Athena Force: Beneath the Surface by Meredith Fletcher

Harlequin Enterprises/Silhouette Special Releases
Category Romance
Contemporary Romance/Action-Adventure
Mass Market Paperback
Rating: 4

Shannon Connor is the only girl to ever have been expelled from the Athena Academy and has never forgotten the slight and the successive alienation by all others from the Academy. After all, it was the daughter of the head of the Academy that set her up all those years ago. Now Shannon is brilliant reporter who is set on taking down the Athena Academy. For years she has been receiving anonymous tips that led to career-making stories. Now her anonymous benefactor wants to meet in person. All seems fine until it becomes apparent someone wants to kill Shannon.

Rafe Santorini is a former CIA-agent dealing with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being imprisoned in North Korea for a year. Allison Gracelyn, daughter of the head of Athena Academy, has hired Rafe to shadow Shannon. All of Shannon's breaking stories have had ties to Athena Academy and Allison suspects her mother's old arch nemesis, Arachne, has something to do with it. When Rafe rescues Shannon from attempted murder they become reluctant partners to track down the elusive tipster and determine why someone wants Shannon dead. They never expected the immediate attraction lurking Beneath the Surface that would complicate things.

Having not read previous books in the Athena Force series, I did not have the ingrained dislike of Shannon that long time readers would have developed. While it becomes apparent very quickly that Shannon has always been the underdog and was not intended to be a well-liked character before now, without knowing of events in past stories I did not have any preconceived notions about her and was able to enjoy her story of growing from Black Sheep to heroine. The tension between Rafe and Shannon builds strongly as we see Rafe struggle with his loyalty to Allison and his attraction to Shannon. He's not supposed to be sympathetic to her but can't resist Shannon's strength. I love Rafe as a reluctant hero. He has his own demons to battle, especially those brought on by the memories of his incarceration in North Korea. The agonies he faced would be enough to destroy the strongest willed of men and Rafe is made all the more human by his PTSD. I cheered for him as he faced each day and found himself healing under the force of Shannon's love.

Beneath the Surface is a fast paced, edge of your seat adventure ride. Revelations abound that shed new light on the past events that have colored Shannon's entire adult life. Shannon has two missions in life; build her career as a reporter to the highest echelons and to take down the Athena Academy however she can. How convenient for her that her two greatest desires have gone hand in hand with each other for so long. While she does often wonder who her mysterious contact is, Shannon likes that all the leads help her to get some dirt on the Athena Academy. It is only when her current case puts her in the line of fire that she really begins to question things. The mystery is well done as Shannon and Rafe dig up what hides Beneath the Surface. The conclusion beautifully sets up the next couple books in the series and makes me eager to continue reading.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, July 2008. All rights reserved.

href="http://community.eharlequin.com/category/tags/d2k-paranormal-junkies">The D2K Paranormal Junkies

~eHQ April 2008 Member of the Month~