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A review by thenaptimewriter
Hostile Pursuit by Juno Rushdan
3.0
After loving Juno Rushdan’s Nothing to Fear—check it out, if you haven’t already—I was really excited to see where she’d take a Harlequin book. My overall feelings? The action sequences are spectacular, the tension between leads is great, but I’m skeptical of the time frame and the hero’s not my fave.
Nick’s been one of two marshals tasked with keeping witness Lori safe. She’s due to appear in court tomorrow, only the very dangerous people she’s testifying against have hired an assassin to make sure she doesn’t show up.
Hostile Pursuit starts off with a bang. The action is immediate, the suspense is high, and it feels cinematic. Rushdan maintains that urgency throughout the book even though the events that take place are pretty unbelievable to me--in a fairly negative way that made me doubt other aspects of the book. The timeline is super condensed and so many HUGE things keep happening, and somehow in the midst of it all, the characters still find the energy/willpower to take their relationship to the next level.
Similarly, Nick’s eventual epiphany is not quite as effective as it could be given how quickly everything happens—though I was relieved to see him stop being so hypocritical about Lori’s past and become more self-aware of how he had romanticized her. (Also on the topic of the hero, Nick doesn’t always seem as cautious as he should be for a marshal on a huge case, but I think that’s probably related to the need to keep the romance moving ahead...and it probably bothered me more than it would have otherwise because of my aforementioned issues with the timeline.)
I really appreciated how Rushdan incorporates Farsi culture here,and the book ends on a really high note: an effective blend of drama and romance. This book’s entertaining and high-octane but in a final assessment, the hero and the pace just didn’t always do it for me.
CW: Pretty violent/gory action, past abuse and rape
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley but all opinions provided are my own.
Nick’s been one of two marshals tasked with keeping witness Lori safe. She’s due to appear in court tomorrow, only the very dangerous people she’s testifying against have hired an assassin to make sure she doesn’t show up.
Hostile Pursuit starts off with a bang. The action is immediate, the suspense is high, and it feels cinematic. Rushdan maintains that urgency throughout the book even though the events that take place are pretty unbelievable to me--in a fairly negative way that made me doubt other aspects of the book. The timeline is super condensed and so many HUGE things keep happening, and somehow in the midst of it all, the characters still find the energy/willpower to take their relationship to the next level.
Similarly, Nick’s eventual epiphany is not quite as effective as it could be given how quickly everything happens—though I was relieved to see him stop being so hypocritical about Lori’s past and become more self-aware of how he had romanticized her. (Also on the topic of the hero, Nick doesn’t always seem as cautious as he should be for a marshal on a huge case, but I think that’s probably related to the need to keep the romance moving ahead...and it probably bothered me more than it would have otherwise because of my aforementioned issues with the timeline.)
I really appreciated how Rushdan incorporates Farsi culture here,and the book ends on a really high note: an effective blend of drama and romance. This book’s entertaining and high-octane but in a final assessment, the hero and the pace just didn’t always do it for me.
CW: Pretty violent/gory action, past abuse and rape
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley but all opinions provided are my own.