Shielding Jayme
By Susan Stoker
Release Date: January 5, 2021
Ebook Available from WV Reads!
2.5 Stars - Overall, this story is just too short. Stoker's Delta Team 2 series is sort of in between novellas for her other series/teams. I wasn't lost having not read all her works but this felt a little lacking in character and atmosphere. Not a bad quick read for a distracted day but probably only worthwhile as a free, fun time-filler. There's steaminess, sweetness, and a little excitment toward the end.
This is nothing like Stoker's usual action thrillers and I was disappointed as I expected more. This isn't slow-paced but it's a bit dull. Rocket (weirdly enough Stoker used this as his real, legal name this time) is a former Navy helicopter mechanic and a big, rough Texas alpha male. If older, rugged heroes are your favorites, he will appeal for sure. But while his personality is kind but gruff, there isn't much to his backstory. He's not a badass like Stoker's usual heroes, though he does kind of take care of Winnie and Jayme. Speaking of Jayme, she was pretty forgettable. She's a shy, self-concious baker with a quirky grandmother.
I think even with the story being short, more could have been done with this set up. Bakers in danger despite their innocent profession is not an unusual trope but Jayme's never in danger but for one scene. She likes to cook and bake, but up until her thirties or mid-thirties (Ages were pretty vague) she hasn't had a lot of self-willed ambition. There's a little pity party about how she developed trust issues when the bakery she used to manage didn't sell to her. And then she grumbles because Rocket does her whole business plan I guess and she wants the project to be more hers. All this is told in a few pages of info dumps as time moves at "rocket" speed. Two weeks go by, then two months, and then two years etc and it's the epilouge. The epilouge was a good chunk of the page count. Normally, I'm good with some sexy scenes but this is also far from Stoker's best work. She calls unwarranted to attention to weird thoughts about things like toes and hair, etc that was really distracting from building any passion or excitement. Skip this story unless you're looking for a few hours to kill, maybe at Christmas time.
(NS)
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