Going Down by Shelli Stevens

Title: Going Down

Author: Shelli Stevens

Series: #1 in The Holding Out for a Hero series

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (July 17, 2010)

Source: Owned/Kindle Freebie

Rating: ☕☕

Synopsis: One man wants her heart. The other wants her dead....

Holding Out for a Hero, Book 1

Eleanor Owen needs to get out of Chicago and quick. It's not that she doesn't want to obey the subpoena to testify against her drug-trafficking ex-boyfriend. It's making it to the witness stand alive, should a dirty cop make good on his threats.

Tiny, remote Wyattville, Oregon, looks like the perfect place to disappear, but it's hard to blend into the woodwork when one of the town's infamous namesakes sends her heart racing. Worse, Mr. Tall, Hot and Packing is the town sheriff, which means she should stay as far away from him as possible.

Tyson Wyatt is positive the sexy new girl in town is hiding something. Question is, what? He vows to feel out her secrets--including what she feels like beneath him. Preferably naked. Until then, he's not buying the story she's selling.

Their chemistry is sheet--melting hot, and Ellie realizes much too late that the man with the badge is as dangerous to her heart as her ex is to her life...

Warning:

A city girl on the run, and a small-town sheriff set to seduce. Explicit sex. Dirty talk. A hint of danger. Oral sex with a cupcake.

My Thoughts: I wanted to like this more than I did. 

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: I love me some small town lovin' and a man in uniform revs my engine. For the most part this novella fit that bill. What I didn't like was the entire relationship was built on hot sex and when the I Love You's happened it didn't feel authentic. The suspense started out well but fizzled right after the beginning and was concluded quickly at the end with lies and sex filling up the middle. Not to mention the glaringly obvious hotel "suspenseful" scene that really pushed Ellie into the TSTL category. I mean who doesn't look through the peephole when someone knocks on your hotel door? WTF girl?!?! You deserved to be dead just for that!

Tyson's character was too domineering and could not get past his penis to really give this book depth. He also got all butt hurt when he found out Ellie was lying to him about who she was and that she was on the run. Well Ty, your powers of deduction are less than impressive. The woman took one look at you when you first pulled up to her rental property and she took off running (literally out the backdoor and into the woods). He chased after her and had to rescue her from almost running off the cliff she didn't know was there by tackling her. And so, begins Ty thinking with his little brain because he was then laying on top of her and despite her suspicious behavior, he absolutely wanted her sexy body. 

Despite the fact that I love small town law enforcement romances I kind of like the deputy (or sheriff in this book's case) to be more guy next door (like Levi Cooper in Kristan Higgins's The Best Man from her Blue Heron series) rather than who Ty turned out to be (a dirty talking, little brain thinking, Alphatool.) Oh, sure he really wasn't a completely terrible character but not one anywhere close to some of my Romantic Suspense favorites and he definitely won't make it into my all-male harem. 

In a Nutshell: Ok, so as much as it sounds like I hated this book I really didn't. It was a quick read and it fit into a challenge I was doing. Also, it was a kindle freebie at one point, and I always look at those as you get what you pay for. With that in mind there are other Wyatt brothers books to read and if I can get them for free, I'll eventually read them.