OVER THE LINE (On The Run #2) by Lisa Desrochers-Review and Book Tour
OVER THE LINE
On The Run #2
by Lisa Desrochers
Genre: adult, contemporary, romantic, suspense
Release Date: April 19, 2016
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 19, 2016
Lee Delgado never planned on falling in love with the irresistible Oliver Savoca, son of a Chicago crime lord. Considering that their families are rivals, she knew it could never work. And now that both their fathers have been nabbed on racketeering charges, any real chance at a future with the man she loves has been shot to hell. But a greater blow is yet to come.
Not only does Lee learn that a contract is out on her life, she has reason to believe that Oliver is behind the devastating betrayal. Now she’s working closely—very closely—with Federal Agent Wes Buchanan to help bring her man down. But however she’s come to feel about Callahan, Lee is still deeply, hopelessly, unabashedly in love with Oliver.
Where that fearless love takes Lee next is beyond her control—but the risk is worth every beat of her heart.
•••••••
REVIEW: OVER THE LINE is the second installment in Lisa Desrochers contemporary, adult ON THE RUN romantic suspense series focusing on the Delgado (aka Davidson) siblings. This is Lee Delgado, and Oliver Savoca’s story line. OVER THE LINE can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the series in order for backstory and history.
SOME BACKGROUND: Lisa Desrochers ON THE RUN series focuses on the once powerful and rich Delgado family-five siblings, in witness protection, whose father, currently in jail, is the head of one of the most powerful crime families in Chicago. After an attack that was intended to kill the family, the Delgado children –ages 9 to 25 years-are relocated to Florida with a new identity while their father continues to control things behind bars.
Told from alternating first person points of view (Lee and Oliver) OVER THE LINE follows the rekindling of a forbidden relationship between Lee Delgado and Oliver Savoca. The Delgado and Savoca families are rivals in the Chicago underground crime scene, and part of the reason the Delgado family is now in the Witness Protection program-far away from their father’s rival and the syndicate he runs. When Oliver Savoca locates the woman who stole more than his heart, the Delgado family find themselves preparing to run once again.
OVER THE LINE is a story line told using memories from the past and present day focusing on the previous relationship between Lee and Oliver; their need to uncover family secrets, to destroy one another’s lives, and a love that has never faltered between two college sweethearts. As Oliver finds himself facing down his potential future, the Delgado family faces a choice no one wants to make. Lee has something that Oliver needs to stay alive, but Lee isn’t willing to place her family in the direct line of fire-again.
The relationship between Lee and Oliver, both past and present, should never have happened, or been allowed. Oliver’s position and re-entry into the Delgado’s lives has placed everyone in danger, and Lee is more than willing to give Oliver a second chance even if it means losing her family in the process. I have to question some of the irresponsible actions of the story line heroine that made for some problematic moments and potentially controversial situations for her and her family-she is a woman whose earlier actions may have resulted in the present danger they are now facing….. but as I have said before, the story is meant to entertain, and I was ….entertained.
All of the previous story line characters, including the Delgado siblings, play a secondary and supporting role throughout. I am still having some issues with the eldest sibling Rob, and his treatment of his girlfriend Adri (Outside the Lines #1). Rob is so fixated on keeping the Delgado family safe, that Adri is constantly on the outside looking in, and the first to be thrown to the curb when something goes wrong.
OVER THE LINE is a slow build as Oliver and Lee find themselves fighting the push and pull of their earlier love. There is a slight ‘love triangle’ developing that our heroine continues to perpetuate throughout the story line, and this is problematic on so many levels. The world building continues to focus on the Delgado siblings, and their new lives in in the Witness Protection program. The premise is entertaining and impassioned; the characters are colorful and intense; the romance is passionate and hopeful. OVER THE LINE is an enjoyable and suspense filled read.
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
At the thought of her betrayal, rage rises up and wraps like an iron cloak around my heart, threatening to crush any bit of humanity left there. I close my eyes and hold my breath until it passes.
And I see her as she was before everything that came after—that first day of business law class at Kellogg, nearly two years ago.
She was starting her first year. I was in my second. I was already seated near Angela Bagglio, who I had a passing interest in due to her loose family ties to the Delgado organization. Her brother was a wiseguy wannabe, little more than a glorified gofer within the Delgado machine. But I’d discovered, sometimes it was the smallest details that led to the largest victories.
When Lee Delgado sashayed into the classroom, I’d like to say I was unaffected. I’d like to believe I was in complete control of everything that happened then and after.
But I’d be kidding myself.
Her bright hazel eyes surveyed the room, and when they caught for a second as they passed over me, I felt a shift in gravity itself. There were times reading nuances in expressions and actions was all that came between me and a slug in my head. That hitch in her perusal of the room left no doubt she was aware who I was.
From that second on, I was helpless to take my eyes off her.
