This is one of my favorite book from 2017. I love the personality of the characters. Kudos Anne!

Riva has a shady past but she doesn't make excuses and takes full responsibility for her actions. She has rised from her old life and makes an honest living helping kids in need.

Ian is a great hero, very relatable. He is pacient with her, protective even when I could cost him his career.

I didn't fully understand why she was so jumpy around him. I know he was in a position of power before but he never tried to force her.


TOTALLY RECOMMEND IT!

Riva's and Ian’s relationship is a complex one and while it’s not quite a second-chance trope we’re dealing with here, it can’t be denied that circumstances and their shared history have made their case together this time around layered and complicated as repressed desire and attraction come to the fore. ‘Turn Me Loose’ is riveting and more character-focused, though a little slow-paced for me, as I’d expected action and evasion, rather than a slow burn and a slow build-up to a climax that I did see coming.

But Anne Calhoun’s trademarks for me at least, are her excellent insights into her characters and the sharp way she writes about the emotional state of mind. ‘Turn Me Loose’, like most of her other books, is yet another example of it. Ian and Riva are as flawed and multifaceted as you can get, torn by their individual duties yet determined to fight for what’s right because they’re still haunted by the shadow of their own pasts. But there’s also so much regret in their lives—dreams they’d never managed to quite fulfil—but that changes by the end of the book, where finding each other takes on more meaning than what they’ve been searching for.

Thanks to Calhoun’s sleek writing, I liked every moment of the build-up between them, as we’re taken past “careful” sex to sex with no-holds-barred that ends with the ominous warning that things are going to fall apart. Yet there aren't any sharp spikes or dips in the action that I expect of RS and to my slight disappointment, ‘Turn Me Loose’ didn't quite fit that category as I kept waiting for something more dramatic to happen, which didn’t. Furthermore, I couldn’t exactly swallow the idea that Ian had always loved Riva for seven years—at least, not when they’ve had something so rocky that they’d never even sought out each other—which kept me somewhat sceptical up until the very end. But Calhoun’s HEA is typically a HFN as well, and it comes as a blissful wrap-up and a quick catch up with the rest of the characters in the Alpha-Ops series, which I hope wouldn’t be the last that I see of them.

Three and a half stars.

Seven years ago Riva Henneman got caught selling drugs to an undercover policeman. Since then she has turned her life around and become a young entrepreneur, running a farm and a restaurant on the Farm to Table philosophy which she uses to teach inner city kids about food and self-respect.

Seven years ago Ian Hawthorn was still angry that his carefully planned life had been ruined by ill-health and he was working undercover to break up a drug dealing ring in the city.

When Ian walks into Riva's restaurant for dinner the smouldering attraction is still there, but can a cop ever date a former confidential informant? And can Riva forgive the man who blackmailed her and put her in danger? Their first re-connection doesn't go well and Riva tells Ian not to come back, but then one of Riva's trainees gets pulled for assisting his drug-dealing brother and suddenly she is back in the thick of things - and the danger may lie closer to home.

This felt more of a slow burn than the previous books, although there was suspense it was less of a whodunit and more of a willhecatchon? I liked it and this remains an autobuy series for me, but it wasn't as strong as [book:Going Deep|28220731].

Recommended if you like your romance more thoughtful and nuanced, your heroes able to string a sentence together and your heroine with issues but not a full on angst fest - just my cup of tea in other words!

Here is the link for my review at Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1983623119

This is my first in the series and it kept me hooked to the pages. I cannot wait to catch up with other readers and fans of the series.

Riva is no longer the teenager she was seven years ago when she was arrested for selling drugs. She owns a farm and a restaurant that serves farm-to-table meals with other at risk youth.

Ian is still a cop, the cop who arrested her, and he has just showed up at Oasis, her restaurant. He is shocked and doesn't realize she's the owner. Then he sees he in action and the feelings from seven years ago have not gone away.

Riva hoped to never see Ian again, ever! But she will be a good example for these kids and makes nice. When his department arrests one of her kids she does the thing she hoped never to do again and walks back into the police station. This time though, she holds all the cards.

