Member Reviews

Great romantic read with low drama. Fast paced novel with a great build world. Perfect read for an afternoon. Arc provided by Netgalley

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My first book from this author I was definitely captivated with the spies and possible espionage in MI6. She compelled her readers to soak in every detail to avoid missing the path she laid out before her to find the answers only one man could possibly tell in a race against the clock.

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I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would but it was still a good read. Just not one I would revisit.

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Small town police officer Emma Ross loves her simple life––but it takes a hard turn into crazy when she’s kidnapped by MI6 and is put under the protection of an over-bearing, albeit sexy, Scotsman. A man who believes she’s lying to protect her father—a father whom she had no idea worked for British Intelligence and is now missing.
This was a great action story that caught my interest right from the beginning. It keeps moving from start to finish and is a quick-paced read. I really liked both characters as they try to solve the mystery and start to fall for each other. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

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This was an interesting one? The copy and book didn't quite match, and I was surprised by how little time the hero and heroine actually spent getting to know each other--his guilt over potentially killing her father felt a bit forced as a result. I did like the team set-up though and of course spies!

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London Calling was a thrilling and exciting spy thriller that kept you in its grips all the way till the end. This rollercoaster kept me on the edge of my seat waiting for more. I loved it. The only downside was that I wouldn't consider this book a romance. As much as i loved these characters the actual romance flet like a forced afterthought to make it more widely available to readers that only read romance novels. This book is definitely worth the read but i just wish it was classified correctly.

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Oh goodness, this book! So many twists and turns, so many betrayals (and possible betrayals), so many ups and downs--even though Emma and Macknight (I don't remember anyone calling him Liam, ever--though to be honest, my head is still spinning a bit after finishing this one, so I might have forgotten) do fall in love pretty quickly, it's hard to blame them with everything else that is going on all around them. Either way, they don't act on it quickly, which gives me hope for their HEA--providing they both survive long enough to enjoy one.

Their profession doesn't exactly promote longevity, after all...

Regardless--Spies! Secrets! Double-agents! Danger! Romance!--this one has it all, and I'm hopeful with how everything (finally!) turns out here. As long as you're okay with spending pretty much the whole time you're reading it with an elevated bpm, give London Calling a read :)

Rating: 4 stars / A-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

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This book didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. It starts off as extremely graphic and a thriller and turns into a syrupy romance. Not my favorite.


Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

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The first chapter is so graphic and overstimulating of the senses. I couldn’t read any further, this is just not the type of book I enjoy reading.

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London Calling is definitely a good book. First I've read by Veronica Forand but not the last. Overall i liked the plot and the story. Well-written and good.

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Slow start but loved in the end.
It took me a while to get into this book. Most books I can ready in a day or 2 but this one took me almost a week. I think I was expecting to get into the relationship of the 2 main characters sooner. They had interaction but you were not sure it would lead to romance right away. Once I did get into the story, it was a great story. I liked the action and suspense of it all. I liked that I thought I knew what was going on and who was who, but then there would be a twist and someone you thought was a good guy was actually working for the bad guys. I also liked that it was written from the perspective of both the main characters. I do wish it would have maybe told you at the start of each chapter who's pov you were reading. Once I realized it was changing every chapter or so, it was not difficult to follow. Overall It was a great read and I would recommend if you like action, drama, suspense, and/or romance books.

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I've meant to type up this review for a while now, but I always hate typing up lower than 3-star ratings. I was excited to read London Calling because I was looking for something different to read other than other books I've read in the Romantic Suspense genre lately. This was my first book from author Veronica Forand too. The synopsis intrigued me when I read it, so I jumped on the chance to read the book.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book like I thought I was going to when I started reading it. The first chapter alone I felt lost because the author immediately started the story out with an explosive scene. I was confused because I thought I was going to be introduced to the characters at first, but I didn't feel I even got that in the story.
I didn't connect well with the characters at all in the story too. I usually can connect within the first few chapters or at least within the middle of the book but not in this book. The male character was still shocked with what happened to his partner in the first chapter, and he was forced to protect (and kidnap) the female lead character. There was no real romance, or if there was, I didn't feel it at all with the characters. I thought they should not have hooked up together because they didn't mesh well with each other.
Here's the gist of the story without giving too much away. Liam Macknight's partner was assassinated while on a mission, and now he's been told to kidnap Emma Ross due to her father being taken by the Russians that was supposed to be helping him and his partner. He thinks her father turned on them and now he thinks Emma may know something to and he can't trust her. Although, he has to protect her from the Russians. Emma has no clue what is going on and what her father was into, and she wants to find her father. She's in for a whirlwind of craziness with Liam and the MI6 though.
I'll say this about the story. There is a lot of action, and poor Emma is put through the wringer. I felt sorry for the woman throughout the whole story. I wish I could've loved this story and I wish I could've loved the characters more. It thinks if the characters would've been more lovable toward each other, then I would've enjoyed it more.
As I said, there was no real romance in the story. I would consider this more of a spy-filled, action-packed tale. I'm hoping this is part of a series because the author did have other characters in the series that were introduced.
I may not have enjoyed the story, but other readers may enjoy the storyline though.
Story Rating: 2.5 stars
Standalone or part of series: I believe this book may be part of a series, but not too sure at this time.
Do I recommend this book? If you enjoy action-packed books. There's not much of a romance element in this book though.
Will I read other books from the author? I'll definitely check out other books written by Veronica Forand.
Tropes/Elements: Action-Packed; Thriller; Spies

