Finished Show No Mercy by Cindy Gerard. This is the first book in her Black Ops, Inc. romantic suspense series about a group of former soldiers who form their own private security company.

This one is about reporter Jenna McMillan, who goes to Argentina to chase down a hot story on a reclusive billionaire. But when someone tries to kill Jenna with a car bomb, Black Ops operative Gabe Jones steps in to protect her. Gabe and Jenna have a history, and their past attraction heats up once more as they try to stay one step ahead of the madman who’s chasing them …

I’ve been looking for some new romantic suspense authors to try and someone suggested Gerard to me. So I picked this one up at the bookstore.

I thought it started out a little slow, as Gerard establishes some of the Black Ops members and shows how the group was originally formed. But after that, it’s all action, all the time — bombs, shootings, raids, and more.

Sandwiched in between all the action is Gabe and Jenna’s romance. Overall, the romance works well given their past history, but I would have liked a little more downtime with the two characters instead of them almost constantly being in danger. I also would have liked a little more explanation about their past history together — and how they took down the bad guy the first time. That story almost seemed like it could have been a book by itself.

One thing that I found interesting and refreshing about the book is that all the male characters are hyper-aware of their feelings. Gabe knows how he feels about Jenna and how she feels about him from almost the beginning of the book. One of the other Black Ops guys is also in love, knows it, and isn’t ashamed to admit it. That was a nice change of pace from the cliche hero who thinks that feelings are a sign of weakness.

Overall, if you like nonstop action and a healthy dose of romance, you should like this book. Thumbs up.

Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

Books in my TBR pile: About 20.

What about you guys? Reading anything good right now?