking you're getting a cowboy romance. Nope! The Montana Heat series is pure romantic suspense, my friends, and quite a dark and edgy one at that.

I really like the set up of True to You, in which DEA Special Agent Dawson King (aka Flash) goes undercover to take down the dangerous and ruthless drug dealer known as Iceman. His plan is to get close to Iceman's daughter, Cara Potter, in order to get to his target. But, despite King's dedication to his job and Cara's trust issues, there's an undeniable attraction between them. King's growing guilt over his deception creates much tension in the romance and I was excited to see how it will play out when Cara finally, inevitably, learns the truth.

I did enjoy True to You even more than I did the first book in the series. I found the plot in this book much more interesting because of the whole secret identity aspect with King and how it affected the instant attraction and romance between him and Cara. I also liked how the book opened up and we see Iceman set up King and his team into doing his dirty work for him and how that lit a fire in King to go after Iceman. I sort of saw the plot of the book sort of unfold in three acts. I thought the first act of the novel, as we get to know King and Cara, learn who the players are, and the author set up the story was really solid. But, when we got to the second act of the novel, the pacing kind becomes disjointed where some parts dragged, and I was just waiting for the action to pick up again. King's character also start to lose some of his edge as he falls in love with Cara and his inner dialogue sometimes was somewhat saccharine. By the time we get to the third act, the story lost its momentum because the main action already ended. The story shifted to repairing King and Cara's relationship and mostly just tying loose ends.

Despite my issues with the pacing, I thought True to You was an enjoyable read. King and Cara were likable characters and I enjoyed the sexual tension and romance between them. Iceman was an interesting villain and the action and intrigue in the first two-thirds of the novel did keep me engaged. I just wish the story kept its momentum all the way through. However, we did get a nice, solid ending for King and Cara, which I appreciated overall. I am excited for the next book in the series, because having read two of Ms. Ryan's books now I know I'm going to get an exciting romantic suspense.