Her sandy brown waves cascaded over the shoulders of her cream-colored silk blouse to an open collar that hung loose, revealing a hint of cleavage. Her burgundy pencil skirt hugged the round curves of her hips and ass and ended above the knee, giving me a glimpse of a pair of toned thighs and calves. She had a killer body and knew it. I had to respect a woman who knew her strengths and wasn’t afraid to use them to her advantage.
She took a seat in my row, but on the opposite side of the classroom. I was barely coherent when the professor started lecturing. I couldn’t tell you the first thing he said.
As she listened, she lifted a hand and combed through her waves with her fingers, separating out a strand and twirling it around her finger. A rush shuddered from my tailbone up my spine to my brain, and even though I had no clue why, that was the moment I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay away.
The rest, as they say, is history.
If she thinks she can hide from me, she’s got another thing coming.
Mob controlled gambling has always been a huge racket, with better payouts because we don’t pay taxes like the legal betting sites. Back in the day, bookies were involved and actual cash changed hands. Now nearly everything is electronic. Bets are collected directly from our clients’ online accounts and payouts are distributed back into them. Payout is calculated after each event based on outcome versus the spread. It’s one of the parts of my job that I truly enjoy. I’m always in the program, tweaking and modifying. But, suddenly, the week before Christmas, two days after Lee and I returned from our weekend in Aspen, I noticed the spread didn’t factor anymore and our payouts went through the roof. I thought maybe I’d screwed something up and tried to get into the program to check it. Ended up throwing my laptop against the wall when my pass code wouldn’t get me in.
It took me the next two days, and the fact that Lee wasn’t answering my texts or calls, to put together what had happened. Though I’m not sure exactly how she managed it, I know it had to have been her who hacked into my program and changed the payout ratios. I’ve looked at it from every angle and there are no other feasible possibilities. And it makes sense. I had an ulterior motive when we started hooking up, and I had no doubt she had one of her own. But as we got deeper into each other, things shifted and I lost focus. I let down my guard and gave her too much, and she took advantage of the opening.
I knew I wouldn’t be seeing her over the holidays because her siblings were all coming back to the family home in Wilmette, just outside of Chicago, for Christmas. It took me another day to decide I had no choice but to go there.
But when I got to the house, the place was swarming with cops and Feds, and yellow police tape was strung across the pillars at the front door. The reports the next day said it was believed the Delgados had fled to Europe after a “gangland style attack” on their home.
The online gambling leg of our business has been bleeding cash at the rate of nearly a hundred grand a month since Lee fucked with the program. Every month it gets worse as word spreads of our big payouts. The guy who designed and encrypted the program is dead; a casualty of my father’s wrath when he made the mistake of telling Victor he’d corrected a system glitch that had cost us a couple hundred grand over the first year of implementation. I’ve done everything I can to break Lee’s pass code, but considering the illegal nature of the account, and the fact that I couldn’t enlist anyone who might report back to Victor what happened, my resources to resolve the issue have been severely limited.
So I put my time and energy into another avenue. Finding Lee.
Like everyone else in Chicago, I assumed that my father was responsible for the contract on Lee and her family. I talked to his guys. Tried to see if any of them had a bead on the Delgados’ location. I couldn’t find anyone who was even looking.
So, as much as I dreaded it, I went straight to the source.
I was dead to my father. He’d made that clear. But that day, for the first time since I’d crossed him, Victor looked at me with pride in his eyes when he asked, “You purchase that special delivery for our friends up in Wilmette?”
And that’s when I knew it wasn’t us. It’s also when I knew I was a dead man unless I could find a way out of this mess on my own.
So I looked harder for Lee, dug a little deeper into the Delgado family tree. I didn’t find her, but I managed to stumble on some other useful information during my search. And then, finally, the stroke of luck that led me here: Rob showing up in Chicago.
I’ve been able to keep everything under the rug since she left, but underground betting has always been the Savoca business’s bread and butter. If Victor or anyone else in the organization discovers the hemorrhage of cash that our gambling ring has become, it’s my head my loving pop will want on a spike.
I told the guys I had some personal business in Vegas; gave Al a direct order to park his ass at my apartment and not to move until I got back. I took a flight to Vegas, and from there, traveled to Florida on an ID I pinched off of a guy we rolled in Little Italy for not making book. He’s dead now, courtesy of Al, so he won’t be divulging my alter ego to anyone.
My family doesn’t know this particular alias. They’d have a hard time tracking me. Once I find Lee, things should move pretty fast. But I have to find her first.
So here I am.
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About the author: Lisa Desrochers lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.
Look for her New Adult novel, A LITTLE TOO FAR , courtesy of HarperCollins Sept 2013, and the first companion, A LITTLE TOO MUCH , in Nov 2013. Also in stores is her YA PERSONAL DEMONS trilogy (Macmillan).