Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I’ve been sitting on this review for too long. Life has been crazy, so finding the space to sit and tell you WHY you should be reading Patricia D. Eddy, specifically her newest offering, Rogue Officer, has been difficult, but it’s necessary.
For me, Eddy’s brand of romantic suspense engages you seamlessly into a tale of danger. In her earlier series, Away From Keyboard, those dangers seem grounded in former military experiences. In her newest series, Gone Rogue, the heroes are fighting against threats to their heroines. You find swoony heroes with Eddy’s brand of brokenness. As the hero protects his heroine, he finds completion by falling deeply in love with her and finding his soulmate.
Add to that Eddy’s eponymous message about constructed families protecting their own. In each book, the relationships grown through adversity show the power of community to overcome troubles.
Eddy’s newest story, Rogue Officer, offers up more of this. Her hero, Griff is eight months out from a catastrophic physical challenge, and he’s trying to find his way in this new world. His friend, Austin, calls on him to protect the heroine of this story, Sloane. Sloane is hiding her identity in plain sight, but her past has come to undermine her life. When those troubles threaten her life, Austin asks Griff to protect her. In doing so, these two are attracted to each other and seem to “see” each other in a way that others don’t. As Sloane’s life becomes more endangered, Griff must fight his limitations to save her.
Surprisingly, Rogue Officer has quite the insta-love trope. Eddy has done this before, but in more recent books, there seems to be a prolonged journey into the love relationship. Griff and Sloane know fairly quickly that they are soulmates. While it takes them a bit to admit it, they banter phrases like “she’s the one for me” or “I’ll want him for the rest of my life” easily. That’s my only criticism of Eddy’s story as it’s my least favorite trope. But that has more to do with me than Eddy’s capacity to write her story.
Eddy is a powerhouse at writing romantic suspense while infusing them with interesting characters undercut by limitations. Griff and Sloane’s challenges are physical, mental, and emotional, and they are not your usual romance fare. It’s clear that Eddy’s careful in sensitively writing about their personal inflictions. In fact, if you had to use one word to explain her writing, it would be “care.” It’s clear that she’s thoughtful, purposeful, and intentional in her storytelling. And this creates stories such as Rogue Officer that leave you quickly turning the page to get to the next part of the story.
If you love insta-love, romantic suspense with a broody, broken hero who falls deeply in love with a heroine who is also broken by her past traumas, then you will LOVE Rogue Officer by Patricia Eddy.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 