Defenseless

By Corinne Michaels

Synopsis

My life is a secret.
His life is dangerous.
We’re both stubborn, calculating, and controlling.
Mark Dixon doesn’t know what he’s getting into. He doesn’t know his games could cost us our lives. I have to do what is necessary to keep us alive, and that means guarding my heart.
But I know I’m defenseless against him, and in the end, he’ll force me to surrender.

Review

I have to admit I’ve had trouble writing this review. I absolutely loved The Belonging and The Consolation Duets and couldn’t put those four books down. But honestly, this one didn’t suck me in like the previous books did. They focused more on the emotional side of things, whereas DEFENSELESS focused more on the action and solving the case rather than Mark and Charlie’s relationship. And that’s fine, it’s just not what I was expecting. The prologue was fantastic, and the ending was you’ll-need-a-manicure-after-you’ve-chewed-your-figernails-to-the-bone terrifying, before leading us to a nice HEA. Unfortunately, it’s the rest of the book that lost me. Maybe I built this book up in my head so much that it was never going to meet my expectations.

Both Mark and Charlie are very intelligent, independent and strong-willed people. Their professions require them to keep secrets, to lie and to top their target at any cost, and it’s that behaviour they take into their relationship, which obviously isn’t healthy. I found most of their conversations hard to follow, as they switched from professional to sexual in the blink of an eye and I just couldn’t keep track. Charlie is the most serious of the two, while Mark is sarcastic and funny, lightening up the book here and there. I loved how he kept trying to figure out Charlie’s real name and every guess randomly thrown in had me chuckling.

DEFENSELESS is told in dual POVs, although most of the dialogue is told in Charlie’s POV. I think this is being promoted as a standalone, but I recommend you read The Belonging Duet and The Consolation Duet before attempting this one. The Who and Why behind the attacks against Cole Securities is revealed and I can honestly say I didn’t see it coming at all. Well done, Corinne. Well done. DEFENSELESS appears to tie up the thread connecting all five books, so I’m not sure if we’ll see another book in this series, or if we’ll see the other characters get a spin-off series.

My Rating: