BOOK REVIEW: Payne by Kim Linwood

~Synopsis~

Payne Carter?

Pain in my ass is more like it.

Tall: check. Brooding: check. Ex-SEAL: check.

Rude, suspicious, still annoyingly sexy: check check check.

If he were a romance hero, he'd be perfect, but as a neighbor, I have to say I'm not impressed.

The department relies on me to keep Alderman Trabucco safe until the election, and as a rookie police officer, I can’t afford to screw this up. Especially not because I'm too distracted by Jerkface McSexypants upstairs.

Except he’s there every time I turn around, and my instincts scream that he's not who he seems. Of course, my instincts also seem to think clothing is optional when we're together, so I'm not sure what to believe.

All I ever wanted in life was to make a difference in people's lives. Now the good guys are out to kill me, and a killer might be my best chance at staying alive.

Payne will do anything to keep me safe, but who's going to keep me safe from him?

GOODREADS

~Book Review~

4.25 Stars

 “Never let it be said that I didn’t do my all to save a nice piece of ass. Let me know if you need a hand or two to keep it warm.” —Payne

Confident and quick witted, Payne Carter, 28, might be Officer Nora Keaton’s, 23, pain in the ass neighbor, but he’s also a lot more than that, little does she know.

“‘If this was one of my books, you’d either be the tough-as-nails FBI agent with a heart of gold, or the tortured hitman, rediscovering his humanity with the help of my magical vagina.’” —Nora

Nora just wants to be a cop doing good herself though, but she soon finds that she’s surrounded by a lot of bad in the world.  Payne is used to making a living on the other side of the law, but once he comes to know Nora, the bad boy begins to rethink his plans.

“I imagine a world where I could have all of that. Where I could pull her innocence close and bury myself in it. A world where sliding into her would let some of that beauty rub off on me, instead of me tainting it.” —Payne

Though they get off to a bit of a rocky start, the pair have plenty of sexy times to keep the story smoking in between babysitting elected officials, running from the mob, and uncovering the real bad guys.

“‘I’m going to make you come so hard you scream…It’s a good thing your sexy upstairs neighbor isn’t home. He’d probably call the cops.’” —Payne

Despite a few story aspects that could have been explained further, the pace of the story is good. Told via Payne and Nora’s alternating first person point of view, they were both likable characters who weren’t quite as opposite as they initially thought. In fact, Payne is actually quite sweet in a dangerous sort of way.

‘"I need someone who can make me hot chocolate when it’s cold and aim a gun at my head when I’m being an ass.’” —Payne

All in all, it’s a good romance-action-adventure story with some intrigue but thankfully without any OW/OM drama, and in the end, you might just want your own payne in the ass! ;-)

AMAZON