Taken by the Bad Boy by Kelly Hunter... QC #326

Reviewed by scoobie on September 4th, 2008, 10:08pm

by Kelly Hunter

Format: Print Books

Series: Other

Taken by the Bad Boy by Kelly Hunter ~ Mills & Boon Sexy Sensations ~ #6752 ~ May 2008
Ratings:
Excellence: Excellent
Steaminess Factor: Sensual

Description & Critique:

Serena was at her Vespa rental station when her cousin brought a sight straight from heaven to her.  Pete Bennett: Helicopter pilot, dangerous playboy.  The perfect man to distract her until her tour of duty renting Vespas is finished.  One short, pleasurable month.  There were a few glitches to her perfect plan:  Small community life, overprotective relatives and friends, an attractive job offer and Pete, the pilot, himself.

Wow!  I couldn’t start this review with another word!  Kelly Hunter does it again!  My kids and my husband laughed at me while I read this book because they keep saying, ‘Mommy, you’re smiling.’  How could I not smile?  I daresay, the people on the bus (where I do most of my reading) must have thought me weird, too, because there were several moments on the bus when I caught myself grinning!  And not just a tiny grin, either.

What can be said about the characters of Pete Bennett and Serena?  Like all of Kelly Hunter’s characters so far, they were easy to fall in love with because they are just so human, cute, a little flawed but ultimately always have their heart in the right place and seem to thoroughly enjoy life!  They are always characters bubbling with positive life energy.  I also happen to love her female characters and Serena was no exception.  She was strong, knew what she wanted.  Even in her more conflicted days, she knew what she wanted career wise and she went after what she wanted.

This story was full of interesting secondary characters from Theo and Mrs Papadopoulos, Chloe, Sam and Serena’s cousin Nico.  Much like the main characters, these all had very endearing qualities that made you fall in love with them.  Also, the subplot with Chloe, Nico and Sam was nice.  During this story, we get to visit with all the Bennett boys.  It was nice to see them again.

The dialog is superb and kept me smiling.  Serena’s nicknames for Pete were cute and the story maintained this sub-theme throughout as well as the other theme which consisted of a first date.  This helped wrap up the story in one consistent package.

There was a moment when I was so moved that I was close to tears.  This author really has a way to reach my emotions.

At the end of the story, I felt like all the threads were tied up nicely.  A great story.  A great ending!

I highly recommended this book.  If you haven’t picked up a Kelly Hunter book yet, I strongly encourage you to pick one up.

Favourite Scene:

There are many, many favourite scenes but this is one that stands out.

When Serena first sees Pete, she calls him Superman in her thoughts.  She asks him if he can fly and he answers yes.  She replies, “I knew it.  Women can sense these things.”  A little later in the same conversation, Pete informs Serena that he’s replacing the helicopter pilot.  She says, “Oh”… “You really can fly.”… “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”  This is priceless… I skipped a little bit of the text but I hope it’s still clear.

Personal Totals:

Harlequin / Silhouette / Etc: 52

Others: 5

Total Books Read: 57

Kel (scoobie)
Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Challenge Blog