Willing

Viet Nam Tyler McCall has spent his adult life protecting and teaching his daughter Josie the fine art of, well self-defense doesn’t quite cover it. In fact, she’s as fine a solider as he. In the Oregon wilderness he runs a school teaching civilians how to fight like a top line soldier warrior.

After a lifetime of learning to fight and honing her survival skills, Tyler’s daughter, Josie has been striving for what she considers a normal life—a house in town and attending college. Things are going along really well for Josie until two things happen to disrupt her world. Well, make that three. First she is called on to help Joshua, aka Wolf protect Lise Barton in READY. Then she learns her father has sold half his school to Daniel Black Eagle, a man she is sure dislikes her to the very core. And then, during a break in training, but while her father is still in residence, the school is blown up. Josie manages to get Tyler to the hospital, but soon thereafter he mysteriously disappears. Adding to that problem is that Daniel Black Eagle decides he is going to be the one to find Tyler.

Daniel is all alpha male carrying not only a heap of baggage, he’s got the testosterone to go with it. The question is, can he get past these to do the right thing by Tyler?

In Lucy Monroe’s second book of her Mercenary series, WILLING, Daniel Black Eagle is pure and simple the yummiest male character this reviewer has seen in a long time. He is so compelling readers will feel like he has stepped off the pages and into their bedrooms…or where ever they read! One gets the feeling that he is also one of Ms. Monroe’s as well, perhaps that alpha male she is having her happily ever after with?

Josie Tyler is a very different heroine. She’s got that tough as nails kick-butt attitude that really cool romantic suspense heroines have, but she has a little something more. She’s not just a soldier, she’s trained as a mercenary and not someone you would want to cross. Her continual referrals to herself as a mercenary and solider do come close to a bit tiresome. One thing this reviewer would have enjoyed was perhaps a few flashbacks to some of the missions both Josie and Daniel were on. The explosive relationship she has with Daniel makes for interesting reading.

WILLING is a much tighter read than READY with clearer points of view and a steadier storyline. This reviewer did have a problem with the premise of a school geared towards training mercenaries and soldiers of fortune being such a public venue. Something connecting it to Homeland Security or other government sanctioned training program would have made it more palatable. While possible in many states, it was extremely difficult for this Reviewer to get past this scenario.

WILLING is a well-written story that definitely holds a reader’s interest. As stated above, WILLING is book two of Ms. Monroe’s Mercenary Series. With the solid references to the characters of READY, readers can read the books in any order. If for no other reason that you are looking for an interesting read, do pick up WILLING to “meet” Daniel Black Eagle.

May 2007