RITA Reader Challenge Review

Barefoot with a Stranger by Roxanne St. Claire

This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Acozine. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Romantic Suspense category.

The summary:

Francesca Rossi might be the youngest in a long line of badass siblings, but this computer whiz would rather hack a database than pack a pistol for the family business in Barefoot Bay. When an assignment forces her out of her comfort zone and into the field, Chessie decides to amp up the excitement quotient and has her first one night stand with a smokin’ hot stranger she’ll never see again.

Former CIA agent Malcolm Harris is fresh out of prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and knows the government is watching his every move, waiting for him to slip up. But the only mistake he makes is to assume the sexy, sassy woman he seduces on the way to Barefoot Bay is a spy. He learns too late that the beauty he’s bedded is really his best friend’s sister…and his undercover partner on a risky mission.

Chessie and Mal have to stay one step ahead of the CIA, navigate their way through a perilous country, and fight the insane chemistry that sizzles between them. It doesn’t take long for this hacker and spy to discover the power of their unplanned partnership…and learn that falling in love might be the riskiest business of all.

Here is Acozine's review:

Francesca “Chessie” Rossi always has a plan. Though she works as an investigator at Guardian Angelinos, her family’s security and investigation business, she stays behind her computer in Boston. She doesn’t do field work. But children can’t be loaded onto laptops. So when she finds evidence that her brother Gabe’s lover bore him a child before dying on the run in Cuba, Chessie knows someone will have to investigate in person.

Malcolm “Mal” Harris is expecting surveillance. He’s fresh out of federal prison on an embezzlement conviction and would like to lie low. But he can’t refuse an old friend who asks for his help. So he hits the road via a circuitous route that he hopes will avoid the attention of federal agents.

Chessie and Mal feel the heat of instant attraction when they cross paths in the Atlanta airport. Mal thinks Chessie is tailing him. Chessie thinks Mal might be the best antidote to the lingering heartache of her recent breakup. A cancelled flight strands them, and once Mal convinces himself that Chessie isn’t an agent, they spend a steamy few hours in bed together. Then Mal learns who Chessie is, and he bolts, leaving Chessie a clue about his past. Each of them rushes on, expecting or hoping never to see the other again.

Both are on their way to Barefoot Bay in Florida, where Gabe Rossi manages resort security and organizes private witness-protection schemes for deserving clients. When first Chessie and then Mal arrive at Gabe’s compound, they find that Gabe has a plan, and they are both part of it. Gabe is sure that his sister and his old pal are the perfect team for a mission to find the missing boy and gather DNA for a paternity test. Mal knows Cuba, and Chessie’s presence will bolster his cover.

The reasoning behind this plan gets complicated and a bit contrived. Gabe can’t go to Cuba himself because of his past at Gitmo, which is even more checkered than Mal’s. Chessie and Mal both think Gabe would explode with violent anger if he knew about their encounter, so they can’t tell him why they don’t want to travel together. So Chessie embraces a field operation, and Mal embraces a partnership, and they embrace each other, falling into bed together regularly despite repeated, and fairly serious, misunderstandings.

Chessie and Mal enter Cuba posing as documentary film producers. The obligatory madcap cross-country escapade ensues, complete with secret spy cameras, bugged hotel rooms, gun-wielding locals, a breakdown on the road, and an appealing orphan who steals Chessie’s heart. Muscles bulge, mouths open, danger and intrigue surround our couple on every side.

Back in Florida, Gabe works out strenuously (more bulging muscles) to work off his grief over his lover’s death. He obsesses about her possible infidelity – what if the child isn’t his? The side characters (a grandfather and a housekeeper turned spy) cook and dispense homey advice. We learn that some visitors to Barefoot Bay are not who they seem to be.

Chessie’s line to Mal, “I love it when you go all alpha on me,” would make a good tagline for this book. Though consent is carefully established in every sexual encounter, the story comes with a generous side order of machismo. In this context, men protect, family loyalty is absolute, and violence is acceptable or even encouraged in situations that threaten women, children, family, or tradition. This family-values viewpoint extends to all the political themes that crop up, including Cuban culture and the US prison at Guantanamo.

Heroine and villain are funhouse mirror images of each other. Chessie belongs to a family of bodyguards and agents that’s also a large, loving, happy clan. As a result, she is resourceful, creative, and modest. Our villain’s family is also well-known and well-respected in the spy world, but it is small, cold, and aloof. As a result, he is morally bankrupt and mentally and physically weak, though he thinks highly of his own abilities. Needless to say, his reach exceeds his grasp.

For Chessie and Mal, all roads naturally lead to the one place Mal wants to avoid at all costs: Guantanamo Bay, where Mal’s past, Gabe’s son’s fate, and the villain’s plan all converge. The scenes at Gitmo involve graphic violence with more than a small streak of cruelty, and I found that section of the book hard to read. There was never a doubt in my mind that hero would rescue heroine and villain would be vanquished, but I had to squirm a lot more than I would choose to before we got there.

The pacing was good – the plot galloped along and I had no trouble keeping the pages turning – but overall the story wasn’t satisfying for me. There were laughable moments: Chessie can hack into “any database in any secure environment,” Mal flies a crop-duster seemingly on the strength of male privilege alone. And when the book wrapped up and the final reveal was made, I pieced the story together from the beginning and found some big holes. I won’t put in spoilers here, because this is, after all, a review of a romantic thriller. Some of the gaps may be filled by other series titles. But others are wide open for readers to drive their Ford Mustangs through.

Although this book wasn’t to my taste, it was definitely readable. The sentences were peppy, with plenty of (intentional as well as unintentional) humor. The sex scenes weren’t especially memorable, for either the right or the wrong reasons. If you’re into heroines who live in the 21st century and dream of the 1950s, tough guys with hearts of gold straight out of central casting, patriarchal sexual politics, and plots involving the military, intrigue, or torture, you could do worse.

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Barefoot with a Stranger by Roxanne St. Claire

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  1. Gloriamarie Amalfitano says:

    When I reviewed this book, I asked the question if any readers had a man in their lives who could attest to the sensation of grenades going off in their balls. I am still waiting and still very curious.

    I obviously had a very different reaction to this book but isn’t it the strength of the commenters /reviewers that we can express ourselves courteously and agree to disagree?

  2. Mona says:

    Gloriamarie, I remember your question and forgot to answer, sorry! The adult male in my life winced when I asked him the question and confirmed that such a sensation would be something that would make him seek out a doctor and not anything sexy. Hope that helps!

    This book series is not something I’d read but I enjoyed reading a variety of reviews.

  3. Gloriamarie Amalfitano says:

    @Mona, thank you and the gentleman for confirming my thought that it was a bogus comparison.

    I often wonder about the things female authors write about their male characters. I find myself asking myself “Did the author verify with a man that such and such is really something they feel?” I remember a little ways back SB Sarah had a question about twitching cocks. Do they actually twitch, her inquiring mind wanted to know? Did they twitch when flaccid or only when they are erect? She investigated.

    One example that comes to mind is that I frequently read that the male character feels pressure in his back just before he ejaculates. I find that very strange. How is the back involved? Or am I betraying an ignorance of male anatomy? It’s been so long since I had any experience with it, my memory could be foggy.

  4. Gloriamarie Amalfitano says:

    @Mina, I forgot to say, I’ve enjoyed all the Barefoot stories, except for the caricature upon which Poppy appears to be based, except for Barefoot with a Bodyguard and Barefoot with a Stranger. The stories might have worked had she not forced them into the Barefoot series. Maybe. We’ll never know. I feel like too much is being forced into Barefoot Bay.

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