Book Review - Safe in his Arms by Renee Rose

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Watch where you're putting that hand, missy

Five Stars!

A while back I posted about Renee Rose’s steamy vampire romance, Deathless Love and I mentioned that  I hadn’t read Renee’s ‘Black Ops’ story Safe in his Arms because I thought it ‘sounded a bit weird’.

Well, fellow writer Megan Michaels wasn’t standing for any of that nonsense. “You need to read Safe in his Arms! Get that off the bottom of your list!” she admonished, and accordingly I did. Apparently I obey every single order that’s given to me in my blog comments. You should all take advantage of that in the comments section below.

Safe in his Arms introduces us to Becca who meets marine, Zac at her sister’s wedding and enjoys a weekend of spanky sex which results in her becoming pregnant. Believing Zac to be killed in action, Becca raises the kid on her own.  That is until the day when Zac casually saunters back into her life as though nothing had happened. Well, OK, not so much ‘casually sauntering’ as ‘heroically battling an undercover villain in order to save both their lives’. And not so much ‘as though nothing had happened’ as ‘as though something really massive has happened that he wants to help her deal with.’

But still. You see where I’m coming from. This was the reason why I had put off reading this book for so long. I’m a single mum. I don’t have much truck with absentee fathers. Oh so you work for a secret undercover organisation which means that you don’t officially exist? Well, that’s very convenient isn’t it? Where were you last parents’ evening, huh?

Some parents make time for their kids.

 Still as a fictional absentee father, Zac is definitely one of the good ones. You can’t accuse the guy of not caring. And as excuses go, “I am sworn to secrecy to protect the safety of every man, woman and child on this planet” is a pretty sound one. The bond between Zac and his son, Parker, is forged pretty quickly largely due to some cool telepathic super-powers that Parker seems to have inherited from his father. Becca, though initially understandably freaked out, begins tentatively to accept Zac back into her life accepting his responsibilities as a Black Ops ‘ghost’ and appreciating the hot, sexy spankings and Zac reintroduces to her life.

The story zips along pretty nicely with lots of action and some great plot twists. At the heart of the story is Zac’s dilemma about how he can remain a part of Becca’s and Parker’s lives. It’s pretty hard to maintain a work/life balance when your employer’s first directive is that its employees don’t get a work/life balance.

Renee always writes meticulously drawn and believable characters and this includes any children that are included in her books. Parker is just lovely. (The kids in ‘Pleasing the Colonel’ were great too.) It’s a tricky business including children in a spanking romance novel but it when it works it gives a whole new emotional depth. Romances don’t just happen in a bubble. Often they have to work alongside a lot of other equally important aspects of a person’s life. I’m not sure how well Becca and Zac were at keeping their spanky shenanigans from the kid though. I mean, sure, sticking him in front of the iPad with some headphones in might seem like a pretty good plan but this is a kid who can read his own dad’s mind, don’t forget. There’s potential for a whole bunch of awkwardness.

I don't get it. Why don't you just give Mommy a time out?

The spankings are of course marvellous. The best bit is when the characters first get together and, over margaritas, Becca confesses that she wants a guy who will “bend me over and spank me!”

He reached over and cupped the dewy rocks glass, sliding the margarita out of her grasp.

“I’m down,” he said with a flick of his eyebrows.

So. Damn. Sexy. No wonder she gave him another chance. I would too.