I’ve had this book in my reading queue for quite a while - almost four months - and decided it was finally time to read it. I was quite sucked in within the first several pages.

As you read in the synopsis, our hero Jack Holland has an affair with the supposed girlfriend of a mob boss’s son, which results in a child. The story starts out with Angelo (the mob boss’s son) confronting Jack about Callie’s pregnancy. Angelo is killed, Jack is on the run, the baby is born. (These are not spoilers - this is exactly what the book synopsis tells you!) You get no backstory about Jack and Callie’s relationship, just BAM right into the action. And I was okay with that.

The first third of the book was really good...

Two years later, you see how Callie is coping with her life. She is a single mother, has two good friends there to support her, she deals with the mob boss on a regular basis (because he believes the child is his grandson). And she is in touch with Jack. She’s relatively happy with her life, but longs to have a real relationship with the father of her son.

Because there is a hit out on Jack, he lives on the run. He works construction for his cousin’s company and moves around frequently. I loved reading about how torn Jack was that he couldn’t be with Callie and his son, Jonathan. He hated the life he had to live - always looking over his shoulder, unable to find anything to put Victor away for his crimes. But his top priority was keeping Callie and Jonathan safe.

Then the middle fifty percent happened…

And it was full of repetitive writing. Callie loves seeing Jack with his son, but wishes he felt the same for her as he does for Jonathan. Jack loves his son and wishes he could be a real father to him, but knows it isn’t safe for him to be around Callie and Jonathan. And on and on and on.

The thing about repetitive writing, is that at some point the idea being conveyed to the reader stops having the effect it did the first several times it was written. So, while it was heartwarming the first several times to read how Jack lovingly watched his son sleep and placed a gentle kiss on his head before leaving the room, after the fifth time he did it I didn't even care anymore. And after the fourth time we read how frustrated he was that he hadn’t found anything to use to put Victor in jail, I was frustrated because I hadn’t read about anything that he had ACTUALLY done.

Thankfully, the final twenty percent was good...

Jack actually comes up with a plan to DO SOMETHING! Callie also decides she wants more with Jack, and takes her own steps to bring Victor down. It was all exciting, and action packed, and a good ending to the book.

I found myself very conflicted about my rating for this book. The parts that were good were really good. But that still leaves half the book that, for me, was just meh. If you’re going to call a book suspense, there needs to actually be suspense and action. Not just talking about it. And when you put the main plot of the story in the synopsis and have the story continue from there, that takes away a bit of the suspense as well. However, despite this book leaving me underwhelmed, I’m certainly interested in reading more from Kari Lemore.

Another WINNER from author Kari Lemor! I read this book in an afternoon because I simply could not put it down.

Lemor has not only given her readers a fast past, edge of your seat story, but a hero and heroine you can get behind in every way. I lovedlovedloved Callie Lansing. I want to be her BFF! She’s the perfect foil for superhot Jack Holland. These two singed my fingers while I turned the pages to read their story.
I hate spoilers, so I don’t want to reveal too much about the twisty-turny plot line, but you won’t be disappointed when you read it.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and I want to say thankyou thankyou thankyou for making my day!

this romance is part suspense/thriller, part angst-fest. by no means do i mean that in a bad way. it's just that these two leads are so good together, callie and jack clearly love each other, would do anything for one another, and they can't be together. at least not until the bad guy, victor cabrini is caught and out of their lives.

what is interesting about this romance is that we don't actually get to see callie and jack fall in love. we meet them after that. when things get complicated. jack is an undercover fbi agent and callie is an fbi informant. they should have never gotten close, but they did. and then callie gets pregnant. and when her fake boyfriend, victor's son angelo, figures it out he tries to kill jack and their baby.

except things get even more complicated, because jack escapes and angelo dies, and suddenly callie is beholden to victor, who believes that callie's son is his grandson. and they are trapped in this terrible pretense, for years they pretend. they pretend jack is dead. and he stays away and only sees his son via skype. and they pretend that angelo is their son's father, even though the only thing jack wants in this world is a life with callie and his son.

and so we get to witness how they live this half-life, together but not together. in love but unable to admit it. and it's so painful. even though we don't see them fall in love, they show their love for each other every chance they get. and they love their kid too. i'm not always a huge fan of kids in romance novels, but here, jonathan is the living proof of their love. and as he understands the situation more and more, things get harder and harder.

and you start to wonder will they ever get their big break? can they ever get rid of cabrini so that they might live the life they've been meant to live? it feels like it will never happen. and you just want it so much for them. i can't tell you how much i enjoyed their relationship. i love angst though, so this was the perfect formula for me.

Running Target is a great suspense. Kept me glued to the very last page.

I was completely intrigued during this entire read and a nervous wreck most of the time.

Complete wreck worrying for Jack is his on the run from the mob boss, Victor Cabrini, who thinks Jack (well Waters) killed his son whom Victor thinks fathered Callie's child. Little does Victor know that Jack is the dad and his son wasn't who he seemed. Victor's hatred has Jack in hiding and no one can know he is that child's father for the safety of everyone. Jack is forced to have yearly secret in person visits with his son and video visits frequently so little Jonathan knows his Dah-dee. Jonathan was absolutely sweet and adorable and just enamored with his daddy. I was a nervous wreck when Victor was around that he would question this child and find out who Jonathan was calling daddy. So many close calls and Callie is torn to pieces what to do.

Corruption abounds with the FBI and Jack can trust no one and Victor seems untouchable.

The love Jack and Callie have for one another is sweet and you completely root for them to be together despite the seemingly insurmountable problems lingering.

Great read that will pull out every emotion. Loved it.