false 6176802 9781605043807 8 4 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1233388655m/6176802.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6176802.Mexican_Heat 99882 Laura Baumbach 559 69 5 9 false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 23:57:41 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 16:07:40 -0800 2009
Mexican Heat is my cup of tea since I love romantic suspense and being in my MM phase, it has the best of both worlds for me. Miguel was the consummate undercover hero. Sexy, unflappable and deadly, he got me all hot and sweaty though the air-con in my bedroom was at full blast. Gabriel, on the other hand, was prickly and as volatile as his Latino counterpart was cool.

Both men are part of undercover operations from different agencies - Gabriel is from the SFPD while Miguel is from the FBI though neither knows that. As far as Gabriel is concerned, he's falling for the bad guy and he just can't do that, can he? While he's shittin' himself to follow through with the op and get out alive, he's hating the fact that the man he can't get enough of will be going down with the rest of the villains. After all, Miguel is the 2ic of Sanchez, the Mexican druglord that Gabriel's mob-boss, Botelli, wants to partner-up with.

Playing cat and mouse all the way, the two men attached to two different factions have to make nice to seal the deal except they're making much more than nice. I liked that this was a "real" romantic suspense in that it wasn't one of those page-after-page of non-stop sex with a dash of mystery thrown in. What sex scenes there were was intense and when there wasn't any sex, the sexual tension, nevertheless, burnt up the pages since both protagonists are together from start to end.

Baumbach and Lanyon have succeeded in giving me a dispassionate, lethal hero in Miguel who maintains his undercover role throughout the sting yet is clearly falling head over heels for Gabriel. I followed every thump of his heart for the younger man and man, when he hears Gabriel is a cop...

The latter part of the story deals with how the two men adjust to reality following the end of their operation. Though they are no longer undercover, the danger is not over and while they continue to fight for their survival, they also have been given the chance to test their love for each other.

Miguel as Antonio, his real name, is a protective motherhen who drives Gabriel nuts but I'm glad to be given a chance to experience this loving, tender side of a man who has had to do some unmentionable things (no details given so not to worry) to become the right-hand man of the Mexican druglord.

I have absolutely NO negative remarks for Mexican Heat. I'd waited a few weeks for this story to come out in e-book and it was everything I hoped it would be. Now, if only I could get my hands on South of the Border, which apparently is a short short story about Antonio and Gabriel after the events in MH.]]>