Antoine Petit Petit itibaren Karkosy, Polonya itibaren Karkosy, Polonya

4 1/2 stars This is the fourth in Gerard's Black Ops series. Rafael "Choirboy" Mendoza meets B.J. Chase on an op in Venezuela when their missions cross paths. The sparks begin to heat up from their first touch, but anger keeps them separated. Three months later their objectives cross paths again. Only this time they are on the same side. There is a traitor selling US secrets and they need to find out who and how to stop it. Like all the other books in the series, this one gets into the action right from the very beginning. The story moves along quickly with no dragging in the plot. B.J. concerned me at first because she was such a stiff, cold character. So many female characters who are written like this end up not being likable. No so with B.J. I actually liked her. She had a softer side and the history as to why she was so cold was well explained. I also think that Rafe was a well developed character, though no as well as B.J. His family history played an important role in the story, but at the same time I didn't feel like I got into his head enough with it. I didn't sympathize with him as much as I did with B.J. The romance blends well into the story and I didn't feel overwhelmed with too much of the push-pull of the romance. It fit well and made a great romantic suspense story. Overall, I really enjoyed this one. I'm looking forward to more from the BOIs and also more from Stephanie. I'm hoping that is the next book...whatever it is, I am sure it will be an auto-buy for me!

Every year I begin reading this series to my kindergartners to finish the year. We all love it every single time. Too bad she stopped writing about Mercy after 6 books.