Review: Love Irresistibly – Julie James

HE’S USED TO GETTING WHAT HE WANTS…

A former football star and one of Chicago’s top prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cade Morgan will do anything to nail a corrupt state senator, which means he needs Brooke Parker’s help. As general counsel for a restaurant company, she can get a bug to the senator’s table at one of her five-star restaurants so the FBI can eavesdrop on him. All Cade has to do is convince Brooke to cooperate—and he’s not afraid to use a little charm, or the power of his office, to do just that.

AND WHAT HE WANTS IS HER.

A savvy businesswoman, Brooke knows she needs to play ball with the U.S. Attorney’s office—even if it means working with Cade. No doubt there’s a sizzling attraction beneath all their sarcastic quips, but Brooke is determined to keep things casual. Cade agrees—until a surprising turn of events throws his life into turmoil, and he realizes that he wants more than just a good time from the one woman with whom he could fall terrifyingly, irresistibly in love . . .

Series:  FBI / US Attorney #4
Release Date:  April 2, 2013
Publisher:  Berkley Sensation
Source:  NetGalley
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Reviewer’s Thoughts

Every once in a while I read a book that makes me wonder why I let other books jump ahead of it on my TBR pile.  Love Irresistibly reminded me of two things:  I love Julie James books and I will always makes sure she is always be at the top of my TBR when a new book is out.

Cade Morgan, ex-college football hero and superstar assistant US Attorney, finally gets his happily ever after in this latest installment in the FBI / US Attorney series.  He often times appears hard-assed and by the book, but we get to see a very different side to Cade.  He’s driven, but not by what we might have thought before.  He’s driven to stave off the anger he still feels at the abandonment of his father.  But that anger not only drives him in his career, it also forces him to keep people at arms length and not allowing himself to form any type of emotional entanglements.  But that all changes when the half brother he didn’t know existed finds him and on the same day he meets the sassy Brooke Parker.

Brooke is the general counsel for a fast rising food and entertainment company who Cade approaches to help him in an on-going corruption investigation.  Cade may have threatened Brooke in their first meeting, but the sparks were flying.  Brooke was Cade’s equal:  she was career driven and often times kept herself emotionally closed off.  But what drove Brooke was a much different reason.  She may have grown up in a very upper-class suburb of Chicago, but she knew what her parents sacrificed to give her that life.  She’s determined to prove (to herself) that their sacrifices were worth it.  So she lives for Sterling Entertainment.  But when Cade blows into her life, demanding her assistance and then working his way under her skin she had to take a good hard look at what she was doing and decide if it was all worth it.

Cade and Brooke were a couple that had me from the very beginning.  To me, I loved their sarcasm and the way they were able to turn what others thought was a turn off into fun banter between the two of them.  But it was also how they intrinsically knew when to not let the other person revert old behaviors that had pushed others away.  They were honest with each other, at the very beginning, about why they were both single and I think that open, honest communication became the door for them to both move into a territory neither of them thought to go (or wanted to).  Most of all, I loved how Cade and Brooke became one of those people she envied as she looked out on Michigan Avenue.

Love Irresistibly  is one of my favorite books for 2013.  Julie James has always hooked me with her witty characters and the edge of your seat legal/suspense storylines, but with this book it was the focus on relationships (and there were quite a few), along with those witty characters that I so enjoy, that engaged me.  I was sad to see the story end, but I’m left with a nagging desire to find out who the next character will be to get a book.  I really hope it’s Ford…because there is definitely a story there!

If you haven’t picked up a Jullie James book before, this is one a highly recommend (although her books are absolutely fabulous).  She manages to make legalize and police procedure sexy as hell with characters you can’t help but fall in love with.