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If you love a little espionage with your romance you are going to love this book. Emma has no idea what her father is into and is caught in the middle of his drama. When she is kidnapped by MI6, she is determined to find out just what is going on. Liam has tried everything to keep her safe and has no choice but to work with her. But things heat up when he is given the directive to kill her father to protect the identity of other agents. How will this play out in the end? I voluntarily agreed to receive an ARC of this book for an honest review.

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This is a book of suspense wit ha bit of romance. Top secret agents, travel from the US to London. People with high protection what else can you want. This story is top caliber and it is worth every minute you are reading it.

** I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review**

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This was a slow building book and it sets up a great suspense romance. I did have a hard time with the characters in the beginning. Their didn't seem to be a lot of chemistry between them other than animosity. Things changed and boy did it make up for the beginning.

The book was an entertaining read with a good dose of excitement and a wonderful romance. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a well built, suspenseful romance.

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A thrilling story with a kick-butt heroine and a hero who finds himself attracted to her even though he shouldn't be.

I normally don't read romantic suspense books, but the blurb sounded really interesting. I have to admit I was expecting a bit more romance, but it makes sense that the focus is really on the agents and their race against time to figure out what happened.

It took me a little while to really get into the story, but once I did I enjoyed the characters and story. It is pretty intense, and I did feel it was a bit too long, but overall a fun read!

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London Calling gets off to a strong start worthy of a Mission Impossible movie. The action and intrigue stay strong throughout, but the slow burn romance didn’t work as well for me. Both characters run hot and cold long past the point you’d expect them to have started some kind of a relationship. I think I would have liked the story better had it actually been an action movie where you expect a little Insta-Love. In a 400 page novel, there should have been time to develop the romance plot.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2716839237

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This book starts with a bang and never lets up in intensity until the end. With lots of action and not much romance, London Calling was one of those books that kept my heart rate up and had me wondering what new torture the author was going to put her characters through.

Emma was my kind of heroine. She’s got some mad skills with a gun and can definitely hold her own with Macknight and his crew of spies. She’s also got a gentleness about her that makes her likable and I loved her fierce love of her father, the only family she has. McKnight was definitely broken in so many ways. He’s loyal almost to a fault and is really a very black and white kind of person – which is typically what works for him since he’s always in a position that he needs to keep himself and his team alive and having “grey area” tends to get people killed. I did have a hard time connecting these two romantically though. There seemed to be a lack of chemistry between the characters, something I would have liked to have seen more of. They did have some great banter and worked well together, it was just that little spark that seemed to be missing between them that I missed.

I really enjoyed all the action and loved how this book was plotted out. The story has a bit of a dark edge to it and that is really noticeable in Mcknight’s character. I think I would have liked a bit more building to the relationship between Liam and Emma – her bringing some light to his dark – to satisfy my romance loving heart.

Overall, this book was flawless from a technical perspective but fell just a little bit flat for me on the romance side. I’ve read several other books by this author and, while this one isn’t my most favorite, I will definitely be looking to see what she puts out next!

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Ms Forand has never disappointed in the novels that she writes. Her character's are attention grabbing from the start. London Calling is a not to be missed and a must addition to your reading list.
Review copy received from Entangled Publishing via Netgalley

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As a romantic suspense fan, I had high hopes for this based on the description, but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. Frankly, I would really have to classify this as "suspense" with a little romance thrown in for good measure. There was really no focus on "the relationship", which is the hallmark of what defines a "romance". I felt as if the author tried too hard to build the sexual tension with an "enemies-to-lovers" based attraction right out of the gate that just seemed forced too early on. Additionally, their relationship didn't seem to grow organically. Emma and Macknight are hot and cold – almost distractedly so. One minute they're describing some minor physical attraction and the next, they're hugging each other tenderly? Throughout the story, they talk about caring for each other, but I didn't see any evidence of an opportunity for those feelings to have developed.

As a reader, I never felt connected or engaged with Emma or Macknight. Emma turns out to be a bit of a "Mary Sue" - she's a sniper-level marksman, a world-class poker player, she's fluent in Russian – which is kind of annoying. And Macknight just never came across as the kind of guy I'd want to fall for/have fall for me.

As for the mechanics of the storytelling, there were some vague comments as to time passing, but for the most part, I had no sense as to whether this took place over the course of days, weeks or months. Because the book was almost all "tell" and no "show", I'm guessing that in conjunction with the vague timeline helped contribute towards my feeling disconnected from the characters.

The "suspense" part of the story was not bad, and had the rest of the story been executed better I think it could have been a decent spy thriller.

*Advance copy provided by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.*

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