Zapata

Zapata

Border Series #1

Harper McDavid

Soul Mate Pub, July 21, 2019

348 pages, Kindle

Contemporary Thriller Romance

ARC-author

⭐⭐⭐⭐🌙

The cover is definitely eye-catching. No one will miss it on the shelf at the bookstore. However, it is my least favorite part of the book. The colors are just too blinding and the picture does nothing for me as far as attracting me to read the book. I keep hoping they’ll change it before publishing it. That’s half a star! But that’s the only thing I didn’t like about it!

The story is really good. Avery is trying to make it in a man’s world — oil. She’s an engineer and working along the US and Mexico border. There’s a promotion down the road if she can get this job squared away and she sees no problem with it. She’s good at what she does, but she’s a woman and the men who work along the border are arrogant, macho men who see women in a very different role. Avery can’t believe there is still a part of the world that thinks this way. She’s not there to play their games and goes about her work. But she’s caught in the crossfire of two drug cartels who want control of this territory for their own purposes. She ends up being taken captive and imprisoned in a brothel where she’s tattooed, starved and tortured. Her captor is none other than the drug lord’s son, Javier, who is really crazy. As his violence level and fascination for Avery builds, Alejandro, the cartel’s lawyer looks for a way to release Avery before things go too far. Can she trust Alejandro? He’s a total unknown and seems just as dangerous as Javier. He speaks no English and she speaks no Spanish.

The pace is brisk as Alejandro and Avery try to escape the ever-higher ransom Javier offers for their return. The tension skyrockets as they try to find some sort of common ground to work from to allow them to trust enough to stay alive and make it across the border. It’ll take both Alejandro’s daring and Avery’s engineering to get them safely home. Where will that leave them after they’ve delved into each other’s secrets and desires which seem to keep getting hotter than the desert sun as each day passes? Can they build anything from that? This fingernail-chewing book will keep you drinking caffeine to stay awake to finish reading it in one sitting as I did. You will not be able to put it down once you start reading it. I highly recommend it for those who like lots of thrill with their romance.