When Riva goes home to catch her father in his business Ian insists on going with her. There they each learn more about each other and also about their families. Each day gets more dangerous as her mother is more withdrawn and drugged and the mission shifts a little bit.

Find out what happens when they visit Riva's parents and share more with each other and what happens when they go back home.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

**I received a copy of Turn Me Loose from Net Galley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for a honest and voluntary review**

Turn Me Loose by Anne Calhoun is book six in her Alpha Ops series. I have read four of the books and not in order because of that this addition to the series can be read as a stand alone without any issues.

Riva Henneman is a college student at Lancaster College who has been earning extra money as a drug dealer on campus. But one night she is caught by Officer Ian Hawthorn and agrees to become a CI but she has a secret that she'll keep to herself for seven years. She's now a successful Farm to Table and chef of Oasis who are teaching at risk kids how to become chefs and farmers. Except she's never forgotten Ian but when he stops in one night for dinner, they both wonder if there could be something more but will it come at a cost?

Ian Hawthorn is now a Lieutenant with his eye on a promotion to Captain and to achieve that is to find the king pin who wants to use Lancaster as a hub for drugs and also find the dirty cops in the department. But he also hasn't forgotten Riva but little does he know that one of her students caught in a sting will bring her back to him. To save her friend will she do the unthinkable-give up her seven year secret of who her dealer is? Can they keep their hands off of each other when they return to Chicago to help Riva's mother with a fund raiser?

I enjoyed Turn Me Loose and hope that there will be more in the series, I'd rate this book at 4.8 stars.

There was so much more than I expected to, Turn Me Loose. I liked both Ian and Riva right from the get go. They both were forced into something that neither wanted, but made the best out of the cards they were dealt. Years later it was all happening again, but years wiser they handle it differently. And lets just say the outcome was hot. Years of pent up lust will do that.
Turn Me Loose, can be read as a stand alone novel. There are characters from past books, but the story line is totally separate.

HOT is a good word for "Turn Me Loose". what a good hot story.

Full review to be published online at the end of May.

TURN ME LOOSE is a lovely second chance at love story. When police detective Ian Hawthorn decides to eat in a new restaurant, he runs into the owner Riva Hennemen. While Ian is happy to meet up with Riva again, she is less than thrilled to see him. Seven years previously when he was a new cop, Ian busted college student Riva for selling drugs; then forced her to be an informant on a sting to bring down her dealer. They became close; but after it was all over she disappeared from his life.

Now, after meeting again all these years later, he wonders if there could be a second chance for them to have a real relationship. When Riva finally informs him who the real leader of the drug ring is, he makes plans to bring him down; but once again he needs Riva's help.

TURN ME LOOSE is the fifth book in Anne Calhoun's "Alpha Ops" RS series; and is an engaging story, if a little light in the suspense. There were also quite a few flashback sequences. I'm not crazy about flashbacks as a storytelling device. I would much prefer a prologue and then move on to the present day plotline. That personal preference aside; this was an enjoyable story.

So this is the only one in the series that I've read, and after finishing it, I'll be tracking down the others. That being said, it does work well as a standalone, so don't let the series number stop you.

Riva is awesome. The daughter of some seriously messed up people, she still manages to develop into a compassionate, smart, worldly wise yet still sweet contributing member of society. Ian is also awesome, though his backstory with Riva is pretty rough; he sort of climbed over her back to further his career, shunting her to the side when she was no longer of use (though in his defense, she was drug-dealing, and as her police contact, he was trying to resist taking advantage of his position of authority over her).

So anyways, this story has it all: complex characters, frightening villains, compelling romance and some great hold-your-breath moments.

4 solid stars.

*I received a review copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I absolutely feel in love with this book. Ian and Riva are everything you can ask for in a romance couple. This relationship wasn't dominated by one character. They saved each other. The book was well placed and the tension level kept ramping up. It was easy to connect with and a smashing way to spend my afternoon. I'm.looking forward to snapping up other books by this author.

great read