And Able

By her own admission, quiet and unassuming Claire Sharp doesn’t feel connected to many people. She trusts even fewer. When someone attacks her in the dead of night, she is forced to trust the one man her senses tell her to run from.

Brett Adams has sworn off commitment to anything but duty, country, and family. End of story. That is, until he meets Claire Sharp. In the effort to right her world, his suddenly flips upside down and inside out.

Following the wedding of her friend and roommate Josie McCall, Claire Sharp just wants to go home, get out of those stiletto heels, and get back to her books. There are secrets in Claire’s past, ones she prefers to keep there and to that end has avoided getting close to almost everyone. With so much loss in her life, the death of Lester, one of the elderly residents in the nursing facility she works at, hits her hard. Before she can fully process Lester’s death, someone trying to kill her wakes her in the middle of the night. Fortunately, after the incidents that occurred in WILLING, book two of Lucy Monroe’s MERCENARY SERIES, not only does an alarm sound, but Daniel Black Eagle’s friend, Brett, aka Hotwire, is at Claire’s side in no time flat. The pair are unsure if the attempt was revenge on Josie and Daniel for the deeds in WILLING, or if Claire is the target. As the attempts on her life escalate, the pieces of Lester’s life and just what he did come into focus. When it becomes clear that Lester and Claire’s lives are inextricably linked, Brett has to come to terms with his feelings while trying to save Josie’s life.

In AND ABLE, the third book of MERCENARY SERIES, Ms. Monroe delivers the absolute best of the series. While all are a do not miss, AND ABLE is one this reviewer will definitely go back and read again and again.

Claire is the kind of person any one would value as a friend. Even though she does not see her own exceptional qualities, it come through clearly in Ms. Monroe’s writing. Claire is written with such care and compassion readers cannot help but like her. By the same token, while this reviewer thought Daniel Black Eagle in WILLING practically sizzled off the page, he doesn’t have anything on Brett. Brett is totally to die for—intense with sweet southern charm that has you curling your toes every time he appears on the page.

In AND ABLE, readers have the chance to re-connect with characters they met in the first two books of this series, READY and WILLING along with meeting some fascinating and fun new ones. Queenie and her conspiracy theory newsletter is definitely one for the memory books. She has a full range of emotions and is definitely like someone we have all met in our lives.

Each book in the MERCENARY SERIES is a stand-alone and can be read out of order because Ms. Monroe takes the time to intertwine each of the stories. Her ability to do so carries beyond this series and can also be seen just as clearly in her SCORCOLINI PRINCES series. Each book ties up one loose end while treating readers to a new one. Each book is a do not miss.

May 2007