This RITA® Reader Challenge 2013 review was written by Willa. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Romantic Suspense category.

The summary:     

Searching for a sunken ship off the coast of Peru, treasure hunter Logan Cutter manages to pull a very different kind of prize from the sea — beautiful mystery woman Daniela Rosada. Dani claims she has no memory of how she ended up lost at sea.

But with millions of dollars in treasure at stake, Logan suspects she's not telling him the truth…and he's right. Dani has good cause to hide the facts from Logan. If he knew her real reason for being onboard his ship, he'd throw her back overboard in a heartbeat.

But the closer they get, the deeper she falls for him – and the more he lowers his own powerful defenses. Little do they both know that by falling in love, they've set a course for disaster.

And here is Willa's review:

I have to say up front that I love Cherry Adair's Cutter Cay series. Vortex did not disappoint.  But when I started reading it, I thought I was going to hate it.  A lot.

The book opens with Daniela Rosado in an ill-secured life jacket, choking on seawater after being hit on the head and dumped overboard, abandoned in the dark, wide, empty Pacific.  Close to drowning, in mindless panic, she's fighting Logan Cutter.  If his dog hadn't barked, he never would have been aware of her floundering in the dark ocean.  How is this not the black moment?  Yet Cherry Adair starts the book with this scene – the stuff of nightmares.  And this is only the beginning.

Logan is the eldest Cutter brother.  He runs the Cutter Salvage company.  He's intense, introspective, and focused on getting the job done. 

Adair gives him a worthy opponent and love interest in Dani, whose presence onboard sends the millions-of-dollars stakes of his undersea treasure hunt all the way into the red zone.  There's plenty of sexual tension. I could have been bothered by Logan's interest in Dani, since she is under his protection and even though it's a big boat, she can't get away from him.  But her attraction to him is equally intense, and not just because Logan is her last hope. 

Logan hates liars.  Dani lies from the first time she becomes aware she is on a boat.  Is she safe?  She's been found before, with disastrous results.    She continues to parcel out the truth of her peril in dribs and drabs, terrified to tell her whole story.  Logan should hate her, but he's too attracted – and intrigued – by his less-than-truthful mermaid.  And since she holds the key to one of the biggest treasures Cutter Salvage has ever searched for, he's not willing to let her out of his sight.  But the dangers she attracts have layers, just like her lies.  Logan figures out some of them quickly, but all hell starts breaking loose on his boat by the time he realizes she's in much deeper trouble than she's admitted. 

Cherry Adair gives us her usual cast of fun, quirky and loyal crew as secondary characters, as well as villains both inept and utterly evil.  Then there's Logan's dog, Dog.  Dani makes it her mission to come up with a new name for him, adding some welcome comic relief in deft touches.

If you love action, adventure, and fireworks with your romance, Vortex is for you.

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